Previously known as
Dutch Guiana, which gained its independence on 25 November 1975. The Republic of Suriname is a member of CARICOM. The capital is
Paramaribo.[11][d]
The Bahamas are in the Atlantic Ocean and are part of the
West Indies not part of the Caribbean, although the United Nations groups them with the Caribbean.[17] They became independent from the United Kingdom in 1973.[18]
Britain granted
British Honduras self-government in 1964; on June 1, 1973, it was renamed
Belize. Independence was achieved on September 21, 1981. The capital is
Belmopan.[20]
Bermuda is located in the Atlantic Ocean and is included in the UN geoscheme for North America.[17] Bermuda is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.[29]
Premier: Easton Taylor-Farrell (since November 19, 2019)[32]
Turks and Caicos Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands are located in the Atlantic Ocean, although the United Nations groups them with the Caribbean.[17] Turks and Caicos Islands are a British overseas territory.[33]
President of the Assembly of Martinique:Claude Lise (since December 18, 2015)[40]
Saint Barthélemy
Since 2007
Saint Barthélemy has been an overseas collectivity of France since 2007 and since 2012 it has been an overseas territory of the
European Union.[41]
President of Territorial Council: Bruno Magras (since July 16, 2007)[41]
Saint Martin
In 2003, the people of
Saint Martin voted to secede from Guadeloupe; in 2007, the northern part of the island became a French overseas collectivity. In 2010, the southern half of the island became the independent country of Sint Maarten within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.[42]
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba became special municipalities in the
Caribbean Netherlands in October 2010. The Sint Eustatius island council (governing body) was dissolved and replaced by a government commissioner in February 2018.[43][48]
United States
The United States became independent on July 4, 1776.
January 7 – A 6.4Mw2020 Guayanilla earthquake rocks southwest Puerto Rico. One man died and 8 were injured. Governor
Wanda Vázquez Garced declares a state of emergency and activates the national guard.[54]
January 18 – Residents of
Ponce broke into a warehouse and found bottled water, cots, baby food, and other unused emergency supplies stored since
Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Governor Wanda Vázquez fired Carlos Acevedo, the director of the island's emergency management agency.[55]
Glorimar Andújar and Fernando Gil-Enseñat, Secretaries of Family Services Housing respectively, are fired in the warehouse scandal in Puerto Rico. Nino Correa is appointed chief of operations for the Emergency Management Office.[56]
January 28 – An
earthquake measuring 7.7Mw is registered in the Caribbean Sea, 87 miles (140 kilometers) south of
Granma Province, Cuba and 83 (134 kilometers) miles north of
Montego Bay, Jamaica. No injuries are reported.[57]
January 31 – Photographer Caroline Power discovers a "blanket" of plastic five miles long and two miles wide (five by three kilometers) near
Roatán Island, Honduras. It is believed to have been washed from the
Motagua River during heavy rains in Guatemala.[58]
932 kilos of pure gold worth $50 million (€46 million) is discovered on an airplane after it made an emergency landing at Reina Beatrix airport in
Aruba.[64]
The United Nations Human Rights Commission demands that Cuba immediately liberate three political prisoners arrested on "vague" charges.[65]
Police in Haiti violently protest against money being spent on a carnaval celebrations instead of their salaries.[69] One soldier dies the next day.[70]
February 24 – Cuba's annual cigar trade fair begins.[71]
February 26 –
Mexican authorities grant permission for a
cruise ship registered in
Malta to dock in
Cozumel, Quintana Roo, because she carries a passenger presumed to be infected with the
coronavirus. The ship was previously denied access to ports in
Jamaica and the
Cayman Islands.[72] Two cases of flu were found.[73]
February 27 – Independence Day, Dominican Republic[4]
March 1 – The
Caribbean Public Health Agency says the area faces a "moderate to high" danger of exposure to
COVID-19. No cases have been confirmed in the region to date.[76]
March 12 – Jamaica reports eight cases of COVID-19, Dominican Republic 5,
Cuba 4.
