thank you fred mitchell for nothing!



I have been paying close attention to the plight of five (5) of my fellow Bahamian citizens, who worked as Baggage Handlers at our International Airport in Nassau who were in the minds of many Bahamians set up By the Bahamian Government. From all accounts it seems as though these fellow citizens of ours; are on their own. No one in the government is offering the type of support that they need a good lawyer and it seems that they on their own cannot afford one.

This event is playing out more like a story of a government asleep while its citizens are been abuse, kidnapped and all the government is saying, if you do not support this action, you are in favour of drug-smuggling.

I now suddenly realized to my chargrin, that for the past four and a half years of this PLP administration, we have played Cuba and other communist nations so close and now the chickens are coming home to lay their eggs.

Bahamians should recall that immediately upon his election as Prime Minister, Perry Christie following the advice of his Foreign Minister went to Cuba with almost his entire cabinet and PLP senior officials. Pictures coming from the event showed all busting with pride holding Cuban Cigars in their hand. Noted among the group was the now Minister of Transportation who once served as an official of the now defunked Vanguard Nationalist Party, which was the Bahamian arm of the Cuban Communist Party.

Worst of all, we know that our Minister of Foreign Affairs stood-up the United States Secretary of State up for lunch, in an effort to travel to Cuba to met with the officials of that Communist Nation in what he declared was the opening of important bi-lateral relations between Cuba and the Bahamas.

There was also the delay in making a decision so as to appease the Cubans with respect to the Cuban Doctor. There are many such issues that suggest that our government was showed utter disrespects to our great friend and neighbor America. Each and every day, our Foreign Minister would publicly state, the Bahamas is a sovereign Nation and as such we make decisions in our national interest.

Well I submit to you that the USA held the removal of the Pre-Clearance Facilities over this government head as a means of setting up Bahamian as a smoke screen and the real purpose is to show the Bahamas that our disrespect of them was not taken lightly.

As this PLP government has demonstrated to me, any idiot can make enemies, but it takes a respectful approach to diplomacy to maintain good relations with long established friends. In this case it is my view despite the public pronouncements of the US and of the Bahamian government, America is really upset with our new found foreign policy and they have placed serious ultimatums of this government, not least among them is the removal of the removal of pre-clearance. I firmly believe that soon and very soon, that facility will be removed and not be enjoyed by Bahamians and visitors no more.

It is also my view that it will be in no small measure to what happened to the five (5) baggage handlers, seriously, Bahamians must blame Fred Mitchell.

It is my hope that Fred Mitchell our current Minister of Foreign Affairs and his own personal gestures of goodwill toward the communist will be good enough to gain for the Bahamas a good bi-lateral trading partner as the one that we as Bahamians love so much the United States of America.

Talking about killing the goose that laid the golden egg, Fred in my view has already done that. Blame Fred Mitchell, then punish Perry Christie and the entire PLP Government for following his advice.

the relationship between the bahamas and cuba is far greater than you suggest...
i'm not pro-cuba, or pro-usa...i'm pro history...and history says that the relationship we have developed over the last century warrants the consideration shown by each country


Explain please. And how has this "historic" relationship benefited the Bahamas?

Explain please. And how has this "historic" relationship benefited the Bahamas?


ask the cuban bahamian families, ask the professionals who attained their degrees in cuba...and all the patients that have received quality, affordable medical care...

i know about the incident with the defence force boats...

im not pro us or pro cuba...

... Blame Fred Mitchell, then punish Perry Christie and the entire PLP Government for following his advice.
[/FONT]


You aint lie.

ask the cuban bahamian families, ask the professionals who attained their degrees in cuba...and all the patients that have received quality, affordable medical care...
i know about the incident with the defence force boats...
im not pro us or pro cuba...

Hmmm...so....let me get this straight.

Cuban families are benefiting from these "historic" ties? What about Bahamian families????

Bahamians can't get a good education in the Bahamas...so they are encouraged to go to Cuba??

Bahamians can't get quality, affordable medical care in the Bahamas...so they are encouraged to go to Cuba??

How has this improved the Bahamas? Something is very wrong with this picture.

