MEXICO MAKES GENERIC DRUGS AVAILABLE TO CARIBBEAN—05/02/15
Mexico plans to expand the access to cheaper generic medications for over 17 million individuals in the Caribbean region. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed that will provide support for creating the Caribbean Regulatory System. This will be hosted by the Caribbean Public Health agency (CARPHA), which represents 16 nations and eight territories.

FIRST CARIBBEAN EXPORTER OF YEAR AWARD GIVEN—05/03/15
Sacha Cosmetics of Trinidad and Tobago received the first-ever Caribbean Exporter of the Year Award in Jamaica. The cosmetics business, which is family-owned, took the top prize from nine other nominees at the third CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum. Six other awards were also given out: Young Exporter of the Year, Green Exporter of the Year, Emerging Exporter, Caribbean Export Choice, and a Special Award in Excellence in Exporting.

YEARLY CARIBBEAN FESTIVAL IN MONTREAL IN PREPARATION—05/04/15
The Annual Caribbean Festival, a tradition for 40 years in Montreal, Canada, is preparing for its July 4, 2015 start. Carifiesta is a celebration of Caribbean heritage and features the music, dance, and traditional dress of the Caribbean region. The event takes place on St. Catherine’s Street, which is ready to be packed with attendees.

GOVERNMENT WEBSITE IN ST. VINCENT HACKED—05/05/15
Investigators in St. Vincent are looking into the hacking of the government’s website. An image of an individual operating a machine gun from a truck was displayed on the site with a “hacked by moroccanwolf-Islamic State” message. The message also made accusations against NATO and the United States for “organized butchery.” The website is now offline, and the source of the attack is still unknown.

MORAVIAN ARCHIVES RELATING TO VIRGIN ISLANDS TO BE DIGITIZED—05/06/15
The Moravian Archives, which are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has received a grant of over $37,000 from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities for the conservation and digitization of archival records that document Moravian missions to the Caribbean. The territory that is the focus of the documentation is now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. The archives contain considerable information about the Caribbean’s enslaved populations. The digitized records will be made available to the world online.

BAHAMIAN COURT WILL REVIEW NEW LAWS ON IMMIGRATION—05/07/15
In the Bahamas, Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Bain has agreed to review new rules on immigration. The review was requested by a woman of Haitian descent who was born in the Bahamas. Widlyne Melidor, 21, claims that the Bahamas denied her health care while she was pregnant with her fourth child/ Melidor also claims that her son, 5, was denied access to a primary school in the country because the family does not have Haitian passports. According to her attorney Fred Smith, the new immigration rules are designed to make the Bahamas “less hospitable” to an increasing population of migrant individuals who do not have legal status.