Cuba dice sí , Trinidad & Tobago say Not yet - Caribbean IRN Update September 2014

Image from http://www.thecubanhistory.com/ : IDAHO march in Cuba

 Cuba voted Yes along with 24 other countries of the UN Human Rights Council  in favour of a resolution against homophobic violence and discrimination. Guyana's neighbours, Venezuela and Brazil also voted in favour of the resolution.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Kamla Persaud-Bissessar indicated that it was not legally possible to deal with gay rights. This revelation generated responses from activists and organisations including CAISO and included comments from the the Inter-Religious Organisation 
and the Catholic Church. This post on Global Voices describes the reactions.
In Jamaica, Father Sean Major-Campbell of the Anglican Church writes about the criminalisation of sex.

In Trinidad & Tobago, the TT Film Festival awarded its inaugural Amnesty International Human Rights Prize to the Abominable Crime. The film is described in the award announcement as a "touching, troubling reflection of the struggle gays and lesbians in Jamaica face to achieve their rights."
This review of the film by Colin Robinson and Angelique V. Nixon of the Caribbean IRN was published in the Trinidad Guardian.

In Suriname, police violence against transgender sex workers is reported in the media. The report is made by Beephasha

Beephasha - image from http://paramaribocity.blogspot.com/2014/09/gay-sekswerkers-mishandeld-door-agenten.html

There is a news report from 1978 in Guyana about sex-change operations which were done at the Georgetown Public Hospital (under the public health system).

SEX OPERATION SUCCESSFUL-DREAM COME TRUE
(The Citizen January 26,1978)
Guyana’s second transsexual in 13 months is now resting at the Georgetown Hospital after what was described as a successful operation.
The 24-year-old described as a competent seamstress was wheeled into the theatre a man and came out some ninety minutes later with all the physical attributes of a woman thanks to the surgeon’s sharp knives.
“At last my dream has come true,” the 24-year-old said yesterday a few hours after the sex change operation.
“And I have informed all the nursing staff here that I will now be known as Sabrina,” the patient said.
The patient wore blue pyjamas in the theatre, a special concession granted, as it was to be the last time ever. Later the patient donned a pink nightie and was hustled into a private room, safe from the prying eyes of curious persons.
Sabrina has been asked for a list of persons who will be allowed to visit and no one else will be sent into the room.
Sabrina will spend one week in hospital and intends to carry on with the job of a seamstress and hairdresser after being discharged.

2nd SEX CHANGE OPERATION SOON
(The Citizen January 24, 1978)
A young man who had been taking hormone treatment for some time, is to be operated on shortly and is likely to become the country’s second transsexual in just over one year.
The handsome 24-year-old man wants to become a woman.
The brown skinned man who weighs 144 pounds and is five feet seven inches tall said that most of his life he wanted to become a woman and it seems as if his dreams are soon to become a reality.
According to the young man the operation is expected to be performed within seventy-two hours.
He said that he is from a family of nine children, four of whom are boys.
He said that since he was attending private school he wanted to join the girls as they went about their needlework and wanted to do all the other things girls did.
On many occasions he practiced the things he saw the girls doing and for some time he has been a competent “seamstress and hairdresser.”
A leading gynaecologist who was involved in the first sex change operation and a team of surgeons are expected to carry out the operation this week.