Martinique 3, St. Martin 2, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent & Grenadines,
Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Barthelemy, and Caymen Islands one each.[77]
Cuban authorities say they have developed a new medicine that has proven effective in treating COVID-19, and that is being offered for sale on the international market.[78]
In a historic first, all
Peace Corps volunteers worldwide are withdrawn from their host countries.[81]
March 18
National Anthem and Flag Day (Kingdom of the Netherlands)[44]
The government of
Puerto Rico implements a curfew and closes schools, some businesses, and government agencies.[82]
Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of the late
Jeffrey Epstein, sues his estate in Superior Court in the U.S. Virgin Islands because she has received threats requiring her to hire personal security services.[83]
March 19 – First two cases of
COVID-19 in Haiti. Airports, schools, factories, and seaports are closed.[84]
March 29 – The
United States Coast Guard issues a safety bulletin for
Florida,
Georgia,
South Carolina, and Puerto Rico stating that foreign-flagged vessels carrying more than 50 people should prepare to treat any sick passengers and crew on board and try to medically evacuate the very sick to their countries home countries.[86]
U.S. President
Donald Trump announces that he is stepping up pressure on Venezuelan President
Nicolás Maduro after indicating Maduro on drug and terrorism charges. Trump sends anti-drug Navy ships and
AWACS planes to the region near
Venezuela in the largest military build-up in the region since the
1989 invasion of Panama to remove General
Manuel Noriega from power.[87]
April 2 – The
United Kingdom sends the armed hospital ship
RFA Argus to the Caribbean to stop the narcotics trade from Venezuela. France sent the Dixmunde a few days earlier.[89] This is the largest
armada ever assembled in the Western Hemisphere.[90]
April 3 – The Venezuelan patrol boat Naiguata rammed the Portuguese-flagged RCGS Resolute, which was accused of piracy. The Naiguata sank.[91]
April 16 – Forty-two people die after drinking adulterated alcohol from three clandestine distilleries in the Dominican Republic.[92]
April 24 – California-based
Chevron Corporation must end its oil operations in Venezuela by December 1. Chevron's net daily production in 2019 averaged 35,300 barrels of crude oil, equal to roughly 6% of Venezuela's total production.[95]
U.S.-based Church of Bible Understanding faces charges of negligence in relation to the February 13 fire that killed 13 children and two adults in a Haitian orphanage.[97]
April 26
Cuba sends 1,200 doctors to 22 countries to help with the COVID-19 pandemic.[98]
500 Venezuela migrants living in Colombia block a highway in protest of the lockdown due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia. They say the makes it impossible for them to work. There are 1.8 million Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia.[101]
Two dozen Colombians deported from the United States have been found to have coronavirus. Other infections among deportees have been found in Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, and Jamaica.[102]
May 1 –
Labour Day in Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. "Agriculture and Labour Day" in Haiti
May 2
A series of earthquakes strike Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.[104] One centered in
Tallaboa,
Encarnación, Peñuelas, Puerto Rico has a Mw5.4.[105] Power outages and damages are reported in Puerto Rico where families cannot be relocated in shelters because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[106]
May 6 – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denies U.S. government in the Sunday boat attack on Venezuela and says they will use 'every tool' to release the two Americans arrested.[110]
May 8 – COVID-19 pandemic: Haiti faces hunger and a breakdown of its health services. There are 34,000 people in resettlement camps and the country has reported eleven deaths and 100 coronavirus infections.[111]
May 10 –
Mother's Day, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, United States Virgin Islands
May 18 – Discovery Day, Cayman Islands
May 19 –
AT&T closes its operations in Venezuela.[112]
Emmanuel Constant, the accused leader of a
Haitian death squad, was not among thirty Haitians deported from the U.S. All 30 have tested negative for COVID-19. Some of the 200 deported earlier this year have tested positive for the virus.[113]
Vote counting in the
2020 Surinamese general election is suspended because the ruling party is losing and the workers are exhausted after numerous complaints of electoral fraud.[114]
