03202026 NEWS

AROUND DA ISLANDS

POLICE PROBE 98 CASES OF PASSPORT FRAUD

Chief Officer says possible staff involvement

in

some matters referred to RBPF

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE chief passport officer revealed yesterday that 98 suspected passport fraud cases have

out fraud. Nicholas Symonette said internal reviews also identified possible staff involvement in some matters, which were referred for further action where evidence supported it. He said

not included on the list. His comments came after Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard told the House of Assembly that more than 250 fraudulent document cases were being probed, tabling what he

FRAUD - SEE PAGE THREE

Suicide admissions up by 20% at Sandilands

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

SUICIDE related admissions to the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre rose by 20 percent last year, hospital administrator Leotha Coleby said yesterday. The centre has also seen an increase in mental health admissions between January and March 2026, particularly among men dealing with substance abuse that lead to wider issues, including family and relationship problems.

Cuban ambassador says US policies are ‘starving’ Cuba

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune News Editor rrolle@tribunemedia.net

UNITED States policies have plunged Cuba into severe fuel shortages, prolonged blackouts and widespread disruption to daily life, the country’s ambassador to The Bahamas told The Tribune yesterday, arguing that the impact is being felt across every sector of society. The country’s healthcare system

has been particularly strained, said Juan Carlos Marcof Sánchez, with tens of thousands of patients waiting for surgeries that cannot be performed due to electricity shortages, including a significant number of children. He said a January 29 executive order signed by US President Donald Trump has intensified a decades-long blockade and further

SUFFERING - SEE PAGE THREE

A sharp rise in suicide and suicide attempts alarmed officials last year. Police recorded 16 suicides in 2025, a 60 percent increase over the ten recorded the previous year. Ms Coleby said stigma continues to prevent people from seeking help.

“Sandilands is the number one in the region for mental health and our institution, so the resources are there, but the shame, sometimes that's what happened for the most part,”

SUICIDE - SEE PAGE FOUR

Passengers recount scary

landing at Eleuthera airport

By RASHAD ROLLE and EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporters

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PASSENGERS scrambled to safety after a Pineapple Air plane made a belly landing at Governor’s Harbour Airport yesterday, as smoke rose from the metal propellors which scraped along the runway.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority said the Beech 1900 aircraft experienced landing gear problems and became disabled on the runway after touchdown. Nineteen people were on board, and no injuries were reported. The incident prompted the airport's temporary shutdown, delaying other flights because planes could not access the runway.

Heather Carey, an Eleuthera resident who travels frequently between the island and New Providence, was among the passengers. She said the

incident unfolded within seconds of landing, with little warning.

“There was a loud pop, and then there was this incredible scraping and loud noise that we were all kind of looking around,” she said. “At first, we thought a tire had popped. Then someone thought maybe the window had blown out.”

She said passengers only realised the seriousness of the situation as the aircraft slowed and smoke became noticeable.

Ms Carey said the aircraft began to veer more noticeably after the propellers struck the runway.

“The propellers hit, we started serpentining a little bit more,” she said. “That's the point where we were like, oh s**t, the landing gear is not there, we're on our belly.”

Passengers disembarked onto the runway using steps that were difficult to navigate due to the aircraft’s position.

“Being in row two, I actually stood to help everybody navigate the steps, because they were at a very awkward angle at that point, and asked to make sure everyone was okay, but there was nothing from anyone on the staff, other than telling us we weren't allowed to take pictures,” she said. She said there was no communication from the cockpit before or after the landing, and no immediate checks on passengers once they exited the aircraft.

“The pilot, I don't know if there were two at the front or one. I know one came off, opened the steps for us. He actually then walked away to inspect what was going on so there was no one there to assist the passengers coming off. I will say, nobody asked, was there any injuries? There was no communication to the passengers.”

Despite the confusion, Ms Carey said passengers widely praised the pilot’s handling of the landing.

She said the aircraft came to a stop on the runway after the pilot attempted to

Emergency crews responded quickly, with a fire truck moving towards the aircraft. Passengers were directed into the terminal while officials dealt with the situation.

steer it towards the turn-off but was unable to clear the runway. Ms Carey raised concerns about communication on the aircraft, saying the intercom system is often difficult to understand. She called on regulators to ensure small airlines reinvest in their planes and their equipment to make them safer.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority said it is coordinating with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Bahamas and the Airport Authority as it investigates the incident. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days.

Eight workers injured after boat runs aground in rain

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

EIGHT people were injured in a boating accident involving workers travelling to Great Stirrup Cay early yesterday morning, according to Berry Islands Administrator Shandrose Thompson.

