The stage is set for the highly anticipated Miss Elegantly Plus Caribbean Queen Pageant, as four accomplished women from across the region prepare to compete for the title. The event will take place on Friday, March 14, at 7 PM at the Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium, H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Ahead of the main competition, some delegates participated in two optional segments on March 13—the Spokeswoman Speech and Fun Fashion categories. While these events do not contribute to the final scores, they provided a platform for the contestants to express their personalities and love for pageantry. Emerging victorious in both categories was Delegate #3, Sylvanna Charles, Miss Elegantly Plus British Virgin Islands, who impressed judges at The Golden Soirée with her eloquence and style.

The inaugural pageant will bring together delegates representing the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, and Antigua & Barbuda, each of whom has a strong background in pageantry and community engagement.

Representing the British Virgin Islands is Sylvanna L. Charles, who was crowned BVI Festival Princess in 2005. Hasanna Graham, carrying the banner for the U.S. Virgin Islands, previously earned the title of Miss Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School in 2012. Mekelia A. Miller, hailing from Trinidad & Tobago, won the Miss La Reine Rive’ (Miss Best Village) title in the 2023 Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy Competition. From Antigua & Barbuda, Milove J. S. Fontaine joins the lineup, having been crowned Miss Charisma in 2020.

This competition is more than just a pageant—it is a celebration of cultural pride, elegance, and confidence among plus-size women in the Caribbean. The winner will make history as the first-ever Miss Elegantly Plus Caribbean Queen, setting the foundation for future editions of this empowering event.

Just over a year after pleading guilty in the high-profile drug trafficking case, Oleanvine Pickering Maynard, the former Managing Director of the BVI Ports Authority, is set to walk free much earlier than expected. But why?

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Maynard, 63, who is currently incarcerated at Baltimore RRM, is scheduled for release on March 21—a short cry from the nine-year sentence she received in June 2023 for her role in a DEA-led drug trafficking conspiracy. The abrupt reduction raises questions about what factors contributed to her early release.

Now, with Oleanvine Maynard’s sudden release date just days away, speculation grows over whether her cooperation with U.S. authorities played a larger role in the case than previously known. What did she reveal, and who else might be implicated? Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor the BOP has publicly addressed the specifics of her shortened incarceration. However, it is common for federal inmates to receive sentence reductions for substantial assistance in ongoing investigations or for participating in rehabilitation programs.

Her son, Kadeem Stephan Maynard, 33, who was convicted alongside her, is also due for release soon—on April 6. He is currently being held at Miami FDC. Kadeem was sentenced to 57 months but will serve just over two years since his guilty plea in 2023.

Meanwhile, former BVI Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie, convicted in February 2024 on charges of conspiracy to import cocaine and money laundering, faces a much longer road. He remains incarcerated at Jesup FCI, with a release date currently set for May 30, 2033.

Maynard’s upcoming freedom is bound to spark debate in the BVI and beyond. As she prepares to return to society, the public is left with a lingering question. If she truly struck a deal, what information did she provide, and how deep does this case go?

Oleanvine Maynard, her son Kadeem Maynard, and former Premier Andrew Fahie were arrested in April 2022 in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sting operation in Miami, Florida. The case stemmed from an undercover investigation in which DEA agents, posing as members of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, approached the officials with an offer to traffic thousands of kilograms of cocaine through the British Virgin Islands to the U.S. mainland.

During the sting, Fahie and the Maynards allegedly agreed to facilitate the drug shipments in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes. Court documents revealed that Oleanvine Maynard was eager to play a key role in the operation, referring to the opportunity as her “blessing.”

The arrests exposed deep concerns about government corruption and drug trafficking links in the territory. In June 2023, Oleanvine Maynard pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine and money laundering, while her son Kadeem also pleaded guilty to drug charges.

Fahie, who initially maintained his innocence, was convicted in February 2024 after a trial in Miami federal court. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

A proposed tariff set to be enacted by the United States government next month threatens to unravel decades of economic ties between the U.S. and the Caribbean. The new policy, which would impose a hefty $1 million port fee on any Chinese-built vessel calling at U.S. ports, could raise shipping costs by thousands of dollars per container, potentially shifting the flow of goods between the U.S. and the Caribbean to foreign competitors. For Caribbean exporters, this tariff would be a major blow, raising the cost of goods and disrupting established trade relationships that total $92.3 billion annually.

While the United States government has framed the proposal as a trade measure aimed at countering unfair practices, it will have profound implications for Caribbean economies that depend on efficient, cost-effective shipping services to move goods. Most of the vessels serving the region were built in China, meaning the vast majority of Caribbean trade will be directly impacted by this policy.

For Caribbean businesses, the stakes are high. With rising shipping costs, many companies could be forced to either absorb the additional costs or pass them along to consumers. Both scenarios are unsustainable. Higher prices on exports to the Caribbean would make American goods less competitive, pushing businesses in the region to turn to other nations for supplies. The result? U.S. exports to the Caribbean could plummet, damaging a $92.3 billion trade relationship and costing both U.S. and Caribbean businesses valuable market share.

The proposed tariff will also hurt the livelihoods of many Caribbean workers who rely on a robust, affordable shipping network to support industries like agriculture, manufacturing, and retail. Rising shipping costs could result in fewer goods reaching the islands, driving up prices and making it harder for businesses to operate. For smaller Caribbean economies, the impact could be even more severe, as many rely heavily on U.S. imports for basic goods and supplies.

Tropical Shipping, a key player in U.S.-Caribbean trade, has raised its voice against the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) proposal, warning of the far-reaching consequences for both American and Caribbean workers. “This tariff will not only raise costs for Caribbean businesses but will hurt American workers as well,” said Tropical’s President and CEO in a letter to the USTR. “American workers in port operations, warehousing, trucking, and logistics will feel the impact, while exporters from the U.S. will find themselves less competitive compared to foreign rivals.”

At its core, the proposal threatens to destabilize Caribbean economies by driving up the cost of goods exported from the U.S. and weakening the region’s reliance on U.S. ports. The Caribbean is the United States’ largest trading partner in the Western Hemisphere, and this tariff would directly reduce the volume of goods passing through U.S. ports, ultimately harming jobs in both regions. It would also make it increasingly difficult for Caribbean countries to maintain consistent access to the goods they need, further straining already delicate economic conditions.

The Caribbean’s stake in this decision is clear. Tropical Shipping is urging businesses and individuals across the region to submit comments to the USTR, outlining how this tariff would affect their operations. This simple step could be a turning point, helping to prevent a trade policy that could ultimately disrupt the flow of goods between the U.S. and the Caribbean.

For more information about the USTR Section 301 proposal and how to submit your comments, visit the USTR Public Comment Page.

Tropical Shipping remains committed to protecting the interests of both Caribbean businesses and American workers, recognizing that both regions are interconnected in ways that cannot be ignored. The outcome of this decision could have lasting consequences for U.S.-Caribbean trade — a relationship that is essential to both economies’ continued prosperity.