May 27 – A federal court suspends budget cuts for the Puerto Rican government.[115]
May 28 – Legislative leaders from Colombia and Cuba will meet with their counterparts from eight other Latin American countries to discuss a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[116]
Venezuela arrests three local executives, Venezuelan citizens, of
DirecTV after the Dallas-based
company closed its offices on May 19.[120]
Tropical storm Cristobal causes severe flooding in southern Mexico and threatens the Gulf coast of the United States.[121]
June 7 – COVID-19 pandemic: Cuba is praised for its response to the pandemic. The country reports 2,173 confirmed cases of and 83 deaths from coronavirus.[122]
The ruling coalition in Guyana says it will go to court to prevent a declaration that the
People's Progressive Party won the March 2 presidential election.[124]
The WHO reports a decrease in
malaria in Latin America, mainly due to decreases in Venezuela, Colombia, and Guyana, although there are fears that many cases are going undetected as sick people stay home instead of going to hospitals. In the first five months of 2020, Venezuela registered 104,005 cases, a decrease of 58% compared to 248,191 in the same period in 2019. Haiti, Suriname, and Dominican Republic report increases.[126]
June 13 – Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II (celebrated in British overseas territories)[32]
July 14 – Fête de la Federation (celebrated in overseas departments and collectivities of France)[41]
June 15 – Target date for reopening Aruba to tourism after COVID-19 pandemic.[117]
June 16 – Mexican President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador says that Mexico will sell fuel to Venezuela for humanitarian purposes if requested.[127]
June 21 –
Father's Day, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands
July 13 – COVID-19 pandemic: A report by The New York Times and the
Marshall Project indicates that
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worsened the spread of the pandemic by deporting sick people to their countries of origin, including Haiti.[134]
July 17 – Venezuela protests against the incursion of the American destroyer
USS ''Pinckney'' only 16.1 nautical miles (30 km) from its coast. The United States recognizes jurisdiction of only 12 nautical miles and insists the ship was in international waters.[135]
July 20 – The Bahamas announces that commercial flights and sea cruises from most countries, including the United States, will be banned starting on July 22.[136]
July 23 – Authorities in Colombia seize a luxury mansion allegedly belonging to businessman Alex Saab, who was detained in
Cape Verde on U.S. corruption charges related to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.[137]
July 31 –
Hurricane Isaias strikes Turcos and Caicos and threatens the Bahamas.[139] The Category 1 hurricane batters the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Puerto Rico.[140]
August 3 –
Panama proposes sending 2,000 Haitian, Cuban, and African migrants home after disturbances in camps.[141]
August 4 – Former Colombian President
Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) is placed under house arrest in relation to a case investigating alleged
witness tampering. One day later he tests positive for COVID-19.[142]
August 5 – Emancipation Day, the Bahamas
August 6
Independence Day, Jamaica (from the United Kingdom, 1962)[23]
COVID-19 pandemic: One day after reporting no new cases, Cuba reports 49 new infections.[143]
August 7 – The El Salvador Supreme Court rejects efforts to reopen the economy.[144]
Second round of primary elections in Puerto Rico after ballot mishap.[153]
August 18 – U.S. customs agents in Florida intercept a Venezuela-bound plane that is loaded with guns and ammunition. The flight plan listed St. Vincent and the Grenadines as its destination.[154]
August 21 – Colombian President Ivan Duque says Venezuela is planning to give its
Russian- and
Belarus-made missiles to armed groups in Colombia and uy new ones from
Iran. Madero says it would be a good idea.[155]
August 23 – A ten-year-old girl is killed in Haiti by Hurricane Laura.[157] 100,000 people are evacuated[158] and two are killed in the Dominican Republic.[159]
The
Pittsburgh Pirates take #21 out of retirement for a game against the Chicago White Sox at
PNC Park. September 9 is celebrated by
Major League Baseball (MLB) as "
Roberto Clemente Day". Clemente, a
Puerto Rico native, died in a plane crash in December 1972 while en route to Nicaragua to deliver disaster relief to victims of an earthquake.[165]
Barbados Governor General says the country should leave the
Commonwealth and become a Republic by November 2021.[167]
