Bert Wilkinson

Authorities in St. Kitts have announced the arrival of a small batch of deportees from the US under the controversial third country arrangements that allow the US to dump unwanted immigrants on Caribbean nations.

While much of the attention was focused earlier this year on American partners Trinidad and Guyana in the build up to US military action and engagements against Venezuela, the US says that oil and gas-rich Suriname is also being viewed as a strategic geographic ally.

Caribbean Community countries, led by The Bahamas, are stepping up monitoring and awareness activities to prevent an Ebola outbreak in the region with officials in Nassau already isolating two recently arrived European travelers.

Caribbean foreign ministers have hurled stinging criticism against the US for threatening military action against Cuba as it continues its decades-old embargo starving it of fuel, food and other supplies. The condemnation followed a just-concluded meeting of the group in Suriname.

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In what is widely being seen as a move to intimidate Cuba or even for advanced preparations to launch an attack against the island, the Trump administration has moved one of its most powerful aircraft carriers to Jamaica, just 90 miles south of Cuba, as tensions between the two escalate.

Authorities in Antigua say they are locked in talks with the US over the number of deportees it should take, with a major difference in the tally delaying the actual start of the program Prime Minister Gaston Browne said at the weekend.

For five days this week, the USS Nimitz will be in Jamaica for what the American mission in the capital, Kingston.

The Trump administration has nominated a Trinidadian-born envoy as its new envoy to the republic and she will likely head there after a glittering career as a senior naval officer and as a former Florida lieutenant governor.

Jamaica's government has come down hard on opposition and other critics from last week's port call by the USS Nimitz, saying it has nothing to do with the already stated American military and other plans against neighboring Cuba.