And the government needs to WAKE UP!

Hmmm...so....let me get this straight.
Cuban families are benefiting from these "historic" ties? What about Bahamian families????
Bahamians can't get a good education in the Bahamas...so they are encouraged to go to Cuba??
Bahamians can't get quality, affordable medical care in the Bahamas...so they are encouraged to go to Cuba??
How has this improved the Bahamas? Something is very wrong with this picture.
And the government needs to WAKE UP!

what about cuban bahamian families...there are a few...

everything's cool if you don't want to talk about it don't direct your posts to me...
but feel free to continue ranting....

better yet go to the southern bahamas, ragged island...and tell them how bad cubans are for the bahamas....
then look at all the cuban bahamian families and head for the nearest mailboat

what about cuban bahamian families...there are a few...
everything's cool if you don't want to talk about it don't direct your posts to me...
but feel free to continue ranting....
better yet go to the southern bahamas, ragged island...and tell them how bad cubans are for the bahamas....
then look at all the cuban bahamian families and head for the nearest mailboat


Buddy/gal...you a special character.

YOU brought up the Cuban families and YOU engaged me in conversation on the issue.

If you can't explain what you are talking about or how the Bahamas has benefited from closer ties with Cuba just say so....no blood loss.

Buddy/gal...you a special character.
YOU brought up the Cuban families and YOU engaged me in conversation on the issue.
If you can't explain what you are talking about or how the Bahamas has benefited from closer ties with Cuba just say so....no blood loss.


if you can't see the obvious truth of it then hey you're on the right sight plenty blind xenophobic bigots here...

many cuban bahamian families feel that our ties with cuba are fantastic...
they have greater access to family and friends in cuba...

there are many bahamian prisoners in cuba that have greater access to justice, and to their families...because of our 'close ties'

the medical training...invaluable....
education...invaluable contributions...providing access for bahamians to professional training that bahamians could not afford otherwise...

but how about this why don't you tell me how our relationship with cuba has hurt us...

and i already heard the one about the us getting mad at us for playing with cuba...

if you can't see the obvious truth of it then hey you're on the right sight plenty blind xenophobic bigots here...
many cuban bahamian families feel that our ties with cuba are fantastic...
they have greater access to family and friends in cuba...
there are many bahamian prisoners in cuba that have greater access to justice, and to their families...because of our 'close ties'
the medical training...invaluable....
education...invaluable contributions...providing access for bahamians to professional training that bahamians could not afford otherwise...


So AGAIN you imply everything is better in Cuba...education, medical care and now the justice system!

How about improving our own educational, medical care and justice systems!

How has these systems improved in the Bahamas over the years during our closer relationship with Cuba?



but how about this why don't you tell me how our relationship with cuba has hurt us...
and i already heard the one about the us getting mad at us for playing with cuba...


See Thread called "CIA World Fact Book," post #18
http://www.bahamasissues.com/showpost.php?p=85028&postcount=18

So AGAIN you imply everything is better in Cuba...education, medical care and now the justice system!
How about improving our own educational, medical care and justice systems!
How has these systems improved in the Bahamas over the years during our closer relationship with Cuba?
See Thread called "CIA World Fact Book," post #18
http://www.bahamasissues.com/showpost.php?p=85028&postcount=18


cuba can mobilize one hundred thousand citizens for evacuation in natural and man-made disasters...there is a lesson we can learn from cuba...
they also invited us to assess a home construction project for low-income housing...we took them up on the offer by the way...
and i think cuba can teach us a lesson about agriculture and self-sufficiency...

by the way have you read 'Assassination of an Economic Hitman'...its a good read...


we all agree that any relationship with cuba tarnishes a country's relationship with the usa...

but hey any relationship with the us tarnishes a country's relationship with radical islam...
and they don't care about international relations either...they just does blow ya up.....

we are one the highest tourist destinations in the region...apply your logic to this scenario...aren't we putting ourselves at risk by consorting with americans?

ask the cuban bahamian families, ask the professionals who attained their degrees in cuba...and all the patients that have received quality, affordable medical care...
i know about the incident with the defence force boats...
im not pro us or pro cuba...