Mexican researchers have identified remains of the ship La Unión as one that was used to carry Maya slaves from Yucatán to Cuba during the
Caste War of Yucatán.[168]
November 14 –
Deepavali, Hindu holiday; Guyana, Suriname
November 16 –
Hurricane Iota: Category 5 hurricane is expected to make landfall in Honduras and Nicaragua.[180]
December
December 6 –
2020 Venezuelan parliamentary election: Turnout is 31% as Maduro's government is reelected with 67.6%, the traditional opposition won 17.95%, and dissidents on the left won 3% of the vote.[181] Eighteen countries in America (including the United States and Canada but excluding Argentina, Bolivia, and Mexico) call the election fraudulent and illegal.[182]
December 7 – The Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic announce they have found eight bodies and seventeen people are missing from a boat capsizing near Lavacama,
La Altagracia Province.[183]
December 18 – The United States Coast Guard and Navy and the
Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard apprehend seven vessels near Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with 3,700 pounds of cocaine; 19 arrested in the $60 million seizure.[184]
December 22 –
COVID-19 pandemic in the Cayman Islands: Skylar Mack, 18, a student from
Loganville, Georgia, and Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, a professional
jet ski racer from the Cayman Islands, will have to serve only two months each in a Caymanian prison after being convicted of violating quarantine rules in November.[185]
December 30 – Authorities issue volcanic alerts in Martinique and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Mount Pelée became active in early December and
La Soufrière on December 29.[186]
February 26 –
Clementina Vélez, 73, Colombian doctor, academic and politician,
MP (1990–1991, 1998–2002) and
city councillor of Cali (1972–1986, 1992–1997, 2004–2019); heart attack[204]
^Guyana has a border dispute with Suriname, which claims the area east of the left bank of the
Corentyne River and the New River in southwestern Suriname. Suriname claims the
Tigri Area.[7]
^Suriname is a border dispute with Guyana, which claims the area east of the left bank of the Corentyne River and the New River in southeastern Suriname. Guyana claims the
Tigri Area.[7]
†Physiographically, these
continental islands are not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically.
#Bermuda is an isolated
North Atlanticoceanic island, physiographically not part of the Lucayan Archipelago, Antilles, Caribbean Sea nor North American continental nor South American continental islands. It is grouped with the
Northern American region, but occasionally also with the Caribbean region culturally.
Previously known as
Dutch Guiana, which gained its independence on 25 November 1975. The Republic of Suriname is a member of CARICOM. The capital is
Paramaribo.[11][d]
The Bahamas are in the Atlantic Ocean and are part of the
West Indies not part of the Caribbean, although the United Nations groups them with the Caribbean.[17] They became independent from the United Kingdom in 1973.[18]
Britain granted
British Honduras self-government in 1964; on June 1, 1973, it was renamed
Belize. Independence was achieved on September 21, 1981. The capital is
Belmopan.[20]
Bermuda is located in the Atlantic Ocean and is included in the UN geoscheme for North America.[17] Bermuda is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.[29]
Premier: Easton Taylor-Farrell (since November 19, 2019)[32]
Turks and Caicos Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands are located in the Atlantic Ocean, although the United Nations groups them with the Caribbean.[17] Turks and Caicos Islands are a British overseas territory.[33]
President of the Assembly of Martinique:Claude Lise (since December 18, 2015)[40]
Saint Barthélemy
Since 2007
Saint Barthélemy has been an overseas collectivity of France since 2007 and since 2012 it has been an overseas territory of the
European Union.[41]
President of Territorial Council: Bruno Magras (since July 16, 2007)[41]
Saint Martin
In 2003, the people of
Saint Martin voted to secede from Guadeloupe; in 2007, the northern part of the island became a French overseas collectivity. In 2010, the southern half of the island became the independent country of Sint Maarten within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.[42]
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba became special municipalities in the
Caribbean Netherlands in October 2010. The Sint Eustatius island council (governing body) was dissolved and replaced by a government commissioner in February 2018.[43][48]
United States
The United States became independent on July 4, 1776.
