The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

My reason for writing this letter is because of the very disturbing comment made by the Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell in The Tribune dated April 3, 2014, concerning the US Embassy’s alert warning Americans about crime in the Bahamas.

Mr Mitchell said it should be “put to rest”. His comment came after the US Embassy recently warned its citizens about crime by highlighting several cases that took place this year.

Mr Mitchell said in the House of Assembly: “I, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, can write the same thing about criminal events in certain parts of Miami, the city of Chicago, the city of New York and Los Angeles. I can tell Bahamians through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that crime is out of control in parts of those cities. I don’t condemn the entire United States because there is crime in Chicago. As a matter of fact, every year we warn Bahamians about their safety and how to protect themselves from being robbed in Miami.”

I’ve spoken to a lot of people concerning this vexing question about crime. Everyone I have spoken to said crime is increasing at an alarming rate. The crime in the Bahamas is at a very alarming high and something has to be done urgently to protect the people and the reputation of the country, it being a tourist-orientated destination.

While there is crime in many major US cities, those cities do not rely entirely upon their international reputation to survive. Furthermore, the existence of crime elsewhere DOES NOT excuse crime here.

Also, Mr Mitchell is complaining about something he cannot control: US OPINION. Shouldn’t he focus on what his party promised us – the Bahamian people – they could control, which is crime on our streets.

The Tribune on April 24, 2012 featured the PLP announcement of its “FIRST 100 DAY” plan which promised to launch key elements of Project Safe Bahamas and Operation Ceasefire, including the reintroduction of Urban Renewal, to immediately reinvigorate the FIGHT AGAINST CRIME AND VIOLENCE.

As Bahamians, we should take note of warnings issued by the US Embassy. Not only is it important for us as a people, but as a tourist destination it is vital that we deal with the issue of crime and not seek to deflect from it.

Avoiding the warnings, or dismissing them would be to our detriment. We should take this criticism of our current state of affairs for what it is – a warning of what may come if we fail to act. What good is it to invest in infrastructure and invest in the development of our islands if the criminals continue to commit these crimes in such high numbers?

If the US Embassy puts a stop on US citizens coming to the Bahamas, we will be in serious trouble. It would affect taxi drivers, hotel employees, government employees, it would affect everyone in the Bahamas. If you think the crime is bad now, if this happens, God forbid, the Bahamas would sink and the crime will be worse than ever. Then you will see the Wild West in full force.

As the Prime Minister said in his address to the nation of the Bahamas reported in The Tribune May 7, 2012, “Let’s make no mistake about it, we are a nation and people under siege. Crime is the biggest problem facing the country today.

In The Tribune, May 2, 2014, the headline reads: “PM vows to win the war against crime”.

Mr Christie said: “It is vexing and frustrating. I have said to the police that I do not need to tell you that you are in a war and that however difficult it appears we cannot lose the war.”

In The Tribune May 7, 2012, it reads: “‘Crime is the biggest problem facing the country today,’ PLP leader Perry Christie told Bahamians during a televised national address last night. Mr Christie lamented the 500 murders in the past five years and said: “Add to that the hundreds upon hundreds of rapes, the thousands of assaults and armed robberies and the drugs and guns that are flooding across our borders and into our communities. Let’s make no mistake about it, we are a nation and people under siege.”

The Nassau Guardian dated May 6, 2014 reports: “DPM: Country under siege. Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said yesterday crime has the country ‘under siege’. However, Davis lashed out at the media for ‘flaming this fire of discontent.’” Brave Davis accuses media of flaming fire of discontent.

Yet in The Tribune dated April 27, 2012, “Anger as PLP sign removed”. Mr Davis said: “I do not know why they would take down the signs with the murder count on them. That’s a fact. The fact is there were more than 490 murders in this country. We cannot run away from that.” When asked if he thought the posters would scare potential tourists from visiting the country, Mr Davis said: “We cannot hide the truth and we cannot suppress the facts, we have to address the issues of crime.” Even the taxi drivers have also been complaining about the signs. We are a tourist-orientated country and tourists have been complaining to the Ministry of Tourism.

With all due respects, Mr Davis, the media does not create the news. They only report the news. That’s their job. Apparently, you are contradicting yourself here, and now you are accusing the media of flaming the fire of discontent. The truth, Mr Davis, is crime is out of control. With all the reports about crime, the crime in Nassau and the Bahamas has not decreased, but increased. A blind man can see that crime has not decreased. All of the violent crime that is happening here in Nassau and the Bahamas is on the news, the Internet and all over the world.

The police are doing a good job, but they need help to combat this crime.

I never thought that Nassau would come to this. Crime and the fear of crime. Nassau and the Bahamas was once a peaceful, loving place, but now it has become a war zone. Bahamians are more afraid now for their safety than ever before. We need help and we need it now. There is too much crime in this little island of New Providence which is only 21 miles long and seven miles wide. Nassau used to be a peaceful loving place to live.

