VZCZCXYZ0038
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBH #0207/01 0902058
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 312058Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY NASSAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6262
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE

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 
 
--------------------------- 
SOUTHCOM Still Loves Nassau 
--------------------------- 
¶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. 
 
---------------------------------- 
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. 
 
----------------------------------- 
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. 
 
------------------------------ 
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. 
 
-------------------------------- 
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. 
 
--------------------- 
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. 
 
--------------------------- 
PLP Seeks New Deputy Leader 
--------------------------- 
¶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. 
 
----------------------------------- 
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. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
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