January 7 – A 6.4Mw2020 Guayanilla earthquake rocks southwest Puerto Rico. One man died and 8 were injured. Governor
Wanda Vázquez Garced declares a state of emergency and activates the national guard.[54]
January 18 – Residents of
Ponce broke into a warehouse and found bottled water, cots, baby food, and other unused emergency supplies stored since
Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Governor Wanda Vázquez fired Carlos Acevedo, the director of the island's emergency management agency.[55]
Glorimar Andújar and Fernando Gil-Enseñat, Secretaries of Family Services Housing respectively, are fired in the warehouse scandal in Puerto Rico. Nino Correa is appointed chief of operations for the Emergency Management Office.[56]
January 28 – An
earthquake measuring 7.7Mw is registered in the Caribbean Sea, 87 miles (140 kilometers) south of
Granma Province, Cuba and 83 (134 kilometers) miles north of
Montego Bay, Jamaica. No injuries are reported.[57]
January 31 – Photographer Caroline Power discovers a "blanket" of plastic five miles long and two miles wide (five by three kilometers) near
Roatán Island, Honduras. It is believed to have been washed from the
Motagua River during heavy rains in Guatemala.[58]
932 kilos of pure gold worth $50 million (€46 million) is discovered on an airplane after it made an emergency landing at Reina Beatrix airport in
Aruba.[64]
The United Nations Human Rights Commission demands that Cuba immediately liberate three political prisoners arrested on "vague" charges.[65]
Police in Haiti violently protest against money being spent on a carnaval celebrations instead of their salaries.[69] One soldier dies the next day.[70]
February 24 – Cuba's annual cigar trade fair begins.[71]
February 26 –
Mexican authorities grant permission for a
cruise ship registered in
Malta to dock in
Cozumel, Quintana Roo, because she carries a passenger presumed to be infected with the
coronavirus. The ship was previously denied access to ports in
Jamaica and the
Cayman Islands.[72] Two cases of flu were found.[73]
February 27 – Independence Day, Dominican Republic[4]
March 1 – The
Caribbean Public Health Agency says the area faces a "moderate to high" danger of exposure to
COVID-19. No cases have been confirmed in the region to date.[76]
March 12 – Jamaica reports eight cases of COVID-19, Dominican Republic 5,
Cuba 4.
Martinique 3, St. Martin 2, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent & Grenadines,
Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Barthelemy, and Caymen Islands one each.[77]
Cuban authorities say they have developed a new medicine that has proven effective in treating COVID-19, and that is being offered for sale on the international market.[78]
In a historic first, all
Peace Corps volunteers worldwide are withdrawn from their host countries.[81]
March 18
National Anthem and Flag Day (Kingdom of the Netherlands)[44]
The government of
Puerto Rico implements a curfew and closes schools, some businesses, and government agencies.[82]
Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of the late
Jeffrey Epstein, sues his estate in Superior Court in the U.S. Virgin Islands because she has received threats requiring her to hire personal security services.[83]
March 19 – First two cases of
COVID-19 in Haiti. Airports, schools, factories, and seaports are closed.[84]
March 29 – The
United States Coast Guard issues a safety bulletin for
Florida,
Georgia,
South Carolina, and Puerto Rico stating that foreign-flagged vessels carrying more than 50 people should prepare to treat any sick passengers and crew on board and try to medically evacuate the very sick to their countries home countries.[86]
U.S. President
Donald Trump announces that he is stepping up pressure on Venezuelan President
Nicolás Maduro after indicating Maduro on drug and terrorism charges. Trump sends anti-drug Navy ships and
AWACS planes to the region near
Venezuela in the largest military build-up in the region since the
1989 invasion of Panama to remove General
Manuel Noriega from power.[87]
April 2 – The
United Kingdom sends the armed hospital ship
RFA Argus to the Caribbean to stop the narcotics trade from Venezuela. France sent the Dixmunde a few days earlier.[89] This is the largest
armada ever assembled in the Western Hemisphere.[90]
April 3 – The Venezuelan patrol boat Naiguata rammed the Portuguese-flagged RCGS Resolute, which was accused of piracy. The Naiguata sank.[91]
April 16 – Forty-two people die after drinking adulterated alcohol from three clandestine distilleries in the Dominican Republic.[92]
April 24 – California-based
Chevron Corporation must end its oil operations in Venezuela by December 1. Chevron's net daily production in 2019 averaged 35,300 barrels of crude oil, equal to roughly 6% of Venezuela's total production.[95]
