How well prepared is the Caribbean to respond to the politically led emergence of ‘vaccine nationalism’, an approach likely to see countries with advanced bio-pharma facilities initially restrict the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine?
Whether it chooses to take sides or not, the Caribbean is about to find itself swept up into the now almost inevitable superpower confrontation between the United States and China.
A week ago, the government of The Bahamas took an unprecedented decision.
On July 4, the opposition Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM) swept to power in the Dominican Republic, handing Luis Abinader the Presidency and control of both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
After years of failing to find a way to reconcile whether LIAT, the Antigua-based carrier, primarily serves the interests of shareholder governments by providing tax revenue and employment or is a genuine for-profit operation rather than a form of monopoly, a moment of truth has arrived.
Last month a bill was introduced into the US Senate by three Republican Senators.
Later this year we will know whether President Trump has won a second term in office or if his fellow septuagenarian, Joe Biden, has ended the most disruptive US presidency in living memory.
Last week a culture war erupted in Britain over its colonial history.
Even at the best of times, the cruise lines are controversial Caribbean partners, sharply dividing opinion between happy travellers, citizens, hoteliers, environmentalists, academics, and governments.
A few days ago, Venezuela’s government and opposition signed a joint request to the Pan American Health Organisation requesting funding to address the coronavirus pandemic.
Since late April there have been virtually no tourist arrivals in the Caribbean.
Scientists and pharmaceutical companies around the world are hopeful that before long they may find an effective vaccine against COVID-19.
A moment will come at the end of June when the European Union and Britain will hold a virtual high-level meeting to decide whether enough progress has been made to meet their agreed deadline for a post-Brexit trade relationship.
A day will come when a vaccine is available, the World Health Organisation confirms there are no new coronavirus cases, and our lives return to normal.
What might the shape of post COVID-19 economic recovery look like?
The challenge that is now facing almost every Caribbean nation is how best to recover the tourism economy without which future economic growth and sustainable tax revenues will be all but impossible.
It is hard to imagine an action more likely to accelerate the decline of US influence in the world than deciding in the middle of a global pandemic to attack the one body that is coordinating the global fight against it.
Speaking recently in in New York, the state Governor, Andrew Cuomo said: “The stress, the emotion, is just incredible, and rightfully so.
Just a few weeks ago it was possible for Trinidad’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley, to indicate in a major speech, that the Caribbean as whole had a potentially very bright future as a major western hemisphere oil and gas supplier.
The Caribbean is about to experience a crisis of a kind that no one in the region or anywhere else in the world could have predicted.
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