The Tribune understands the vessel ran aground amid limited visibility. The workers were employed by Norwegian Cruise Line and were en route to the cay when the incident occurred. Some reportedly suffered broken bones.

“From my report, about eight persons have been injured, all were transported to the local clinic, seen by doctors here, and then they were also chartered out by private flight

receiving clinics that I believe to be Doctors Hospital,” Ms Thompson said. She said ten people were on board. Of the eight injured, one is Bahamian and the others are expatriate workers.

Ms Thompson admitted the journey took place in darkness and rain, conditions that may have affected visibility and sea conditions. A photograph circulating on social media appeared to show the vessel partially grounded. Ms Thompson said emergency and rescue services responded promptly, transporting the injured to the local clinic before they were airlifted to New Providence for further treatment. Investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing.

27 arrested as officials intensify efforts to weed out passport fraud

FRAUD from page one

that included e-passport matters. Mr Pintard is concerned about people using fraudulent identification documents to participate in the upcoming general election.

Mr Symonette confirmed the list tabled by Mr Pintard originated from the Passport Office, but said it reflected an earlier subset of referrals. He said he did not know where Mr Pintard’s figure of more than 250 cases came from.

Mr Symonette said the names were compiled during an internal review and formally referred to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, with each case supported by reports, sworn statements and internal audits. He said the list is ongoing and updated as new findings emerge, and was first sent to police last year.

“That list actually shows that we are doing our job to weed out fraud,” he said. “That list ensures that these things can be stopped before they even get anywhere else. So when we produce that list, and we present it to police for investigation, it’s also given to the parliamentary registrar.”

He said some cases have led to court proceedings, directed questions about arrests, charges and convictions to the police.

He said an initial review in December 2024 found that some passport renewals had been approved under a Cabinet policy introduced in May 2019, which allowed applicants to submit a limited set of documents. While intended to speed up processing, he said the policy weakened the vetting process.

He said the department has since discontinued reliance on that policy and reinstated full verification procedures, while increasing collaboration with other government agencies.

During a separate press conference yesterday evening, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said investigations found that several people were flagged for obtaining Bahamian passports unlawfully, including through fraudulent marriages, falsified birth certificates, irregular naturalisation records, false citizenship and immigration documents, and failures to follow the legal adoption process.

He said 27 people have been arrested, charged and brought before the courts, resulting in 21 cases, some

involving multiple defendants. Two convictions have already been secured through guilty pleas, one plea agreement is being finalised, and the remaining matters are pending trial.

Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson defended the register yesterday, saying it is supported by safeguards that protect its integrity. He said the Parliamentary Registration Department works with agencies, including the Passport Office, when questions arise about a person’s eligibility to remain on the register.

He said people not entitled to be on the register will be removed in accordance with the law, noting that some names have already been removed while others are being addressed.

“There is no need to attack civil servants who are carrying out their duties carefully, professionally, and in the public interest,” Mr Thompson said.

Cuban Ambassador says US executive order fuels severe blackouts and healthcare disruptions in his country

restricted Cuba’s access to oil.

The measure, which declares a “national emergency” and allows for tariffs on countries supplying fuel to Cuba, is part of a strategy aimed at cutting off vital energy imports, he said.

According to Mr Marcof Sánchez, the effects are already severe. He said Cuba has gone more than three months without fuel shipments, leaving the country operating under “very adverse conditions” that affect the entire population.

He said the energy crisis has led to prolonged power outages, with some communities experiencing blackouts lasting more than 30 hours. These outages, he said, disrupt water supply systems, halt production and affect essential services across the country.

Communications are also affected when radio base stations lose power, he said, while medical services, education and transportation systems struggle to function normally.

He said the situation has caused widespread distress among residents as daily

life becomes increasingly difficult.

Despite this, Mr Marcof Sánchez, said Cuba continues to function, pointing to ongoing school attendance, hospital care and the maintenance of essential services as evidence of resilience. He said the government is actively managing the crisis, including overseeing food production, transportation for healthcare workers and other key services.

Mr Marcof Sánchez said Cuba has also expanded domestic oil production in recent months and exceeded early-year targets, reversing a decline seen in 2025. However, he stressed that domestic output is not sufficient, noting that the country produces only about 30 percent of the petroleum it needs and must import the rest. He accused the United States of escalating pressure not only on Cuba but also on third countries by attempting to dictate who they can trade with, calling the approach coercive.

He also dismissed US claims that Cuba poses a national security threat, saying such assertions are unfounded.