U.S.-based Church of Bible Understanding faces charges of negligence in relation to the February 13 fire that killed 13 children and two adults in a Haitian orphanage.[97]
April 26
Cuba sends 1,200 doctors to 22 countries to help with the COVID-19 pandemic.[98]
500 Venezuela migrants living in Colombia block a highway in protest of the lockdown due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia. They say the makes it impossible for them to work. There are 1.8 million Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia.[101]
Two dozen Colombians deported from the United States have been found to have coronavirus. Other infections among deportees have been found in Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, and Jamaica.[102]
May 1 –
Labour Day in Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. "Agriculture and Labour Day" in Haiti
May 2
A series of earthquakes strike Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.[104] One centered in
Tallaboa,
Encarnación, Peñuelas, Puerto Rico has a Mw5.4.[105] Power outages and damages are reported in Puerto Rico where families cannot be relocated in shelters because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[106]
May 6 – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denies U.S. government in the Sunday boat attack on Venezuela and says they will use 'every tool' to release the two Americans arrested.[110]
May 8 – COVID-19 pandemic: Haiti faces hunger and a breakdown of its health services. There are 34,000 people in resettlement camps and the country has reported eleven deaths and 100 coronavirus infections.[111]
May 10 –
Mother's Day, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, United States Virgin Islands
May 18 – Discovery Day, Cayman Islands
May 19 –
AT&T closes its operations in Venezuela.[112]
Emmanuel Constant, the accused leader of a
Haitian death squad, was not among thirty Haitians deported from the U.S. All 30 have tested negative for COVID-19. Some of the 200 deported earlier this year have tested positive for the virus.[113]
Vote counting in the
2020 Surinamese general election is suspended because the ruling party is losing and the workers are exhausted after numerous complaints of electoral fraud.[114]
May 27 – A federal court suspends budget cuts for the Puerto Rican government.[115]
May 28 – Legislative leaders from Colombia and Cuba will meet with their counterparts from eight other Latin American countries to discuss a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[116]
Venezuela arrests three local executives, Venezuelan citizens, of
DirecTV after the Dallas-based
company closed its offices on May 19.[120]
Tropical storm Cristobal causes severe flooding in southern Mexico and threatens the Gulf coast of the United States.[121]
June 7 – COVID-19 pandemic: Cuba is praised for its response to the pandemic. The country reports 2,173 confirmed cases of and 83 deaths from coronavirus.[122]
The ruling coalition in Guyana says it will go to court to prevent a declaration that the
People's Progressive Party won the March 2 presidential election.[124]
The WHO reports a decrease in
malaria in Latin America, mainly due to decreases in Venezuela, Colombia, and Guyana, although there are fears that many cases are going undetected as sick people stay home instead of going to hospitals. In the first five months of 2020, Venezuela registered 104,005 cases, a decrease of 58% compared to 248,191 in the same period in 2019. Haiti, Suriname, and Dominican Republic report increases.[126]
June 13 – Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II (celebrated in British overseas territories)[32]
July 14 – Fête de la Federation (celebrated in overseas departments and collectivities of France)[41]
June 15 – Target date for reopening Aruba to tourism after COVID-19 pandemic.[117]
June 16 – Mexican President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador says that Mexico will sell fuel to Venezuela for humanitarian purposes if requested.[127]
June 21 –
Father's Day, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands
July 13 – COVID-19 pandemic: A report by The New York Times and the
Marshall Project indicates that
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worsened the spread of the pandemic by deporting sick people to their countries of origin, including Haiti.[134]
July 17 – Venezuela protests against the incursion of the American destroyer
USS ''Pinckney'' only 16.1 nautical miles (30 km) from its coast. The United States recognizes jurisdiction of only 12 nautical miles and insists the ship was in international waters.[135]
July 20 – The Bahamas announces that commercial flights and sea cruises from most countries, including the United States, will be banned starting on July 22.[136]
July 23 – Authorities in Colombia seize a luxury mansion allegedly belonging to businessman Alex Saab, who was detained in