Now there are too many rapes, too many murders, too many robberies, too many killings. What we need is a “Spiritual Revival” in this country before it is too late. The Holy Bible says in 2nd Chronicles, Chapter seven, Verse 14: “If my people which are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” This is what Almighty God is saying to the Bahamas.

If you continue to live by the gun, you will die by the gun. CRIME DOES NOT PAY.

The US Embassy gave out a warning for US citizens warning against increased criminal activity in the Bahamas, reported in The Tribune December 14, 2013.

Now the US Embassy renews the crime warning, reported in The Nassau Guardian, March 29, 2014, and six days later, The Tribune on April 3, 2014 reports Mr Mitchell said what the US Embassy warned its citizens should be “put to rest”.

Listed here are a few listings of the news reported in The Tribune, The Nassau Guardian and The Punch, all highlighting the tremendous effect crime is having on the Bahamas and its people.

1. The Tribune, December 28, 2013: Four dead in Fox Hill bloodbath. Three men and one woman were killed “execution style” and four others were seriously injured in a drive-by shooting at Freedom Park in Fox Hill last night.

2. The Nassau Guardian, December 28, 2013: Mass shooting in Fox Hill – 4 shot. 7 injured.

3. The Punch, December 30, 2013: Carnival Warns: Fix Crime or we pull out ships. Carnival, the world’s biggest cruise ship company has given the government a FINAL WARNING on crime – fix crime by June or we will pull our ships out of the Bahamas.

4. The Punch, January 2, 2014: Murder count for 2013 hit 120. Violent crime is so bad that we have been categorized as a conflict zone and one of the 10 most dangerous places in the world. Now Carnival, the world’s biggest cruise ship company, is threatening to pull out its ships unless the government gets crime under control.

5. The Nassau Guardian, January 7, 2014: US ATTORNEY RAISES ALARM OVER CRIME. With calls from victims of crime in Nassau, the “majority” of those received by his firm, a Florida-based maritime lawyer has claimed that Nassau may be “one gunshot away” from seeing cruise lines drop it from their cruising itineraries. (Jim Walker, a partner at Walker & O’Neil, a Miami law firm).

6. The Nassau Guardian, January 6, 2014: Archbishop Pinder Decries Rising Crime. There were 120 murders in 2013 and at least 4 recorded for the year so far. But Pinder said all is not lost.

7. The Nassau Guardian, April 24, 2014: US Attorney Lists Bahamas as ‘MOST DANGEROUS’ CRUISE PORT. “Crime has gotten worse in Nassau, we received more complaints about crime in Nassau than all of the other ports in the Caribbean combined.” Re – US Attorney Jim Walker.

8. The Tribune, December 31, 2013: Cruise Ship Concern Over Crime. The entire cruise ship industry remains concerned about the safety of passengers and employees in the Bahamas, an executive of Carnival said yesterday.

9. The Tribune, January 6, 2014: Police Alarm at Murder Rate.

10. The Tribune, June 11, 2013: US Diplomat is Robbed.

11. The Tribune, August 2, 2013: US Embassy Official is Victim of Robbery.

12. The Tribune, December 14, 2013: Bahamas Christmas Crime Warning For US Citizens.

13. The Tribune, April 16, 2014: Commissioner: Country in bad place with crime.

14. The Nassau, Guardian, May 5, 2014: Man Shot Dead While Walking in Street 15. The Nassau Guardian, April 1, 2014: Three Murders In GB – 15-year-old Female Among Those Killed.

15. The Nassau Guardian, April 2, 2014: Woman, 24, Shot at Home Dies - Fifth Murder Since Saturday

16. The Nassau Guardian, April 24, 2014: Two Shot Dead.

17. The Nassau Guardian, May 2, 2014: Over the past week-and-a-half there has been at least six homicides. Mr Christie said there is a war on the streets and the police must prepare themselves to deal with that challenge.

18. The Nassau Guardian, April 28, 2014: Pregnant Woman Shot While Asleep

19. The Tribune, May 8, 2014: Neko Grant said: “Here in New Providence there has been a murder almost every day for the past two weeks, not a day goes by without violent crime being committed, murder, shooting, stabbing . . . the criminals have no respect for our police officers. Unlike some, I am very concerned about the crime situation in Grand Bahama - three murders in 36 hours, four within a week, and six so far for 2014. The sixth murder for 2014 so far exceeds the murder count for 2013 in its entirety. This is certainly reason for much concern.”

20. The Tribune, April 25, 2014: Killings Have Become Commonplace. Killings have become commonplace in Bahamian society where citizens are being gunned down and murdered almost every week. Elder Paul Joseph of Freeport, Grand Bahama, said that killings have become commonplace in Bahamian society.

