Erica Virtue - Senior Gleaner Writer

Dr Carla Barnett, secretary-general of CARICOM.
April 26, 2026 by Erica Virtue - Senior Gleaner Writer

CARICOM faces test over top post standoff

Influential leaders in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are confident that the current division within the 15 full-member bloc will not fracture the regional body, even as an active search continues for a consensus candidate to replace Dr Carla Barnett, whose position as secretary-general has become untenable. The Sunday Gleaner was told that no consensus candidate has yet emerged, and no timeline has been set for resolving the impasse.

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Consultant urologist Dr Elon Thompson stressed that early detection is critical and pointed to prevention through vaccination.
April 26, 2026 by Erica Virtue

Penile cancer warning

Penile cancer, a rare but serious disease often linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV), is leaving some Jamaican men facing devastating consequences, including the loss of their penis and the end of…
April 12, 2026 by Erica Virtue

TOTALLY PREVENTABLE

Local women’s health experts are urging girls and women – particularly those aged 15 to 26 and in their reproductive years – to protect themselves against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can…
Attorney John Clarke.
March 22, 2026 by Erica Virtue

Decades of distress

Courtney Anderson would have been relieved when an assault case against him was dismissed in 1996, but little did he know that 30 years later he would still be experiencing the recurring nightmare of…
Dr Louis Moyston (second left), lecturer in the Department of Government at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, speaks on ‘The resurgence of US Imperialism in the Region: Target Cuba’ while looking on (from left) are co-speakers Damion Gor
March 15, 2026 by Erica Virtue

The search for UWI’s voice

As global politics and international law are being redefined by current developments in the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East, the issue of expanding geopolitical hegemony was among the…
Tania López Larroque, the new Cuban ambassador to Jamaica, speaking with The Sunday Gleaner last week.
February 22, 2026 by Erica Virtue

‘Cuba not a threat to any country’

Cuba’s Ambassador to Jamaica, Tania López Larroque, had barely settled into Kingston when a new crisis erupted. Just weeks after her arrival on December 8 last year, United States President Donald…
Dr Kanchana Coore
February 1, 2026 by Erica Virtue

DEATHBED CONFIDANTE

By the time patients reach the final stretch of their lives, the questions they bring to Dr Kanchana Bandara Coore are rarely medical alone. They are about children who will be left behind, marriages…
Daniel Goulbourne, a RADA-registered farmer for 15 years, farms two and a half acres at Parnassus, paying $20,000 per acre annually in lease fees. Despite this, he said there is no verification of storm damage to his farm and no meaningful assistance.
January 18, 2026 by Erica Virtue

‘Food soldiers’ struggle

With climate resilience and national food security at the heart of Jamaica’s agricultural policy, farmers at the Parnassus, Spring Plains, and Ebony Park agro parks in Clarendon say they are relied on…
December 28, 2025 by Erica Virtue

Literacy leap

Seventy per cent of the cohort of seventh graders at Holy Trinity High School last academic year who were part of the Grade 7 Academy – a radical literacy and numeracy programme for students…
Looking at the Queer Agenda after its unveiling are (from left) Belgian Ambassador Ellen De Geest; Louise McCollin, head of political affairs and communications of the British High Commission; Glenroy Murray, executive director of Equality for All Foundat
December 14, 2025 by Erica Virtue

‘It’s a performance’

The Equality for All Foundation Jamaica, formerly the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), has challenged what it describes as performative opposition from sections of Jamaica’s…