With reference to Cuba: Please don't make it sound as if the ordinary Cuban has any hope of entering into partnership with a foreign business man (or woman) under the Castro brothers' regime.
Membership in the PCC (Partido Comunista Cubano) or Cuban Communist Party would be a minimum prerequisite.
Let's get real about Cuba: the ordinary Cuban works for about 20 US Dollars a month while the privileged few with the right connections might be able to make other arrangements.
This sounds almost too familiar a scenario, doesn't it?

Bey, ya mussy young, eh? Remember when the late Carlton Francis allegedly held those American tourists in the Nassau International Airport in about the year 1970 and would not release them for several hours? It was alleged at the time that he was offended about a certain incident in the Miami International Airport. You young boys have very little historical perspective and the rest have short memories. Imagine my surprise when, as a young student in an American university, I was asked to explain what was happening in the Nassau International Airport simply because I was from The Bahamas. Man, I was as puzzled as the local students.
You readers need to check your newspaper archives or consult with granny.

Be careful what you say about capital punishment. Very few people are aware of great miscarriages of justice such as the Timothy Evans case in the UK in the early 1950s when Evans was hanged for a crime actually committed by John Christie who was discovered to be a serial killer a few years after Evans was hanged. Emotional people are unaware of how many innocent people are convicted of crimes committed by some other person.
Few things can be worse than standing on the gallows with the noose around your neck all the while knowing that you are innocent of the crime for which you are about to be punished.
Over the years miscarriages of justice of this type persuaded many countries to abolish the death penalty.

This is one of the possible results of selling the country to outsiders and I mean any nationality.
Government after government has allowed and even encouraged the sale of islands, cays and tracts of land to anyone willing to pay a high enough price for it. When your own government has little to no confidence in its own people what do you expect from outsiders who see the way the wind is blowing?

It is with amazement that I read what "Abacobandit" wrote about The Bahamas being the most corrupt country in the world.
Apparently he/she knows nothing of Mexico, Turkey, Nigeria, Iraq, Malaysia, etc. Corruption in any country on any scale is a negative influence but to say that this country excels in this area of criminal activity is ridiculous.
Perhaps his/her opinion reveals a lack of a wider world view/perspective or a downright lack of even basic loyalty to their country. I was taught that one may disagree with the government of the day but not to carry this feeling so far as to turn against their own country.
In 1991 at the beginning of the First Gulf War to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait an American reporter was interviewing an Iraqi student in Paris. When the young man was asked if he would reveal the position or presence of certain weapons in Iraq (if he had such information) his reply was "Iraq is my country, not Saddam Hussein". I have always wanted to shake his hand.

My dear fellow, it may be a waste of "your" money but you can rest assured that somebody is making money from it.
While it is true that in many parts of the world people flock to almost any type of public display of loud music and "dancing", with our country in the difficult circumstances in which it finds itself at present, such displays are quite obviously unnecessary from a national point of view.
Those making money from Carnival will disagree with my position but then they have a motivation to feel as they do.

My dear Ms. Burrows, please research the operation of "The University of Wulff Road" from some years before you were born.
The "campus" operated at night on Windsor Park at the intersection of Wulff Road and East Street. The park is still there but the "University" has long since closed its "doors" and we are left with the aftermath of a "curriculum" that taught that mediocrity is acceptable as long as certain other criteria were in place for the "students".
Many people learned their lessons only too well and the country as a whole is suffering the consequences.

In response to "EnoughisEnough" I can only say that, as the Egyptian said to the Englishman, "Truly, fendi, it is a matter of taste". To each his own but if we all run away then who is to provide a remedy to the outstanding problems? By the way, I too have lived abroad, speak more than one language and am well versed in history. For these reasons I am more reluctant than some to jump from the frying pan into the fire. But, as stated previously, to each his own. We all have family members who live in other countries and I have nothing against that but all of us can't leave and surrender the country to the less desirable elements without some hope of change, however gradual.
Many times I have suggested that the dissatisfied younger generation form a political party to make an attempt at reform but with the proviso that such projects take significant lengths of time.
Keep in mind that these existing parties, for the most part, have been in existence for decades and have formed considerable organizational sophistication. This is true in many countries. As for corruption, just look at what is happening in Brazil with former president Lula.

With reference to a few of the comments related to this article in which a suggestion has been made that Bahamians dissatisfied with conditions on New Providence relocate to a Family Island, I should like to say that conditions in most Family Island settlements are not what one might expect and hope for. Unemployment is a serious problem in most places and infrastructure is generally not up to an acceptable standard. Education is substandard for the most part and, while there are notable exceptions, the work ethic leaves something to be desired.
The scattered nature of our islands makes homogeneous development very difficult to achieve added to which you have the additional complications of increased freight charges for many supplies as well as uncertainty related to shipping schedules. Also, in many places in the Family Islands there are a number of foreign elements exerting what could be called "undue influence" which can lead to friction with the local community.

In Italian Dante wrote "Lasciate ogni speranza o voi que entrate" but let us recall that many Bahamians came back home after the PLP won the government in 1967. Before that time most
worthwhile positions were reserved for members of elite families and colonial officials. Today if a Bahamian decides to leave his or her home I trust that they will find some utopia where they don't have to pay exorbitant VAT or GST and income taxes, ride a subway train to and from work, learn a new language, pay for home heating in the winter and duck around districts teeming with immigrants waiting to behead them in the street as they pass by. It sure isn't perfect here in our little country and least of all on sad, overpopulated New Providence Island, but you had better hope that you can do a whole lot better somewhere else before cutting all your ties.