NASSAU MONTHLY - APRIL 2009

UNCLAS NASSAU 000293 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN PGOV PREL BF SUBJECT: NASSAU MONTHLY - APRIL 2009 ¶1. This is a monthly report on a variety of topics of interest which do not merit full reporting cables. -- Rum Drinkers Mourn as Bacardi Closes for Good -- Reality TV Comes to The Bahamas -- Arrested Gambling Kingpin "Would Not Support National Lottery" -- Embassy Re-Plants JFK Tree for Earth Day -- "Not Guilty" Pleas Entered in Travolta Extortion Case -- IMF Projects 4.5% Decline in Economic Growth in 2009 -- Morton Salt Sold to the Germans -- Say No To Chemicals: Bahamas Ratifies Chemical Weapons Convention -- "Expulsis Piratis, Restituta Commercia": Bahamian Ship Escapes Pirates After NATO Intervention -- No Rest for the Weary: Ex-Pat Shot as Violent Crime Spike Continue -------------- -------------- RUM DRINKERS MOURN AS BACARDI FACTORY CLOSES FOR GOOD -------------- -------------- ¶2. The remaining 65 employees at The Bacardi Rum factory in Nassau closed the doors for the last time on April 30. The company is moving distilling functions to a facility in Puerto Rico, citing rising operating costs in The Bahamas as the main reason for the company's departure. This closure is yet another blow to a Bahamian economy already suffering the effects of increased unemployment as a result of the global economic downturn. -------------- REALITY TV COMES TO THE BAHAMAS -------------- ¶3. A new reality TV show, "Superstars," has begun filming in The Bahamas. The show pairs up celebrities and professional athletes to compete in various sporting challenges for a grand prize. Local media reported that hotel mogul Kerzner International paid a seven-digit figure to ABC to have the show filmed at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. Local motorists were less thrilled to have reality TV played out before them when filming interrupted daily morning commutes several days in row. Government officials are hopeful this show will bring a needed tourism boost to the island. -------------- -------------- ARRESTED GAMBLING KINGPIN "WOULD NOT SUPPORT NATIONAL LOTTERY" -------------- -------------- ¶4. Police raids on illegal gambling parlors in April - first in Freeport and two weeks later in Nassau - led Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest to come out in favor of a referendum to legalize gambling, which is not on the ruling party's or Prime Minister Ingraham's agenda. The influential Bahamas Christian Council had been dead-set against such a move. A recent statement by a leading cleric, however, may indicate a softening of the blanket anti-gambling position, which some criticize as hypocritical. Many Bahamians "play the numbers" and wonder why they are targeted while foreigners are allowed to gamble merrily at the Atlantis or Cable Beach casinos, and church raffles get special licenses. ¶5. Bahamian gambling habits fuel significant profits for enterprising businessmen. The best known "numbers man" was charged May 1st in connection with the anti-gambling raids. His firm, meanwhile, is building a new, multi-story headquarters on a prime piece of downtown real estate overlooking the waterfront near the Embassy. Incongruously, Craig Flowers told newspapers he opposed a national lottery. -------------- EMBASSY RE-PLANTS JFK TREE FOR EARTH DAY -------------- ¶6. In celebration of Earth Day 2009, The Bahamas Ministry of the Environment organized a "Million Trees Program" -- agreeing to plant a million trees throughout The Bahamas by December 31, 2009. At post's suggestion, the CDA planted a brasiletto tree at the same site where a tree was planted in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Representatives from local environmental organizations, as well as local media, were present for the event. -------------- -------------- "NOT GUILTY" PLEAS ENTERED IN TRAVOLTA EXTORTION CASE -------------- -------------- ¶7. Accused former opposition PLP Senator Pleasant Bridgewater pleaded not guilty to extortion charges April 28th at a court hearing in Nassau. She and a local ambulance driver are accused of conspiring in an attempt to extort $25 million from John Travolta after the U.S. actor's teenage son died in January in Grand Bahama. Both remain free on bail until the trial, which is scheduled to begin September 21st. The case rocked the opposition, especially its Grand Bahama-based leadership, and may yet inflict further damage as further information comes out in court. -------------- -------------- IMF PROJECTS 4.5% DECLINE IN ECONOMIC GROWTH IN 2009 -------------- -------------- ¶8. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected a 4.5% drop in economic growth in The Bahamas in 2009 and a 0.5% decline in 2010. The IMF projection is a significant drop from growth forecasts in 2007 and 2008 that predicted a 1% drop in 2009. This latest report demonstrates once again how closely linked the Bahamian economy is to the U.S. economy. According to the IMF, only Jamaica is expected to suffer worse than The Bahamas. A silver lining, the IMF also predicted the inflation rate will decline to 1.8% in 2009. Government officials are carefully watching these figures; the Central Bank predicts only a 2% contraction in 2009. -------------- MORTON SALT SOLD TO THE GERMANS -------------- ¶9. On April 1, U.S. company Rohm and Haas sold the stock of Morton International, Inc. to German company K+S Aktiengesellschaft. Morton Salt operates a large plant on the southern Bahamian island of Great Inagua, employing nearly 80% of the tiny workforce on the island. The plant's continuing operation has been uncertain in recent months as Morton management dealt with a period of violent labor unrest in the summer of 2008 followed by severe damage to the factory as a result of a category-3 hurricane in September 2008. The future of the factory, and that of the economic likelihood of Great Inagua, will depend on the decisions of K+S. -------------- -------------- Say No To Chemicals: Bahamas Ratifies Chemical Weapons Convention -------------- -------------- ¶10. The Bahamas submitted ratification documents to the United Nations on April 21st to become the 188th state to join the international pact banning the production, stockpiling or use of chemical weapons. This ends a flurry of last-minute conferencing involving all relevant public and private stakeholders, as well as U.S. government experts. The Convention will enter into force 30 days after April 21st. -------------- -------------- "Expulsis Piratis, Restituta Commercia": Bahamian Ship Escapes Pirates After NATO Intervention -------------- -------------- ¶11. Echoing The Bahamas' pre-independence national motto, NATO forces came to the aid of the Bahamian-flagged oil tanker Kition after it was accosted by pirates off the coast of Somalia May 1st, capturing 19 Somalis. While not the first time a Bahamian-flagged merchant vessel has been the victim of a pirate attack, it may be the first case in which NATO intervened. The Bahamas has the 3rd largest ship registry in the world. Nassau was once a haven for infamous pirates like Blackbeard who terrorized the Caribbean and the U.S. eastern seaboard until British rule - and licit commerce - was restored in 1718. -------------- -------------- No Rest for the Weary: Ex-Pat Shot as Violent Crime Spike Continue -------------- -------------- ¶12. The Bahamas is on track to record over 70 murders for the third year in a row, with several suspicious deaths still under investigation, as April brought Nassau another round of shocking and gruesome crime headlines. Recent murder cases reflect gangland-type violence, with murderers out on bail, scandalizing the public. High-speed car chases, a New Year 2009 novelty, have also multiplied with at least one recent fatality. In a high profile incident that goes beyond the grim norm, a British financial specialist was shot in the head execution-style in broad daylight upon arriving to work April 22. The hit-man apparently lay in wait for his victim, loitering in an otherwise affluent seafront area frequented by Embassy staff. The victim is still in a coma, and no suspects have been identified despite numerous eyewitnesses. ZUNIGA-BROWN