NASSAU MONTHLY -- MARCH 2009

UNCLAS NASSAU 000207

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO ECON EFIN PGOV PREL BF
SUBJECT: NASSAU MONTHLY -- MARCH 2009


1. (U) This is a monthly report on a variety of topics of interest
which do not merit full reporting cables.

-- SOUTHCOM Still Loves Nassau
-- Nassau World's Busiest Cruise Port, Visitor Numbers Still Down
-- PM: Government Revenue "Disastrous"
-- Unemployment Hits 15 Year High
-- Old Police Commissioner (Acting) Asked to Stay On
-- As War on Crime Heats Up
-- Father of the Country
-- PLP Seeks New Deputy Leader
-- Water Problems Parch New Providence
-- Hurricane Hunter Sparks Official Gratitude, Wows Local School
Kids

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SOUTHCOM Still Loves Nassau
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2. (SBU) Over 500 military personnel from the U.S., sixteen
Caribbean nations, and Great Britain participated in Southern
Command's 25th annual Tradewinds exercise March 4-18 in Nassau with
outstanding support from the Bahamian government. The exercise
focused on maritime interdiction and search and rescue operations,
including boarding, evidence processing and hazardous material
handling. Tradewinds is designed to improve cooperation and
interoperability among Caribbean Basin Partner Nations in responding
to shared regional security threats. SOUTHCOM hosted the event,
despite The Bahamas' shift to NORTHCOM, in a sign of its continued
commitment to involving The Bahamas in existing regional security
programs.

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Nassau World's Busiest Cruise Port,
Visitor Numbers Still Down
--------------

3. (U) The Nassau port was listed as the busiest cruise terminal in
2008, surpassing long-time champion Cozumel, with 1.1 million
visitors to the island. Carnival Cruise, who collected the
statistics, projects 2.2 million cruise passengers will visit The
Bahamas in 2009. So far so good, as the Ministry of Tourism
reported cruise passenger arrivals were up 30 percent in January
2009 when compared to the same period in 2008. Despite this good
news, the Ministry of Tourism reported a 4.5 percent decrease in
total visitors (both cruise and air) to The Bahamas in 2008, with
the last quarter of 2008 showing a significant decrease in U.S.
visitors.

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PM: Government Revenue "Disastrous"
--------------

4. (U) Prime Minister Ingraham described government revenue
collection as "disastrous" March 25 and said revenue for the first
quarter of the year was bleak. He sought to dispel any notion that
public funds could be used for unemployment assistance once the
National Insurance Board's Medical Fund is depleted, explaining that
employees and employers will need to contribute to ensure
sustainability. The Minister of State for Finance assured the
public that despite the challenges with revenue the government will
be able to fund the deficit this fiscal year and will not reduce
spending at this time. He said that it is uncertain, however,
whether the GCOB will be able to fund the deficit in the 2009/2010
fiscal year budget.

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Unemployment Hits 15 Year High
--------------

5. (U) The Department of Statistics reported the highest
unemployment rate The Bahamas has seen in 15 years. The rate of
unemployment jumped from 8.7 percent in May 2008 to 12.1 percent in
March 2009. A total of 16,315 people are looking for work in New
Providence, and 4,195 people in Grand Bahama. To make matters
worse, the Grand Bahama numbers increased this month after the Isle
of Capri casino closed operations, leaving 234 additional jobless on
the second most populous island.

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Old Police Commissioner (Acting)
Asked to Stay On ...
--------------

6. (SBU) The GCOB named Reginald Ferguson Commissioner of Police
March 17 after he spent well over a year as acting commissioner,
completing a leadership restructuring exercise that considerably
thinned the top ranks. Ferguson may not serve a full five-year term
given his age and seniority. In related news, parliament passed new
legislation in February that imposed a 10-year term-limit on the
commissioner and deputy commissioner of police, allowing a single
reappointment. The opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP)
protested loudly and abstained from the vote, claiming the measure
was unconstitutional and would make the chief of police too
vulnerable to political pressure.
--------------
... As War on Crime Heats Up
--------------

7. (SBU) Another high-speed chase through residential neighborhoods
ended in a fatal shoot-out with police March 22, leaving one gunman
dead and officers unharmed. An official warned the public that
policemen were trained to use firearms and would defend themselves
when confronted: "No police officer is a head-hunter, but no
criminal has the right to try and take a police officer out." Two
more violent attacks were recorded in areas frequented by Embassy
staff - a near-fatal stabbing of a patron outside a popular
waterfront nightspot opposite the famed Atlantis towers, and a
beating death during evening working hours in a supermarket parking
lot.

