On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina of Sint Maarten held a high-level bilateral meeting with Her Excellency Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, the first female President of Suriname.

“That is totally inaccurate,” Minister of Finance Ms. Marinka Gumbs stated last night in a swift reaction to an article that appeared in the Antilliaans Dagblad of Thursday, September 25, 2025 concerning her alleged refusal to withdraw her nomination of Attorney Jairo Bloem to the position of Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten.

Since the start of her tenure, the Minister of Finance, Hon. Marinka Gumbs, has received monthly complaints from vendors regarding delays in payments. In most cases, these delays were linked to the fact that services were committed to by various persons without proper authorization, budget reservations, or timely approval.

The One St. Martin Association (One SXM) delivered a direct address to the world at the Baku Initiative Group (BIG) Conference at UN Headquarters, forcefully challenging the continued colonial domination of St. Martin and condemning the recently signed Bougival Accord as a tool of recolonization.

The Progress Committee Sint Maarten has released its 50th report, covering the period October 2024 through March 2025. The committee concludes that the overall situation has not improved significantly since its previous review and that major steps remain to be taken across the justice chain.

The recent statement from the Committee for Financial Supervision (Cft) confirming that St. Maarten’s healthcare system is on an unsustainable course echoes concerns raised nearly two years ago by Social and Healthcare Insurance Executive Organization (SZV) Director Glen Carty.