It is interesting to note that the "Diario Las Americas" website is reporting this morning (in Spanish) that Prime Minister Christie, as head of caricom, is in Bridgetown, Barbados, and has remarked to the delegates assembled there that tourism is the most certain way to provide youth employment in their respective countries. The report by "Diario Las Americas" goes on to state that the meeting has not touched upon the concerns of Guyana relative to claims by Venezuela to oil-rich regions of Guyanese territory.
Just thought that some readers would like to know what our leader is up to at present.

In reply to "Birdie" I can only lament the fact that you are asking questions the answers to which would be revealed by any careful reading of the more recent history of Cuba whether official or unofficial in English or in Spanish. You would find a plethora of information relating to the love-hate relationship between Cuba and the United States especially after the Spanish-American War of 1898 when the U.S. freed Cuba (as well as Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands) from Spanish colonial domination only to place those territories under U.S. domination for a considerable period of time. You would discover that Cuba had to enact the Law of National Labour early in the 20th century in order to protect jobs for Cubans from Haitian immigrants in the eastern provinces, especially Oriente. You would discover the long and bitter wrangling between successive U.S. administrations and the Cuban government under the Castro brothers that led to the very dangerous Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 and the long shadow cast by the intriguing assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. As was quoted wonderfully some years ago: The only thing new under the sun is the history that you don't know. Happy reading "Birdie".

In reply to "banker's" inquiry: In those days the tourist business was somewhat disorganized but it was possible to go on a city tour to see, among many interesting sights (and sites) the former Bacardi headquarters building, the "Casa de Cafe" with innumerable varieties of coffee, the Viceroy's Palace,the National Cathedral, the Automobile Museum, Morro Castle, the Cabana Fortress where Che Guevara ruled and ordered executions, the Museo de la Revolucion which was formerly the Presidential Palace where you could visit Batista's office and view the secret stairway behind the false bookcase used to allow for a quick escape from demonstrating students who actually stormed the building in the early 1950s leaving bullet holes in the walls of the main stairway landing, the buildings behind the palace where the yacht "Granma" was on display behind green tinted glass surrounded by the remains of tanks, trucks, jeeps, the remains of the U2 spy plane in which Colonel Anderson was shot down in 1960, etc. Havana was almost a ghost city at night except for certain types of dubious activities around the hotel front entrances and along the waterfront Malecon. Anyone who visited the Havana Zoo remembers the pitiful sight of the one-eyed bear standing up on his hind legs and looking longingly at the few visitors. I think that he was hungry as were any number of other two-legged creatures in the city, if you know what I mean. The atmosphere was so strange that upon my return to Nassau it took me about two days to adjust to a completely different environment. I have been back there a few more times some years ago but I did not see great changes. Let us hope that things have improved for the common people who tried to be very friendly under difficult circumstances. I speak fluent Spanish so I was able to go places and see things that I suspect that I was not really supposed to see and hear. They have a great future in the event that the economy opens up and sheds many restrictions.

At the risk of revealing my age I must relate visiting Havana in December of 1958 at the age of nine with my parents and brother aboard a cruise ship called the "Evangeline" (which was subsequently renamed the "Yarmouth Castle" which burned and sank just off of Great Stirrup Cay in the northern Berry Islands in November of 1965).
In those days Batista's soldiers were all over the place and we were warned not to travel eastward from Havana. I did not visit Cuba again until 1993 while they were in the "Special Period" and the newspaper "Garnma" printed the "horario de apagones", the schedule of power cuts for Havana.
Recall what the late Norman Solomon said about erecting a statue of Fidel Castro in Rawson Square because of what he did (inadvertently) to boost Bahamas tourism. It just so happened that the late Sir Stafford Sands saw a way to capitalize upon the change in diplomatic relations between two nearby countries. However, today this country has a far greater population to maintain in the manner to which it has become accustomed since 1961.

Without being aware of what has been happening in the BUT recently, I can say that she was always an effective and efficient president in the old days and could be relied upon to make an effort to face problems and to be supportive of the union membership. She must have been doing something right; just recall how many times she was returned to the president's position in elections over the years.

Anyone taking the time to read articles related to ATR aircraft on Wikipedia will discover details of their problems with icing conditions in flight. Hopefully these issues have been addressed in the form of Airworthiness Directives and a redesign of the deicing boots but it is a little unnerving to read about loss of control as a result of in- flight icing problems at altitude in cold climates. Of course, icing can occur in the tropics at 11,000+ feet altitudes under certain conditions. Bahamasair has an enviable safety record. Let us hope that it continues into the future.

Young Ms. Burrows was born too late to be a member of the now defunct Vanguard Party. How many of you remember them and their printed manifesto? Ms. Burrows makes a number of interesting points but you have to remember that many of the ills of which she complains are the direct result of so-called "globalization" and neocolonialism both of which are rampant at present.
Unfortunately there are far too many people who care only about themselves and their personal enrichment and do not have a moment to consider the larger picture of misery and deprivation in the wider community. This is the case in most countries of the world. In this country there are some who would be so bold as to say that we have had it too good for too long.

Japan is not allowed to export "wrecks" and that is a long-standing policy of successive Japanese governments. To allow the export of substandard vehicles would only damage the reputation for quality enjoyed by the major (if not all) the Japanese manufacturers. They worked long and hard to establish the high standards for which Honda, Toyota and Nissan (among others) have become known on a worldwide basis. They have conquered the world markets through strict quality controls and tremendous resources dedicated to research and development of their evolving products. Before World War 2 the Japanese did not have much of a reputation for quality except perhaps for their Mitsubishi Zero fighter aircraft. Today Mitsubishi is still a manufacturer of automobiles (among many product lines) and enjoys a good reputation. The "wrecks" that these writers are referring to come from a country much closer to home.

China is a rising power in the world for a variety of reasons: strict control of the people by a single monolithic political organization (The Communist Party); few if any workers' rights so no strikes or demands for better wages or working conditions; an ability to undercut any and all competitors in the world market; a policy of cultivating countries capable of supplying their energy and raw materials needs, etc.
Notice that China is not engaged in making war on other sovereign nations but is gradually building up its military machine. The Chinese are very sensitive to incidents in their past wherein foreign nations either controlled parts of their territory or imposed unjust obligations (treaty or otherwise) upon them. Look up the "Boxer Rebellion" of 1900 and "The Opium Wars" of around 1839 and remember what the French Emperor Napoleon said when it was suggested that he turn his expansionist intentions toward China: "Let China sleep for when she wakes the world will tremble".

What is the problem with Immigration officers being armed? They have to deal with circumstances in which they are facing persons of unknown origin and an unknown mentality and/or purpose. Is it not a fact that officers of the U.S. Border Patrol carry weapons while they police the border between certain states of the U.S. and the Republic of Mexico? I could not possibly agree with the use of said firearms with wild abandon but their presence should not be so surprising. If a people are not prepared to fight for their country they do not deserve to have a country. Check your history references to discover who said that. No doubt you will be quite surprised.