Cape Verde on U.S. corruption charges related to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.[137]
July 31 –
Hurricane Isaias strikes Turcos and Caicos and threatens the Bahamas.[139] The Category 1 hurricane batters the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Puerto Rico.[140]
August 3 –
Panama proposes sending 2,000 Haitian, Cuban, and African migrants home after disturbances in camps.[141]
August 4 – Former Colombian President
Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) is placed under house arrest in relation to a case investigating alleged
witness tampering. One day later he tests positive for COVID-19.[142]
August 5 – Emancipation Day, the Bahamas
August 6
Independence Day, Jamaica (from the United Kingdom, 1962)[23]
COVID-19 pandemic: One day after reporting no new cases, Cuba reports 49 new infections.[143]
August 7 – The El Salvador Supreme Court rejects efforts to reopen the economy.[144]
Second round of primary elections in Puerto Rico after ballot mishap.[153]
August 18 – U.S. customs agents in Florida intercept a Venezuela-bound plane that is loaded with guns and ammunition. The flight plan listed St. Vincent and the Grenadines as its destination.[154]
August 21 – Colombian President Ivan Duque says Venezuela is planning to give its
Russian- and
Belarus-made missiles to armed groups in Colombia and uy new ones from
Iran. Madero says it would be a good idea.[155]
August 23 – A ten-year-old girl is killed in Haiti by Hurricane Laura.[157] 100,000 people are evacuated[158] and two are killed in the Dominican Republic.[159]
The
Pittsburgh Pirates take #21 out of retirement for a game against the Chicago White Sox at
PNC Park. September 9 is celebrated by
Major League Baseball (MLB) as "
Roberto Clemente Day". Clemente, a
Puerto Rico native, died in a plane crash in December 1972 while en route to Nicaragua to deliver disaster relief to victims of an earthquake.[165]
Barbados Governor General says the country should leave the
Commonwealth and become a Republic by November 2021.[167]
Mexican researchers have identified remains of the ship La Unión as one that was used to carry Maya slaves from Yucatán to Cuba during the
Caste War of Yucatán.[168]
November 14 –
Deepavali, Hindu holiday; Guyana, Suriname
November 16 –
Hurricane Iota: Category 5 hurricane is expected to make landfall in Honduras and Nicaragua.[180]
December
December 6 –
2020 Venezuelan parliamentary election: Turnout is 31% as Maduro's government is reelected with 67.6%, the traditional opposition won 17.95%, and dissidents on the left won 3% of the vote.[181] Eighteen countries in America (including the United States and Canada but excluding Argentina, Bolivia, and Mexico) call the election fraudulent and illegal.[182]
December 7 – The Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic announce they have found eight bodies and seventeen people are missing from a boat capsizing near Lavacama,
La Altagracia Province.[183]
December 18 – The United States Coast Guard and Navy and the
Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard apprehend seven vessels near Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with 3,700 pounds of cocaine; 19 arrested in the $60 million seizure.[184]
December 22 –
COVID-19 pandemic in the Cayman Islands: Skylar Mack, 18, a student from
Loganville, Georgia, and Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, a professional
jet ski racer from the Cayman Islands, will have to serve only two months each in a Caymanian prison after being convicted of violating quarantine rules in November.[185]
December 30 – Authorities issue volcanic alerts in Martinique and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Mount Pelée became active in early December and
La Soufrière on December 29.[186]
February 26 –
Clementina Vélez, 73, Colombian doctor, academic and politician,
MP (1990–1991, 1998–2002) and
city councillor of Cali (1972–1986, 1992–1997, 2004–2019); heart attack[204]
^Guyana has a border dispute with Suriname, which claims the area east of the left bank of the
Corentyne River and the New River in southwestern Suriname. Suriname claims the
Tigri Area.[7]
^Suriname is a border dispute with Guyana, which claims the area east of the left bank of the Corentyne River and the New River in southeastern Suriname. Guyana claims the
Tigri Area.[7]
†Physiographically, these
continental islands are not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically.
#Bermuda is an isolated
North Atlanticoceanic island, physiographically not part of the Lucayan Archipelago, Antilles, Caribbean Sea nor North American continental nor South American continental islands. It is grouped with the
Northern American region, but occasionally also with the Caribbean region culturally.