WASHINGTON, DC  – The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region faces much uncertainty in 2025. This uncertainty is because of the many political changes around the world, the impact of ongoing wars, the rising tide of crime and violence in the region and growing fiscal and debt management difficulties.

It has long been evident that the world’s richest nations, especially those responsible for the lion’s share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, care little about the existential threats faced by small states. 

The ubiquitous telephone has provided us with more than an outlet for people to communicate with each other, and from its invention, when Alexander Graham Bell allegedly made that first call on the instrument saying, to his assistant who was in another room, “Mr. Watson come here, I want to see you.” the die was cast and the phone entered our lives.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens is more relevant today than ever. The wealthy and powerful are meeting again this year in glamorous Davos, at an invitation-only event. They arrive in chartered aircraft and private jets to speak about our warming climate, among other global concerns.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – In an era marked by unprecedented global challenges—rising economic inequities, ecological collapse, and growing disillusionment with and fractured trust in an ‘unfulfilled’ multilateralism—the case for systemic reform could not be clearer.

WASHINGTON, DC - As gang violence spirals out of control in Haiti, the limitations of international efforts to restore order, including a Kenyan-led security mission, have laid bare the depth of the crisis. A nation already on its knees now faces an even darker abyss. Haiti’s tragedy serves as a stark reminder that no matter how dire circumstances may seem, they can always deteriorate further.

WASHINGTON, DC –  Recent remarks by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump have drawn attention to the Panama Canal. He accused the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) of charging higher fees for U.S. ships passing through the canal compared to other nations.

WASHINGTON, DC – The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding adversary, sowing division and instability in a world already grappling with profound economic, social, and environmental challenges. 

What is one thing – just one – you can agree on with someone on the opposite side of the political divide? The late General Colin Powell once told me, “Figure that out and you can get a lot done. And as you win one victory together, you might just discover along the way that there’s something else you agree on.”

It may be the dead of winter, but when we think about our beaches none of us want to picture them covered in oil. That is true for those of us who live along the water and those who live hundreds of miles from any ocean. Regardless of our generation, we can all picture what it looks like. For some, it is the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.

WASHINGTON, DC –  The government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has steadfast support from many friends in the Caribbean and other parts of the world, despite numerous allegations of violations of international law, aggressive acts toward its neighbor Guyana, and intolerance of political dissent.

Following a very stunning and dangerous setback for Ukraine, the election of Donald Trump poses even greater obstacles to any favorable outcome in that war.