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Father of the Country
--------------

8. (SBU) The muckraking Tribune newspaper provoked a wave of
outrage and criticism with reports alleging that Sir Lynden Pindling
-- The Bahamas' first black Prime Minister, PLP leader and "father
of the country" suspected by many of drug-related corruption -- was
responsible for the early 1980s disappearance of an airplane with
the loss of two Bahamian crewmen who supposedly "knew too much"
about official collusion with Colombian drug lords. Other reports
questioned the accepted version of his Bahamian birth and
nationality and speculated he was Jamaican or -- even worse for
popular biases -- Haitian-born.

The ensuing controversies united the opposition PLP in righteous
indignation in the lead-up to a celebration of Pindling's birthday
on March 22, without eliciting denials about the accuracy of the
underlying and longstanding corruption suspicions. Reactions to
both stories were far out of proportion to the meager evidence cited
for either charge. But they reflected the PLP's keen sensitivity to
reminders about the drug-smuggling boom in the late 1970s and early
1980s, given widespread perceptions of scandal and corruption in the
PLP administration from 2002-7.

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PLP Seeks New Deputy Leader
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9. (SBU) The opposition plans to hold its next convention in late
October 2009, according to a report in a widely-read tabloid
confirmed by an opposition source. The perennially cash-strapped
party held a "spring festival" for supporters in advance of the
Pindling birthday observance to raise money for the planned
convention. Observers speculate the PLP will stage a race for the
deputy leadership. The question is how the race will be run --
whether incumbent leader Perry Christie will anoint a successor to
be confirmed, or will allow an open competition among a handful of
hopefuls to bring in new blood. Either way, the result would leave
Christie's top spot uncontested for the second time since the PLP's
May 2007 election loss.

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Water Problems Parch New Providence
--------------

10. (SBU) Periodic water shortages hit Nassau as mechanical
problems and bad weather hampered regular barging operations, which
supply some 30 percent of the capital's water supply, from
neighboring Andros Island. Public service announcements warned for
weeks of unspecified supply difficulties and conservation measures
during an unseasonably cool and dry winter period. Neighborhoods in
the south of the island were left high and dry from March 19 as
strong winds causing ocean swells disrupted the only water barge's
daily runs. The responsible minister opined that Nassau's water
situation was financially "unsustainable" due to decaying
infrastructure, outdated pricing, which does not account for high
costs of the latest reverse osmosis desalinization processes, and
rising energy and other fixed costs. He said a multi-million dollar
taxpayer bailout was needed to get the water utility back on an even
keel in the long term.

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Hurricane Hunter Sparks Official Gratitude,
Wows Local School Kids
--------------

11. (SBU) A U.S. Air Force "Hurricane Hunter" C-130 aircraft
visited Nassau on March 23 as part of NOAA's Caribbean Hurricane
Awareness Tour (CHAT). CDA gave opening remarks along with GCOB
officials, followed by a tour of the plane. Bahamian Minister of
Environment Earl Deveaux thanked the National Hurricane Center (NHC)
and the crew of the hurricane hunter aircraft for their steadfast
cooperation with The Bahamas during hurricane season. The Bahamian
Meteorological Service was equally grateful for the support of the
NHC during hurricane season. U.S. Air Force officials and NOAA
scientists spent the rest of the afternoon giving tours to Bahamian
schoolchildren. Local media were present at the event and the visit
was covered in The Bahamas' largest newspaper, as well as on local
radio and television.

ZUNIGA-BROWN