At the same time, Mr

Marcof Sánchez pointed to recent talks between Cuban and US officials, as outlined by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, aimed at addressing bilateral differences and identifying areas for cooperation.

He said Cuba has also received support from governments and organisations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and elsewhere, including assistance with food, medical supplies and energy.

Mr Marcof Sánchez said that support reflects broader opposition to US policy and underscores Cuba’s ability to endure the current challenges.

Yesterday, the US Embassy in Nassau referred The Tribune to comments US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made on Tuesday at the White House. “The bottom line is their economy doesn’t work,” Mr Rubio said. “That thing they have has survived on subsidies from the Soviet Union and now from Venezuela. They don’t get subsidies anymore, so they’re in a lot of trouble, and the people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it, so they have to get new people in charge.”

Hospital administrator warns stigma prevents care amid a sharp rise in suicides

greater awareness of its role as a mental health disorder.

she said.

She added that mental health challenges can be triggered by a range of factors, from hereditary conditions to everyday stressors that overwhelm a person’s ability to cope.

Her comments came on the sidelines of a two-day Gambling Addiction and Substance Use Programme Conference, part of Problem Gambling Awareness Month, which aims to develop a coordinated national response linking justice, health and community systems.

Paulette Dean, chairperson of the Gambling Addiction Programme, said gambling addiction often goes undetected until late in treatment, as patients typically present with other mental health or substance abuse issues.

“Gambling and addiction is a hidden addiction,” she said. “It’s not something that is discussed on a daily basis.”

She said the failure to identify gambling addiction early makes treatment more difficult and called for

The conference’s keynote speaker, Wiley Harwell, executive director of the Oklahoma Association for Problem and Compulsive Gambling, warned that gambling has evolved rapidly, making it harder to recognise.

“One of the important things to realise is, in the last year and a half period of time, you cannot define gambling the way you used to define it,” he said. “We used to know exactly what it was. It was going to the casino, a sports betting venue or another individual placing money in the hopes of gaining more money on an event that had an uncertain outcome. Very simple. Now the world has evolved, particularly in the last year and a half period of time, with prediction markets and daily fantasy sports.”

He said the shift to digital platforms has made gambling more accessible and constant, with more than half of all gambling now taking place on mobile devices.

Mr Harwell also highlighted the severity of gambling addiction, noting

its links to depression, substance abuse and high rates of relapse and suicide attempts.

Public Hospitals Authority managing director Dr Aubynette Rolle said addiction cuts across all communities and should be

treated as a public health issue rather than a moral failing.

“As healthcare leaders, we must recognise that addiction is a public health issue, not a character flaw,” she said. “It is a complex chronic condition that

Govt to host national conference on social media monetisation

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN influencers may soon earn directly from major social media platforms as the government prepares to host a national conference aimed at unlocking monetisation opportunities in the sector. Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis is expected to host the event at Baha Mar next week Sunday, bringing together influencers, industry professionals and international partners to address long-standing barriers to earning income on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and other platforms. Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister, Latrae Rahming, said the initiative reflects a commitment by the Davis administration to create pathways for Bahamians to be paid for their digital content.

deserves the same clinical seriousness and compassionate response as any other major health challenge. Our hospitals must be ready to receive those whom prevention does not reach in time and meet them with dignity.”

She said health systems must integrate mental health and addiction services into mainstream care and improve accessibility, warning that critical opportunities to help patients can be lost without the right support structures.

Over the years, Bahamians have increasingly become part of the global influencer space, building audiences in areas such as fashion, food, music and lifestyle. However, many have struggled to monetise their platforms despite attracting large followings, as several major social media companies do not fully support payment systems in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.

Mr Rahming said the conference will bring together young and older influencers to explore solutions, while allowing direct engagement with global partners.

Representatives from major platforms and other international stakeholders are expected to attend the conference and provide guidance on how Bahamians can better position themselves to generate income from their online presence.

Ferguson rejects apology, sues

over Grand Lucayan payout claims

By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

TRADE Union Con-

gress president Obie Ferguson said an apology will not resolve a dispute over claims he met with government officials to approve Grand Lucayan severance payouts, saying legal action has already been launched. He said the reports

damaged his reputation and denied ever meeting with Labour Director Howard Thompson and chief labour negotiator Bernard Evans to discuss redundancy terms for 94 middle managers.

“All I have going for me is my reputation, my good name, and I can’t afford that,” he said. In February, Director of Investments Phylicia Woods-Hanna publicly said

Labour Director Howard Thompson and labour consultant Bernard Evans had met with Mr Ferguson “to advise of the correct settlements for union members.”