21. The Tribune, April 9, 2014: Bound, Robbed and shot dead. Visitor killed during home raid in Freeport.

22. The Tribune, April 14, 2014: Armed Raid On PI Hotel.

23. The Tribune, April 24, 2014: Two Men Killed in Shootings.

24. The Tribune, April 26, 2014: Fifth Homicide in 72 hours.

25. The Tribune, April 28, 2014: Two Men Killed in Weekend Shootings.

26. The Tribune, April 28, 2014: Five People In Hospital After Spate of Gun Attacks.

27. The Tribune, April 22, 2014: Late News: Three Shot in Drive-By.

28. The Tribune, April 22, 2014: One Dead, six injured in spate of Shootings.

29. The Tribune, April 25, 2014: Man Gunned Down While Walking In Street.

30. The Tribune, April 1, 2014: Two Dead In GB Shootings.

31. The Tribune, April 1, 2014: Three Killed in 36 Hours of Violence.

32. The Tribune, March 31, 2014: 15-Year-old Girl Shot Dead At Club.

33. The Tribune, May 19, 2008: INSIGHT by John Marquis, former managing editor: “Politicians appear powerless in the face of a crime crisis which is putting the Bahamas’ way of life at risk. The shooting of an American tourist on Cable beach this week, only two days after a teenager was knifed to death at one of the country’s most popular beaches, dispels any illusions we might have about lawlessness in this country. We are in DEEP, DEEP TROUBLE . . . and firm action is needed now.

“Now that crime is striking right at the heart of Bahamian life, and threatening to destroy the economy in the process, it is vital that the government reacts with the ruthlessness the situation demands, and in a way that criminals understand.

“The shooting of an elderly American tourist on Cable Beach - right outside the former Prime Minister’s home - only two days later, reinforced the depressing reality which is that criminals are loose in this land who have no respect for the law, and no fear of being caught.

“A large part of the current crime rampage is due to misuse of bail. No one charged with murder, armed robbery or any other crime involving weapons should be given bail.”

1. The Tribune, May 13, 2013: US Tourist Shot Dead By Robber. A sailor from Chicago was shot dead over the weekend in Nassau. Kyle Bruner, who was shot dead while trying to stop a woman from being mugged.

In Romans Ch.3 V.14-18, God’s word says: “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

With all due respect, Mr Mitchell, could you “put to rest” the slaughter in Fox Hill, where innocent Bahamians were killed? They were your friends. “FOUR DEAD IN FOX HILL BLOODBATH” – Tribune December 28, 2013.

Could you “put to rest” the British man who was visiting his family in Freeport? “BOUND, ROBBED AND SHOT DEAD – murdered in front of his family” – Tribune April 9, 2014.

Could you “put to rest” the violent crime that is happening here in the Bahamas, especially New Providence, which is only 21 x 7 miles?

If the violent crime is not controlled, these vicious criminals will destroy the tourism industry, which is the bread and butter of the Bahamas.

Mr Mitchell, you cannot and must not “put to rest” and let this happen. This is the number one priority that has to be addressed urgently or we will all suffer the consequences.

The time for talk is over. It is now time for action. Show these vicious criminals that the government means business. Fight fire with fire.

The cat-o-nine tails is on the law books, but never enforced. I was told that a certain Member of Parliament said it’s barbaric.

When vicious criminals gang rape women, rape little babies, young girls, elderly women, isn’t this barbaric and their lives are ruined forever? If the cat-o-nine-tails was applied to these vicious criminals, you will see the crime reduced. Do this in public.

The world is watching the Bahamas. Most importantly, Almighty God is watching.

Mr Mitchell, with all due respect, you can’t put this to rest and bury your head in the sand like the ostrich, and refuse to see and acknowledge the truth, and not pay attention to the warnings of the US Embassy about the violent crime that’s happening here. If you and all in the Christie administration don’t heed and pay attention to these warnings, you are treading on dangerous grounds, and the nation of the Bahamas and the Bahamian people will be in for a very rude awakening.

Don’t let these vicious criminals destroy the good name and reputation of the Bahamas and its people. Violent crime is threatening the Bahamian way of life. There have been too many rapes, murders robberies, killings. Too many people have died, families devastated, traumatized, and the effects are forever.

The Bahamas was a sought-after vacation destination, however this is no longer the case.

The United States is the richest country in the world. They can take care of their people if ever a depression arises like it did in the 1930s. They have the wealth and resources, they don’t need help from anyone. The Bahamas, on the other hand, always has to borrow money to do what has to be done here. What would happen if the Bahamas government can’t borrow money anymore? The Bahamas doesn’t have the wealth and resources to take care of its people like the USA. What will happen then? The Bahamas needs the USA. The Bahamas needs the American tourists.

Mr Mitchell, I hope and pray to Almighty God for His continued help and to give wisdom to those in authority that they will do the right thing to stamp out this evil and protect the people and reputation of the Bahamas.

We are supposed to be a Christian nation. Let’s live up to that name.

May God Almighty continue to bless and protect the Bahamas and its people is my prayer.

TONY G ZERVOS,

Nassau,

May 16, 2014.