Danica Coto| Associated Press

On Jan. 26, large-scale arrests began, angering many local officials and civil leaders who have created programs to shield and help the island’s immigrants as authorities step up raids to a scale never before seen in Puerto Rico.

Haitian officials say an airport in the country’s southwest region is ready to receive international flights for the first time. No commercial flights are able to land at Haiti's main airport in Port-au-Prince because of persistent gang violence.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is proposing opening a U.N. office that would provide drones, fuel, ground and air transportation and other non-lethal support to a Kenyan-led mission in Haiti struggling to fight gangs.

Jenniffer González Colón has been sworn in as Puerto Rico’s new governor as the island prepared for a normally ebullient ceremony overshadowed by widespread anger over a blackout that hit the U.S. territory days ago.

Officials say it could take up to two days to restore power. The private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution says it appears the outage was caused by a failure in an underground power line.

Guyana is revisiting a dark history nearly half a century after U.S. Rev. Jim Jones and more than 900 of his followers died in the country. Now a government-backed tour operator wants to open the former commune to visitors.

The increase comes as poverty deepens and violence increases amid political instability. Gangs that control 85% of Port-au-Prince are attacking once peaceful communities in a push to assume total control of the capital.

No Caribbean nation manufactures firearms or ammunition or imports them on a large scale, but they account for half of the world’s 10 highest national murder rates.

The president of the Dominican Republic has warned that his administration would take “drastic measures” to protect the country if a U.N.-backed mission in neighboring Haiti targeting gang violence fails.

Dozens of U.S. families are asking the U.S. government for humanitarian parole for some 70 children they’re adopting.

A federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances says it will step in to help speed up projects to fix the island’s crumbling power grid as widespread outages persist.

Haiti’s government has created a provisional electoral council. It is a major first step long sought by the international community so the troubled Caribbean country can prepare for general elections for the first time since 2016.