Mr Thompson later said he and Mr Evans had telephone discussions with Mr Ferguson about the matter but no face-to-face meeting and no final agreement was reached.

Mr Ferguson said Mrs Woods-Hanna is among

Customs and Immigration union sues over dependent insurance

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

A DISPUTE over insurance coverage for dependents of customs and immigration officers has escalated to the courts, with union leaders alleging a breach of the industrial agreement.

The Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union has taken legal action over restrictions affecting officers who joined after a certain year, saying they are not allowed to add dependents to the insurance policy.

Union president Deron Brooks said the matter has been adjourned to early next month, when preliminary arguments are expected to begin.

He said the legal dispute is separate from another issue raised by the union weeks ago, in which officers were unable to

access parts of their insurance coverage, a problem he attributed to administrative issues between the employer and the insurance provider, not a policy change.

“They are saying that it is partially resolved now, so persons have now been able to resume accessing the insurance policy,” he said.

Mr Brooks said the outstanding dispute forms part of broader concerns raised by the union, including delayed promotions and unpaid overtime.

He said immigration officers are owed payments dating back to July 2025, while customs officers are owed from October 2025 to the present. Hesaid the industrial agreement requires overtime to be paid the month after the work is completed.

Mr Brooks again criticised the ministry, led by Minister Alfred Sears,

the officials being sued for drafting and releasing the document shared with the press.

He believes the statements were not a misunderstanding but a deliberate attempt to undermine his credibility.

“They know what they did,” he said. “They know they never had no meeting with me. First time I saw it

for failing to respond to repeated requests for meetings.

was when I turned my television on and I watched the news.”

Mr Ferguson also criticised the press, saying the statement was widely published without verification.

While he did not say he would take action against the press, he warned the situation could expose media outlets to legal risk. He said the reports triggered widespread reaction, adding that his phone “was off the hook” after the claims were broadcast. He said the situation caused confusion among workers, some of whom believed he had agreed to the severance terms.

Mr Ferguson also questioned the payouts, pointing to what he said workers are entitled to under the law.

The Tribune Limited

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Stop political games and fix fraud issue

THE issue of passport fraud has been put squarely on the table by Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard – and yesterday it was confirmed that nearly 100 fraud cases have been reported to police.

This is not the first time that Mr Pintard has alleged cases of passport fraud – and not the first time that he has faced criticism for doing so.

In November last year, Mr Pintard claimed a bag of passports was found on a Bahamasair flight that he said triggered an internal probe.

At the time, the Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister Latrae Rahming claimed it was a “desperate” and “extremely reckless” allegation. There were numerous calls for Mr Pintard to withdraw the allegation.

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said it was important “to reassure the Bahamian public that Bahamian documents are secure”. He added that “the release of those documents are done to very, very strict guidelines”.

In December, Mr Mitchell reiterated after further concerns from FNM deputy Shanendon Cartwright that “it’s so difficult to get a Bahamian passport so I want to assure the Bahamian public this morning, the Constitution is very clear as to who gets a Bahamian passport”.

This week, Mr Pintard alleged that more than 250 cases of fraudulent documents were being investigated, and tabled a partial list in the House of Assembly.

Again, Mr Pintard was criticised. Prime Minister Philip Davis said Mr Pintard should stop “jumping and shouting”, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that “it may well emerge that, consistent with his usual practice, he has relied on documents that were improperly obtained and has presented them in a manner that is incomplete and irresponsible”.

Yesterday, however, it emerged that 98 cases are in fact being investigated by police.

Chief passport officer Nicholas Symonette faced a press briefing, looking rather relaxed with hands in pockets for someone discussing fraud cases, and confirmed that 98 cases had been forwarded to police.

He did not know, he said, where Mr Pintard’s 250 figure came from – but he did say the list tabled by Mr Pintard came from the Passport Office, from an earlier list of referrals.

In other words, Mr Pintard’s information was accurate – at one point – if subsequently outdated.

Had Mr Pintard not raised the issue, would we have been hearing about it now?

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe later added further details about cases before the courts – which included two convictions after guilty pleas.

Mr Symonette said that the list shows that Passport Office staff are doing their job properly, saying: “That list actually shows that we are doing our job to weed out fraud.”

There is clearly a political dimension to all of this. Mr Pintard’s words have certainly been used by people online to suggest that people accused of fraud ought to be removed from the voter register.

Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson said that people not entitled to be on the register would indeed be removed in accordance with the law.