OOOOOOOOOOHHH! YOU COULD STORY NAH!!! Just tell us of one notable CUBAN trained professional in the Bahamas or one er them Cuban Bahamain families YOU know bout! And chile...I een ger talk bout all them "young" quality and affordable "meDICal care" plenty er these Bahamian males does go down to Cuba for!!!

Hi all, I'm new here and joined in order to post about another topic, but when I saw this issue I HAVE to comment.

I'm US and so's my husband, but he's Cuban-born and came to US in 1960. We have a home in Great Harbour Cay and consider the residents there our family. BUT when they visit Cuba, we are dismayed. Can you imagine, as a Bahamian, going to Atlantis, for example, and not being allowed in because you're Bahamian?! If you're admitted to a hospital, do ya have to bring your own soap and sheets, while foreigners are being treated at a better facility? Do you have to line up at the store to try to get a couple cans pigeon peas when the shipment comes in? Well this stuff happens all the time in Cuba.

Castro may be alot of bad things, but he IS a very intelligent man. He offers Bahamians free higher education, for example. I wonder if your children are being indoctrinated into the communist mind-set in between Anatomy and Physiology classes. And if so, what will happen when they return to NP, Long Island, etc. with all those "progressive" ideas.

I am appalled and ashamed that our govt. hasn't had the foresight to offer well-deserving Bahamian graduates the same education here in the US. That's our politicians for you - they often miss the boat.

Hi all, I'm new here and joined in order to post about another topic, but when I saw this issue I HAVE to comment.


Welcome to the site, you seem to be very interesting ? I have one question do you feel that our government is getting to close to Cuba to the annoyance of the US and if you agree, should it matters to us ?

If you're admitted to a hospital, do ya have to bring your own soap and sheets, while foreigners are being treated at a better facility?


yes, it's called princess margaret hospital, and many of my friends who have given birth there have had to bring their own bedding with them.

****

disclaimer: i'm from the out islands, so have a much different political perspective most of the time than my big city nassau counterparts, given that we in the boondocks are more often than not left to our own devices.

i'm not certain why y'all continue to call fred mitchell's name as though he's the first bahamian politician to make nice with cuba since the onset of the castro regime. even sir stafford and team was part of the group making certain that our relationship with the biggest country in the caribbean stayed intact, from a business and tourism and education and medical standpoint. and the first time that i ever went to havana was with a business development council out of nassau central government in 1999.

my grandfather and uncle worked on the original development board, which became the ministry of tourism back in the 1950s and 1960s, and they were well aware that it made sense for them to keep in touch with the cuban mindset.

whether or not you agree with the socialist experiment currently underway in cuba, you have to stop and notice that there are no homeless in cuba, everyone is educated and can read and write in cuba, there is health care for all in cuba, and there is a job for everyone who wants one. it's eye-opening, frankly, when you realize that far wealthier countries haven't been able to pull of that extensive a social network.

i have as many friends in the southern bahamas and in cuba who support the castro revolution as do oppose it, so i hear both sides on a regular basis. the fact is, whichever bahamian administration you're inclined to bash here, medical facilities in the out islands are spotty at best. we just passed the hat around eleuthera to get an ekg machine at the levy clinic in governor's harbour, for example. some pretty basic supplies and machines are on the clinics' wishlist island-wide, and eleuthera alone has more than eight clinics in place.

most of my friends, male and female, make their way to cuba for medical treatment because 1. they can afford it, 2. the cuban medical system is more preventive, vs. the 'give em drugs and send them home' approach to medical care most often found in nassau and the usa, 3. cuba gets antibiotics years before the pharmaceutical company-compromised FDA does, and 4. they can afford it.

i have several friends who have won the annual u.s. visa lottery and have opted to stay in havana or camaguey or santiago instead. all i'm saying is, your mileage may differ, but you shouldn't buy the propaganda until you've seen it for yourself.

vive le difference!

im glad i dont live there .. i like freedom of speech!!
down with castro and his murderous regime!!

BTW .. less yall forget, it was a group on an internet forum that said something bad about Castro, and were executed for that .. because they lived in Cuba..