Caribbean

Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on Caribbean countries. These countries have lost billions of dollars in foreign capital. Although the region’s peoples are currently being vaccinated, the damage already caused by Covid-19 remains immeasurable and will likely continue for many years. Irrespective of whether vaccination results in herd immunity, Caribbean countries not only face the unenviable challenge of recalibrating their economies post-Covid-19, but also the prospect of being hauled before arbitral tribunals in respect of claims brought by investors alleging breaches of investor protection standards as a result of measures taken in response to the pandemic. To the extent that there is a real risk of claims of this nature arising in future, this article contends that Covid-19, as an unprecedented event, exposes the asymmetrical nature of the international investment regime, and its inability to fully countenance the domestic realities of developing countries that are confronted with existential threats.

Abstract: Since March 2020, a group of librarians, professors, and legal professionals have been monitoring legal responses to COVID-19 throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Each member of the project is currently following various countries within this region. In this article, the authors will describe how the project was created and highlight the initial challenges in terms of securing and evaluating trustworthy sources of information in the middle of a pandemic. The authors will summarize the legal responses and any disinformation issues within the countries they have been monitoring: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Finally, the article will conclude with the authors enumerating the achievements of the group as well as future plans for the project.

Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic has tremendous implications for democracy worldwide. Emergency measures undertaken to combat the pandemic tend to demonstrate a trade-off between public health and fundamental democratic principles. The Caribbean is not immune from this. This paper examines how Covid-19, and the calling of a snap election in Barbados scheduled for January 19, 2022, when combined with archaic election rules, led to serious implications for the conduct of the election, specifically regarding the ability of citizens to vote. The paper is divided into five sections, beginning with an introductory section. The second section examines the implications of Covid-19 for democratic participation. The third section explores the legal framework for the conduct of elections in Barbados and the limitations of that legal framework. The penultimate section discusses the implications of the snap election for electoral participation and electoral integrity. The paper ends on the need for electoral reform in the country.

Abstract: In Latin America and globally, drastic sanitary measures were taken to combat the coronavirus. In this study, we investigate the consequences of these sanitary measures for religious regulation. We compare the situation before and after the sanitary measures taken in four Latin American countries (Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Nicaragua). We conclude that the COVID-19 measures mainly restricted the collective dimension of freedom of worship, bringing religious regulation to similar levels as that in some authoritarian regimes. We also found evidence that some governments took advantage of the situation to increase their repression of religious groups.

Abstract: This paper explores how the use of emergency powers by the US and Puerto Rican governments exacerbated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and manufactured the conditions for furthering the multilayered economic, legal, political, and humanitarian crisis affecting Puerto Rico since 2006. The paper discusses three cases. First, it examines how the multiple declarations of the state of emergency, and its constant renewals, produced contradictory public health policies. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Puerto Rican government has issued over 90 executive orders aimed at addressing the emergency, producing an unclear, contradictory, and unequal emergency management policy. Second, the paper focuses on the impact of the passing of Law 35 on April 5, 2020, which imposed severe penalties on those who disobeyed executive orders. As a result, hundreds of Puerto Ricans were arrested, fined, and incarcerated for violating the issued order. Third, the paper studies how, citing the presence of corruption, the Puerto Rican government implemented anti-corruption and anti-fraud policies that made it more difficult for those most in need of it—mainly poor and racialized individuals, as well as immigrants and working women—to access Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Thus, the paper argues that emergency policies designed to address the pandemic, punitive governance, and anti-corruption and anti-fraud policies undermined Puerto Rico’s capacity to handle the pandemic, exacerbated its impact, and created an unequal recovery scenario.

Abstract: Over the initial months of the vaccine rollout, demand for COVID-19 vaccines exceeded supply. Although the CDC issued data-based guidance for how to prioritize access to the vaccines, it was non-binding, and many state and local governments set different priorities. This Article documents the different prioritizations set by the 64 different local health authorities – or ‘jurisdictions’ – that received COVID-19 vaccines through the CDC’s program. These jurisdictions consisted of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, five large cities (Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Antonio), along with American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Northern Marina Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. Many of these jurisdictions changed their vaccine prioritizations mid-course. The following tables reflect those changes and show how the COVID-19 vaccine was distributed to individuals aged 16 and older in each jurisdiction.