In every administration, there seems to have been allegations made of votes being bought with passports – people being given passports by the administration of the time in order to bolster the incumbent party’s vote come election time.

There has routinely been a lack of evidence of this – and as the outcome of votes over the years has shown, swinging from one party to the other, if it was ever true, it was never effective.

Some of the criticism that has gone Mr Pintard’s way has suggested he is fearmongering, with the election close to hand. However, that does not explain why he was focusing on a similar topic last year.

If we take the politics out of the situation, it is concerning that there have been so many alleged attempts to obtain documents fraudulently. Whoever is in power, whoever is in opposition, we want to be sure our processes are secure and that our sovereignty and our citizenship is sacrosanct.

Mr Pintard does not deserve the ridicule that has been pointed his direction, especially as there is some truth at the heart of the claims that would have likely gone unrecognised had he not raised concerns.

What matters here is not point scoring, but dealing with the situation. There is substance to the allegations.

Putting more facts on the matter helps to understand its significance, and recognise what needs to be dealt with. That deserves better than criticism for raising the issue in the first place.

We do not advance as a nation by always being on the defensive. Rather, we should recognise where our weakness lie. We cannot grow if we do not recognise our flaws.

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Ambassador condemns new US fuel blockade as ‘economic suffocation’

By JUAN CARLOS MARCOF SÁNCHEZ Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba

to The Commonwealth of The Bahamas

CUBA Firmly Confronts New Escalation of Pressures from the United States

The recent executive order signed on January 29, by US President Donald Trump marks an intensification of the blockade that the United States has imposed on Cuba for over 60 years. This new measure declares a “national emergency,” under which the US government could impose trade tariffs on products from countries that supply oil to Cuba.

To justify this extreme action, the text of the order includes a series of unfounded and defamatory claims against Cuba. Among these is the absurd assertion that Cuba represents “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security. The President of United States and his government are well aware that few, if any, would believe such false arguments.

As Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, has stated, Cuba poses no threat to any country. It is inconceivable that the largest and most aggressive economic, military, and technological power in the world would resort to the slanderous excuse of feeling threatened by a nation the size of Cuba.

This decision by the US government is part of a pattern of blackmail, threats, and direct coercion against third countries, seeking to impose further pressure within a strategy of economic suffocation. This approach, dating back to Trump’s first term, specifically aims to prevent the entry of fuel into Cuba.

With this action, the US government consolidates a dangerous form of foreign policy driven by force, pushing its imperialist hegemonic ambitions. According to the announcement, the United States arrogates to itself the right to dictate to sovereign nations whom they can trade with and to whom they can export their national products.

The executive order thus represents a flagrant violation of international law and undermines the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace. In doing so, it threatens the security, stability, and peace of the region and the world.

The Impact on the Cuban People

contribution from renewable energy sources. This has accounted for between 49% and 51% on certain days, depending on sunlight conditions and also on how, amid the instability of the national power grid, energy from photovoltaic parks can be managed to regulate frequency and prevent blackouts.

The impact on the Cuban people is tremendous. It is felt most brutally in the area of energy. We have had entire circuits in municipalities—because the problem is not only in Havana—but also in the provinces, where communities and towns have experienced outages lasting more than 30 hours.

This causes enormous irritability, distress, and anxiety among the population, especially since it affects everything else. It directly impacts the water supply and water pumping, meaning two essential elements in any household and for any family’s daily life are disrupted at the same time.

But it also affects the vitality of production and the ability to provide services to the population. It impacts communications, as radio base stations lose power; it affects medical services; it affects education; it affects transportation.

In this way, we can see how this situation has a cross-cutting impact on all the daily activities of Cuban men and women.

I want to focus on one issue to show the perversity of this energy blockade. Right now, there are tens of thousands of people in the country waiting for surgical operations that cannot be performed due to the lack of electricity.

In recent days, the Cuban Minister of Public Health provided very relevant data. Among these tens of thousands, significant portions are children waiting for surgery because of the impacts on our healthcare system caused by this energy blockade. Yet, despite all this, the country continues to function; the country remains organized. Despite of this situation, Cuba is not a failed state. We are facing all these situations trying to resolve them and keep advancing. There are many examples that confirm this. I will mention some of them:

Our children continue attending school, hospitals provide care to patients with complex illnesses, and essential services are maintained across the provinces.

Every month, Cuban Government monitors the work of the provinces, assessing how strategies are being implemented. Even under limitations, the Government organizes life for our people: producing bread, offering food services, supporting agricultural production, and ensuring the transportation of healthcare personnel. Education continues at all levels, and our cultural life thrives, reflecting the resilience and creativity of the Cuban people—a unity that strengthens our ability to confront this situation.

