I could assure you that the State Department has taken note. It makes sense from a strategic perspective for the Chinese to have a partner in the form of the Bahamas next to the USA. The US have Taiwan and now China have The Bahamas. Queen eats pawn, now is your move US.

My sister move to the US and my brother to Europe. I did the next best thing. I move to the Family Island.

For the sake of disclosure I have been label a "Haitian sympathizer". Your article suggested that within the Haitian/Mexican population that violent aggression is the trademark of conflict resolution. How do you account for the fact that a recent United Nations surveys shows that the homicide rate in Haiti double between 2007 to 2012 to a total of 10.2 per 100,000.If you do the maths our beloved Bahamas has four time the homicide rate of Haiti. In fact, Haiti has one of the lowest homicide rates per 100,000 people in this region. Another fact, despite making up the largest group at the detention center, how many times a riot at the detention center can be attributed to Haitians. Also with regards to Mexicans immigrants, it is simply Karma in play. 1/3 of the United States is actually Mexico. Check the history with regards to the American/Mexico War. In concluding, no need to say, if Haiti is so safe why don't you go and live there. I am living here because I don't want to be an illegal immigrant in Haiti. I bet you don't have the nerve to write that crime and homicide is more prevalent among Negroes.

It's tragic.The only comfort is that he got one. Imagine them trying to decide, should we take him to the PMH or should we dump him on the side of the street. They care enough for the friend's life but don't give a damn about others.

The wealth of the western world was build using the same formula banker. We forget that's how Negroes ended up on this side of the world. This side of the world needed labor and that labor was brought here although in a forceful manner it was responsible for revolutionizing the economies of the New World. Even though the negro Bahamian was intimately part of this economic revolution, he is totally fearful of it. The bar council don't want no foreign lawyers practicing here and the average John Doe don't want no foreign negro here either.

Agreed. The banks have become utterly ridiculous. As a businessman I tried to move money quickly from one bank to the next to pay employees. In the past, a bank draft or cashiers cheque would have allowed me to do this but the banks now don't even trust each other. They told me that they had to hold the draft for two days. The banks have now become a hindrance to growth.

The Chinese plan is simple. Rather than hold trillions of dollars in US treasury bonds spend it on hard assets. The Bahamas is good of an investment as any.

So you are assuming that if a Bahamian sympathize, he or she must have Haitian roots. That we don't have the ability to sympathize and still want the Haitian problem resolved.

There are smaller countries that share borders with larger countries and the cultures are still distinctly different(check Europe). American culture is not intertwined with ours but is dominating. Suggest you take your own advice and realized that we have been Americanized. Try ordering a grouper at one of our restaurants. They give you some fresh water American fish that the average Bahamian can't even pronounce.

JB357 our culture was lost a long time ago. Our airwaves are dominated by American music. Gangster rap with all of its negativity has invaded every fabric of our society. By the way I don't see the average Haitian man wearing his pants down to his knees showing his underwear. Talk about an invasion of culture, it is from up North and not South. Well Jamaican music is popular. When you lack identity I guess it is easy to be invaded. My COB Lecturer had a British accent that lasted for twenty years even though he lived in England for four years. I am always reminded how weak our dialect is when every athlete that goes to America comes back speaking "American".