Prime Minister of The Bahamas Philip Davis (2nd L), US Vice President Kamala Harris (C), Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Carla N. Barnett (2nd R) pose for a family photo during the US-Caribbean Leaders Meeting in Nassau on June 8, 2023. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
By Dánica Coto
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.
The announcement was made ahead of an official trip to the Bahamas for a meeting of Caribbean and U.S. leaders hosted by Harris and Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis. Harris, who is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the Bahamas since it became independent 50 years ago, landed shortly after noon.
Dozens of greeters including school children and members of her sorority greeted Harris as the Royal Bahamas Police Force band dressed in black, red and white uniform played.
As part of the initiatives, the U.S. Justice Department expects to appoint a coordinator to oversee cases involving illegal weapons smuggling in the Caribbean as island nations report a rise in violent crimes. In addition, the State Department vowed to help improve forensic work in the region, help strengthen local police departments and support a unit based in Trinidad and Tobago aimed at helping islands solve gun-related cases and provide training for the collection and analysis of related intelligence.
The U.S., with help from the U.K., also will establish a program in the eastern Caribbean to mentor local judges and prosecutors in a bid to improve prosecutions of gun-related crimes as island nations struggle with a backlog of cases.
The State Department also expects to work with Haiti’s National Police, a severely underfunded and understaffed agency struggling to quell a surge in gang violence, to help investigate and prosecute crimes with U.S. ties that involve gangs, weapons smuggling and human trafficking.
That initiative is considered key given that gangs are estimated to control up to 80% of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince as killings and kidnappings soar across the metropolitan area and beyond.
U.S. senior administration officials said the worsening security situation requires an international response, and that the U.S. strongly supports the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti.
In October, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry requested the immediate deployment of a foreign armed force, but the U.N. Security Council, along with the U.S. and Canada, have yet to respond. Henry, along with other leaders of Caribbean nations, is expected to attend Thursday's meeting with Harris.
U.S senior administration officials said discussion are ongoing, and that any decision about military force would be done in consultation with the U.N. and Haiti's government.
Harris announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development will invest nearly $54 million in Haiti to help fight a sharp rise in starvation and provide access to potable water and healthcare. Almost half of Haiti’s more than 11 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and 19,000 are in catastrophic famine conditions.
Another $10.5 million will go toward supporting Haiti’s agricultural sector as poverty deepens, with some 60% of the population earning less than $2 a day.
USAID also expects to invest $20 million to help Caribbean businesses that use technologies related to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Another nearly $15 million will be used to boost emergency response and preparedness across the region.
Additional funds will help low-lying island nations whose economies largely depend on tourism prepare and adapt to climate change.
After the Chicago teachers union voted to work remotely due to what they say is a lack of safety protocols amid the COVID-19 surge, the school system canceled classes on Wednesday, citing harm that remote learning has done to the city's children. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, joined Cheddar to discuss the issues surrounding the latest dispute between educators and schools. She said that the return to in-person learning would likely be halted until more COVID tests could be provided for districts. "This is a terrible situation for everybody, and we need the testing, and we need the masks," she said. "It's the omicron surge that has created this disruption, and we are trying to do the best we can. And this is the only school district that has this kind of action right now." The teachers might not be returning to their schools for at least two weeks amid the ongoing tensions.
Illinois State Senator Robert Martwick joins Cheddar News to discuss the new bill he co-sponsored allowing students in the state to take 5 mental health days without a doctor's note.
On Monday, President Biden announced his new plan to take on inflation by taking down the big meat monopolies - turning to the federal government's antitrust authorities to investigate the major meatpackers that control a significant share of the market. The White House plans to devote one billion dollars to aiding independent meat and poultry producers in an effort to undercut the few powerful meat producers that have control of the sector. Austin Frerick, deputy director of Thurman Arnold Project at Yale, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
As the pandemic drags on, so does the widespread great resignation. In November alone, 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs, marking a new record high, and showing a 9 percent jump from the month prior. On the flip side, the number of people filing tax paperwork to start new businesses is surging, with over 430,000 new businesses launching in November. Rhett Buttle, the founder of Public Private Strategies and national business advisor to the Biden for President campaign, joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is ramping up a civil investigation into The Trump Organization. The AG's office has subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. They have refused to comply with the subpoenas. Bradley Moss, national security attorney, joins Cheddar News to discuss the next steps in this investigation.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has officially reduced the 110-year prison sentence of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to 10 years, calling the initial lengthy sentence “unjust.” Dan Gilleon, constitutional attorney at Gilleon Law Firm APC, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Former Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was sworn in as the newest Mayor of New York City. Adams is now expected to work on a number of issues such as crime and coronavirus. Erin Durkin,, reporter at PoliticoNY, joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
As the U.S. comes up on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.,A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter at ProPublica, joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss updates to American Insurrection by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program. The documentary investigates the attack on the Capitol touched off by the lie that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump but with new information gleaned since the event including interviews with lawmakers and law enforcement and the evolution of groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys behind the attack. "In some ways those groups that were kind of the vanguard of January 6 are maybe no longer relevant because their message is everywhere," he said.