Remarks by the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez:

“In line with the consistent policy upheld by the Cuban Revolution throughout its history, and guided by the Army General as the historic leader of our Revolution and by myself, and in coordination with the highest structures of the Party, the State, and the Government, Cuban officials have recently held talks with representatives of the Government of the United States.

These conversations have been aimed at seeking solutions, through dialogue, to the bilateral differences that exist between the two nations. There are international factors that have facilitated these exchanges.

The purpose of these discussions is, first of all, to identify the bilateral issues that require solutions based on their seriousness and impact, and, on the other hand, to find solutions to the problems that have been identified.

Furthermore, the objective is to determine the willingness of both parties to undertake concrete actions for the benefit of the peoples of both countries. In addition, it is intended to identify areas of cooperation in order to address threats and ensure the security and peace of both nations, as well as in the region where we live and develop our lives, namely Latin America and the Caribbean. It should be recalled that it has not been, nor is it, the practice of the leadership of the Cuban Revolution to respond to speculative campaigns regarding this type of issue. This is a matter that unfolds as part of a very sensitive process that is conducted with seriousness and responsibility; as it affects the bilateral relations between the two nations and requires enormous efforts to find solutions and create spaces for understanding that allow us to move away from confrontation.

During the exchanges that have taken place, the Cuban side has expressed its willingness to carry out this process on the basis of equality and respect for the political systems of both states, as well as for the sovereignty and self-determination of our Government. This has been stated taking into account a sense of reciprocity and adherence to international law.”

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JUSTIN CANCINO Nassau, March 19, 2026.

On March 13, President of Cuba, Miguel DíazCanel, reported that no fuel ships have entered Cuban ports for more than three months, so the country is operating under very adverse conditions, which has an immeasurable impact on the lives of the entire Cuban people.

It would be fair to ask what economy in the world could survive without being able to import oil when it only produces 30% of the petroleum it needs and must import the rest.

Cuba is generating electricity during daytime hours using domestically produced crude oil and its thermoelectric plants, along with a significant

In recent months, we have made significant progress. We have expanded the exploitation of new oil wells to increase national production of oil and associated gas. In the first two months of the year, production targets were exceeded, reversing a previous downward trend in 2025. Relying on our domestic energy sources, including crude oil and associated gas, is a central part of our strategy.

It is important to say that at no point have we renounced our sovereign right to secure imported oil supplies for Cuba, which are essential. Even with all the measures we are implementing, we still need oil to ensure greater vitality in all aspects of national life.

Current state of relations of Cuba and United States

International Solidarity Despite the tightening of the blockade, Cuba is not facing this moment in isolation. Numerous governments, social organizations, and solidarity movements across Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and other regions have expressed their rejection of the new measures and their support for the Cuban people. This solidarity has manifested both politically and materially: donations of food, medical supplies, energy cooperation, support in international organizations, and public statements defending Cuba’s right to develop without external interference. This wave of support confirms that the isolation does not belong to Cuba but rather to a policy that many consider outdated and ineffective. The Cuban people face these challenges with courage and determination, reaffirming once again that their fight for sovereignty and social justice will not falter.

In this context, Cuba continues to demonstrate its resilience and its willingness to advance with dignity, firmness and equanimity, knowing that international solidarity is a fundamental pillar in the fight for a better future and convinced that reason is absolutely on our side.

Man caught with loaded gun in bank pleads for leniency

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN found guilty of possessing a loaded firearm inside a bank pleaded with a magistrate for leniency after the prosecutor called for a four-year prison sentence.

Duke Moss, 41, was found with a black 9mm G2C Taurus pistol, 23 rounds of ammunition and a 9mm magazine inside the Bank of the Bahamas on Shirley Street in January, 2022.

Moss, who returns for sentencing on April

9, said even one day in jail is unforgettable and described every day in prison as hell. He asked the magistrate how much punishment a man must endure and claimed he would be a benefit to society.

Inspector Cordero Farrington, the prosecutor, urged the court to impose a four-year sentence, excluding the two years Moss has already spent on remand. He said the accused initially pleaded guilty but later changed his plea to not guilty, adding that Moss had every opportunity to maintain the guilty plea during the trial.

Inspector Farrington said Moss knew the firearm and its component parts belonged to him.

In response, Moss said he was in a quagmire when he changed his plea and had taken advice from someone he believed knew the law.

