Crime also took front and center in many of the islands, even smaller ones like Antigua. Kidnappings became the order of the day in Trinidad even as the murder rates rose on Jamaica and robbery and violent felonies grabbed the front-page news in Guyana.

Also grabbing news there was allegations that the country’s Home Affairs minister was involved in running a death squad to eliminate known criminals.

The trial of treason accused Marc Benschop also got underway, only to end with a hung jury that resulted in Benschop being returned to jail.

As Jamaica grappled with crime and Hurricane Ivan, the debate over homosexuality heated up as gay rights activists in the U.K. stepped up a campaign to ban about six reggae singers who they claimed sang lyrics that “promoted violence and murder of gays.” The campaign led to a report by global rights group, Human Rights Watch, which claimed gays in Jamaica were ‘hated to death’ and called for government to decriminalize buggery there. But the P.J. Patterson government refused.

Grenada also made big headlines this year – first over allegations that Prime Minister Keith Mitchell had taken a bribe, then over the decimation of 90 percent of the island following Hurricane Ivan and earlier this month over Mitchell’s surprise diplomatic move that saw him visiting mainland China despite having a 15 year relationship with arch political rival, Taiwan. But Mitchell has refused to say whether he’ll end relations with Taiwan and establish ties with China, leaving the issue up in the air.

2004 was also a rough year for many of the region’s air carriers who suffered financially even as more U.S. carriers hogged the market.

The year ended with Air Jamaica becoming government-owned again even as PM Patrick Manningof T&T indicated that BWIA, which was troubled by flight delays and baggage blues this holiday, might be merged with LIAT to create a new company.

But it was not all negative. The Caribbean Court of Justice and Caribbean Single Market is set to finally become a reality in 2005 and Trinidad is looking more and more like the economic winner in the region as it’s oil and gas industry grew increasingly.

In the Diaspora

Many undocumented Caribbean Americans began 2004 somewhat hopeful that they would have gotten some immigration relief following President George Bush’s January speech of immigration reform and a guest worker program.

But that quickly faded as the elections campaign picked up speed and the issue of immigration got pushed way out of the picture and the Department Of Homeland Security increased efforts to rid the country of many of these undocumented. The effort led to increase of the deportation rate to the region by 6.6 percent over the previous fiscal year to 74,479.

The stepped up security also led to an increase in drug busts among Caribbeans coming into the U.S. and also to the cancellation of temporary protected status of Montserratians displaced by volcano there.

Then came the Nov. election and many Caribbeans suffered a major disappointment over the re-election of George Bush. But with the Bush re-election came renewed discussion on immigration reform as the Mexican government heightened their lobbying effort to get guest worker permits for their nationals. Caribbean advocates welcomed the measure saying it will also help Caribbeans hoping for some form of legalization.