Abstract: The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and certain of its affiliated entities have filed ‘bankruptcy’ petitions under Title III of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (‘PROMESA’). This short paper provides a brief update on the current status of the restructuring process. As is well known, Puerto Rico’s economy was already deeply distressed, and then came hurricanes, earthquakes, and COVID-19. Given the poor state of the local economy, the island arguably needs extensive debt relief. Before COVID-19, the oversight board had proposed modest debt relief, and even that was deemed unacceptable by bondholders, who argued for cuts to local pensions equal to those being faced by bondholders. As a result, the restructuring process is apt to continue to be quite lengthy and contentious. Puerto Rico’s indeterminate legal status – as neither U.S. state nor independent nation – further complicates matters.

Abstract: Puerto Rico, an unincorporated U.S. territory containing over three million American citizens, is suffering from a humanitarian and economic disaster unparalleled in United States history. After a decade of economic recession, Puerto Rico declared that its debts could not be repaid, setting the stage for the largest debt restructuring in U.S. history. In addition, the Caribbean island has been frequently assailed by natural disasters, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the Commonwealth’s economic crises, Congress passed PROMESA in 2016 to establish an Oversight Board to oversee the restructuring process and to reform core government processes. The Board’s task is to help Puerto Rico achieve fiscal responsibility and regain access to the capital markets. This solution, however, is unprecedented, and has faced numerous and ongoing constitutional challenges. Most recently, the Oversight Board overcame an existential challenge under the Appointments Clause. In Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC, the Supreme Court upheld the Board’s constitutionality, but in so doing, reminded Puerto Ricans that they in effect remain foreign in a domestic sense to the United States. In this vein, this Note addresses the antecedents of Puerto Rico’s economic collapse, its ongoing territorial relationship with the United States, and discusses the extent to which the island’s economic collapse and quasi-sovereign debt restructuring are tied directly to this pseudo-colonial relationship.

Abstract: This article analyses the decommissioning framework for oil and gas infrastructures in Brazil, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago. It examines whether the existing provisions in each country are able to guarantee that the government and, by extension taxpayers, do not bear the costs of decommissioning and, the consequences of insolvency on residual liabilities. An additional motivation for this examination is the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a pandemic with significant adverse impacts on the oil and gas industry. A likely consequence of the economic devastation from this is the insolvency of any party with decommissioning obligations.The article argues that the provisions of the Brazil petroleum legislation on the reversion of abandoned installations to the government could imply that taxpayers have to bear the residual liabilities without any compensation from the concerned concessionaires or contractors. It also argues that the provisions of the Petroleum Law to the effect that ‘the reversion of facilities does not entail any expense whatsoever for the Brazilian government ’does not certainly translate to pecuniary compensation to the latter for assuming the future residual liabilities from abandoned installations. The Nigerian and the Trinidad &Tobago Decommissioning Framework also suffer the latter risk of the government bearing the residual liabilities for such disused installations.In Nigeria, the framework is silent on who bears the residual liabilities for disused installations. However, it is argued that the provisions of the Production Sharing Contracts on the transfer of ownership to the Nigerian government implies that they would have to bear eventual liabilities for such disused installations. Even in cases where the licensee or contractor may bear the burden of residual liabilities, the problem of future insolvency and cessation of such companies may entail that taxpayers bear the burden of residual liabilities. The article concludes with key recommendations on how to address the identified gaps using lessons from best practices such as United Kingdom, Norway and United States of America. One of such proposals is on the allocation of liability where there is a transfer of interest. Another is for joint and several or at least secondary liability of responsible parties even after decommissioning activities are over; a recommended provision to this effect is also provided. The third recommendation is on how time-constrained residual liability can be used alongside lump sum payments to limit the State’s financial exposure for decommissioning costs.

Abstract: Over the initial months of the vaccine rollout, demand for COVID-19 vaccines exceeded supply. Although the CDC issued data-based guidance for how to prioritize access to the vaccines, it was non-binding, and many state and local governments set different priorities. This Article documents the different prioritizations set by the 64 different local health authorities – or ‘jurisdictions’ – that received COVID-19 vaccines through the CDC’s program. These jurisdictions consisted of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, five large cities (Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Antonio), along with American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Northern Marina Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. Many of these jurisdictions changed their vaccine prioritizations mid-course. The following tables reflect those changes and show how the COVID-19 vaccine was distributed to individuals aged 16 and older in each jurisdiction.