Before being taken back to prison, he was allowed a moment with relatives in court.

Moss was found guilty of possession of an unlicensed firearm, possession of ammunition and possession of a component part of a firearm before Deputy Chief Magistrate Shaka Serville.

Murder suspect remanded over his latest alleged bail breach

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN awaiting trial for murder was remanded to prison yesterday after allegedly again breaching his bail conditions, following an earlier eight-month sentence for a prior breach.

Prosecutors allege Kendrick “Papa” Lundy, 31, failed to sign in at his local police station for 31 days

between November 3, 2025 and March 2. Lundy pleaded not guilty to the latest bail violation before Magistrate Lennox Coleby.

He is on $30,000 Supreme Court bail granted by Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns in connection with the fatal shooting of Angelo Lightbourne on June 3, 2020. Lundy was granted bail on July 21, 2021.

He was sentenced to eight months in prison in August 2022 after admitting to a prior breach.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Lincoln McKenzie, the prosecutor, objected to bail, citing the seriousness of the offence and the risk to public safety. Lundy was remanded and will return to court on March 23 for a bail determination.

Defendent granted $1,500 bail for knife assault accusation

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN accused of a knife assault was granted bail yesterday.

Prosecutors allege Shaquille Jerad Woodside, 32, threatened to harm Valentino Gittens and assaulted him with a knife during a verbal altercation on January 22 on John Close. Woodside pleaded not guilty to charges of threats of harm and assault with a dangerous weapon before Deputy Chief Magistrate Shaka Serville. Inspector Cordero Farrington, the prosecutor, raised no objection to bail. Woodside’s bail was set at $1,500 with one or two sureties. Under the terms, he must sign in at the Quakoo Street Police Station every Tuesday and Saturday by 7pm. He returns for trial on September 11.

Rape suspect remanded after allegedly damaging ankle monitor

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN awaiting trial for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 2023 was remanded after allegedly damaging his monitoring device with water.

Prosecutors allege Harry Charite, 20, intentionally damaged the device while at an Airbnb on Stewfish Drive, Carmichael Road, on March 16.

The device, which belongs to Migrafill Electronic Security, was valued at $850.

Charite is awaiting trial for unlawful sexual intercourse after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl between April 1 and 30, 2023. He pleaded not guilty to causing damage before Magistrate Abigail Farrington. Charite was remanded to prison until March 25, when

the court will decide on his bail.

Eric Wiberg • Wrecks of The Bahamas

DRUG PLANE WRECKS OF BIMINI AND FLORIDA STRAITS

A MIAMI Herald article from September, 1980 provides some explanation why South Bimini became the destination du jour for drug runners during that time. “The airstrip closes at sunset,” it reads, “access can be controlled because only one road leads there. The only communication on the field is a radio in a snack bar that closes at sunset. Boats can come within several hundred yards of the runway. No police live on South Bimini, and the customs officers are accommodating.”

The DEA actually watched Bahamian law enforcement help move pot into a brown police truck. Cubans then bought a waterfront house and two Convair aircraft with duplicate tail numbers, one of which they staged in the daytime as disabled – deflated tires, open windows, etc. When the new one landed at night, they switched them, unloaded the cargo from the fresh one, then made it look derelict again.

In September 1980, a straight lawman named Ezra Curry cleaned up Bimini substantially, leaving just two drug planes on the runway, a shot-up A-26, which the DEA monitored, and a DC-4.

“Wreckage of aircraft in the thick forests, clear offshore waters, and sandy beaches give this tiny island [North Bimini] the appearance of a World War II battlefield,” well-known Miami Herald journalist, Carl Hiaasen, wrote after a visit to Bimini in the 1980s. It was “a favoured spot to unload a drug plane and ferry its illicit cargo 50 miles by speedboat. Crashed drug planes lie scattered near the [South Bimini] runway and skeletal wreckage eerily protrudes from the ice-clear shallows offshore--testimony to Bimini’s enduring popularity among drug traffickers and alien smugglers.” One smuggler, Luis “Kojak” Garcia, referenced in a previous column, even used a DC-3, Merlin, and Fairchild 27 with the Bahamas flag on them.

One of the most photogenic beached drug planes crashed just short of the runway at Bimini and was apparently salvaged. The drug-running aircraft crashlanded on a beach while engaged in a smuggling of narcotics, according to

reports. Its last known operator was Taxi Aero Guaviare (TAGUA) of Colombia.

