Get our news on your inbox! x

Remember me Forgot password

MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, December 8th 2025 - 07:00 UTC

Tag: Caribbean

  • Saturday, July 27th 2019 - 09:46 UTC

    Caribbean tourists warned of the toxicity of Sargassum on the beaches

    Decomposing Sargassum releases hydrogen sulfide gas and ammonia, which can cause respiratory, skin and neurocognitive symptoms in humans

    Tourists to the Caribbean may not realize that a brown drifting seaweed that's been piling up on beaches in recent years is dangerous, researchers say. Travelers and doctors alike should be aware that prolonged contact with the Sargassum weed, or inhaling the hydrogen sulfide gas it gives off as it decomposes on the beach, can cause heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, vertigo, headache and skin rashes, the authors write in the Journal of Travel Medicine.

  • Friday, March 29th 2019 - 09:04 UTC

    Princess Cruises contracts construction of two next generation 175.000-ton ships

    The vessels will each accommodate some 4,300 guests and will be the first Princess Cruises ships to be dual-fuel powered primarily by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

    Princess Cruises and Fincantieri announced on Thursday the signing of the final contracts for the construction of two next-generation 175,000-ton cruise ships, which will be the largest ships ever built so far in Italy, with deliveries scheduled in Monfalcone in late 2023 and in March 2025. This announcement follows the initial signing of a memorandum of agreement between the two parties in July 2018.

  • Wednesday, March 6th 2019 - 10:15 UTC

    Colombia to begin oil exploration offshore in the Caribbean

    Ecopetrol will mount at least two exploratory wells, the statement said, and is optimistic the bloc will yield gas reserves in the medium term

    Colombia and its state-run oil company, Ecopetrol, announced they have signed an offshore exploration and production deal for a nearly 400,000-hectare (988,000-acre) bloc in the Caribbean, the country's first new oil and gas contract in more than four years.

  • Monday, September 17th 2018 - 09:18 UTC

    RFA Mount Bay in the Caribbean, ahead of tropical storm Isaac

    As well as being able to carry vital aid and equipment, RFA Mounts Bay will use the Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter on board to provide aerial support

    The United Kingdom has deployed a team of specialists to the Caribbean to help mitigate the impact of impending storms threatening British Overseas territories. According to Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson, 87 engineers, medics, maritime experts and other specialists have joined the regular crew of RFA Mounts Bay, which is the mobile hub of the British relief effort.

  • Friday, September 14th 2018 - 08:42 UTC

    US comes out strongly in support of Taipei in its influence policy dispute with Beijing

    Beijing has eclipsed the EU as Latin America’s second-largest trading partner, after the U.S., and is now the single largest trading partner of Brazil, Chile and Peru

    The State Department announced last week that it would temporarily recall U.S. ambassadors to the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama for consultations in Washington. The meetings will focus on recent decisions by Latin American countries to no longer recognize Taiwan and ways the U.S. can “support strong. independent, democratic institutions and economies throughout Central America and the Caribbean”

  • Tuesday, August 28th 2018 - 08:25 UTC

    Chilean Supreme Court seizes US$ 1.6m assets from Pinochet family

    The case involves embezzlement of public funds and the court said the money cannot remain with Pinochet's family because it comes from an illegal origin

    Chile's Supreme Court ordered the seizure of more than US$1.6 million from the assets of the late dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The top court also sentenced three former military officers to four years in prison for embezzlement of public funds in a case involving Pinochet, but allowed them to remain free under conditional liberty.

  • Thursday, May 3rd 2018 - 08:29 UTC

    Dominican Republic drops Taiwan and establishes relations with Beijing

    The Dominican Republic said it believed its switch to ties with China would be “extraordinarily positive for the future of our country”, in an official statement

    The Dominican Republic and China announced on Tuesday they were establishing diplomatic relations as the Caribbean country became the latest nation to dump Taiwan, leaving it with just 19 diplomatic allies around the globe. Taipei said it was “deeply upset” at the decision, which it blamed on “dollar diplomacy”. The move deepens the island's international isolation while its giant neighbor flexes its economic and political might on the global stage.

  • Tuesday, October 6th 2015 - 07:40 UTC

    Latin America forecasted to contract 0.3% this year and 0.7% growth in 2016

    Growth projections indicate that economies with a growing level of trade integration with China, will register the biggest deceleration.

    The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC, forecasted a downward trend in the region’s economic activity for 2015 to -0.3% from 0.5%, and estimates that for 2016 growth will be close to 0.7%.

  • Tuesday, February 17th 2015 - 06:00 UTC

    Caribbean is anticipating 5% increase in tourist arrivals after a record 2014

    “Last year, we received more visitors than ever before, recording our fifth straight year of growth” said CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley

    The Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization, CTO, is projecting a 5% increase in tourist arrivals in 2015 after the region recorded its best year ever in 2014. CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley told reporters a record 26.3 million visitors came to the Caribbean last year, spending a record US$29.2 billion.

  • Friday, December 13th 2013 - 18:06 UTC

    UK dengue fever health warning for Britons traveling to the Caribbean

    The total number of dengue cases in England in 2012 was 343, as compared with 223 in 2011

    The United Kingdom has issued a new health advisory for Britons travelling to the Caribbean following a surge in the incidence of dengue fever in England. The steep rise in British cases of the mosquito-borne disease has forced the health agency Public Health England (PHE) to warn travelers to be on the alert for signs of the illness after visiting the Caribbean.