Given the waves of anti-government protests which have recently engulfed Haiti, one would have thought that Haitian President Michel Martelly would have found refuge from controversy while visiting the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Yet this was not the case.

Belize, like much of the Caribbean, is trapped between high debt and a foreign economic environment hostile to the implementation of progressive economic reforms. On September 21, Belize won a 60 day reprieve after a partial debt payment of $11.7 million, which avoided their descent into a full blown default.

This year in Guyana, Emancipation Day—the day which commemorates the abolition of slavery—was not a cause of celebration but was marked instead by widespread sadness and anger. On August 1, funerals were held for three men who were killed by Guyanese security forces during a protest over government plans to increase electricity rates in the bauxite mining town of Linden.

On January 11, 2012, Beverly J. Oda, Canada’s former Minister of International Cooperation, announced that the Government of Canada would be committing $19.9 million to the resettlement of 5,000 families, who were left homeless and were living in the internally displaced camp in Champs de Mars. She also remarked that “If all we do is clear the Champ de Mars, we will have failed.”