On his blog The Dakota Hunter, Hans Wiesman provides an interesting summary of the incident. “The aircraft used to be a decent Passenger/Cargo hauler from Villavicencio/ Colombia, flying since some years in this Tagua livery. But one day, or better one night, she was spotted flying at very low altitude over the Caribbean Sea from Northern Colombia to the Bahamas. The most probable scenario is that she was detected by an overhead flying US Patrol aircraft, like the P-3 Orion. That aircraft with an AWACS-like antenna dish on top of its fuselage had picked up the Dakota on her down-looking radar or heat-detecting infrared camera.

“What happened often is that the pilots of the suspect plane were summoned to land on a major airport for a checkout. The pilots of this Tagua DC-3, like many other pilots of drug smuggling aircraft, opted instead to land in nearby shallow waters or on a beach, trying to escape their apprehension.”

It was reported some time earlier that a DC-3 "HK-1505" had made an emergency landing on a farm in the Zulia state, Venezuela, on a drug smuggling flight in February, 1984. The four Colombian crew disappeared, but it's not certain if it was the same aircraft.

The engines of the beached Tagua DC-3 were later taken off, as they are the most valuable part on the plane. On his Dakota Hunter blog, Weisman explains further.

“It was not uncommon that certain DC-3s vanished, or were seized and scrapped or declared lost while that very same aircraft a year later or so popped up with a new livery, registration number, and a different Manufacturer’s Plate/Tag and Factory serial number riveted inside the cockpit. This ‘transforming’ of airframes could well have been practiced in the drug hauling circuit for obvious reasons: to deceive the authorities. Worse, there were original/legal owners, who lost aircraft in confiscations by the judicial authorities and were accused of drug trafficking themselves, though actually innocent and victims

of theft. With no trials, the ‘distressed’ aircraft vanished out of sight for a year, only to reappear with a new ID, now in hands of the same authorities that had seized the aircraft some years earlier.’’

In September 1984, the Miami Herald reported that only one person in Bimini in the early 1980s ever went to jail, and that was simply because he couldn’t pay bail! About a third of the island group’s income was related to smuggling. When someone was arrested on the North Bimini dock, locals chanted “arrest the police, too! They’re all involved in it.” Even a former Florida policeman named Robert Acana was arrested for flying 282 pounds of cocaine into Bimini.

As one can imagine, crazy things happen when stakes are so high and the equipment is so fast. There were gun battles between police boats and drug-running go-fast boats at the eastern approaches to Nassau at the time. In daytime you could see these fast boats on the water, and on weekends some would come over from Miami in the morning and go back at night. According to one report from the mid-1980s, “police in Bimini found themselves in a gun battle with three men who

had landed in a private DC-3 and opened fire with automatic weapons. And a police corporal was shot at the same airfield a year later.”

In a 1987 article, the Miami Herald provided a clear summary of the actual drug route: a plane brings the minimum of 350 kilos--at $3,000 per kilo--and drops it in the water over The Bahamas. (At that time Long Island and places south of the surveillance balloons were preferred locations for the drop.) Infrared beacons then guide boats to find the floating drugs. The smugglers have counter surveillance planes spying to avoid government interference. A warehouse in Miami serves as a sophisticated communications command post. Guided by lookouts stationed on top of condos in South Florida, drug boats then speed the cargo into Haulover Inlet and others like it. Sometimes on deck they use hired “party girls” as decoys.

“Knots of Colombians gather openly in Alice Town, waiting. The unlighted airfield at South Bimini is said to be the site for regular night-time drug traffic,” another article in the Miami Herald from June 1981 recounts.

But not all boat captains were comfortable with the situation. “With seven Royal

Bahamas Defence Force cutters at best to patrol 100,000 square miles of ocean, it’s a smuggler’s paradise,” Captain Richard Stanczyk commented. “Any place you have to carry a gun into, is no place for fun.”

Bimini has seen plenty of military, private, business, and drug running related aircraft wrecks. The list is a long one and includes two Cessnas in 1988 and 1996, a Cessna and an Aero Commander in 1995 and 1978, a Mooney in 1984, a Piper in 1974, 1975, 1993, and 1977, one destroyed in 1998, one in 1997, a Cessna and Dessault that crashed into each other in 1993 due to “inadequate visual lookout by the pilots of both aircraft resulting in their failure to see and avoid each other,” according to official reports. And that’s not all. A Lake aircraft crash killed three in 1973, a Beechcraft owned by Pleasure Flying Airways crashed in 1991, another in 1977, a large Grumman amphibian seaplane in 1977, 1985, and 1987, another Chalks amphibian plane in 1975, and a Maule in 1995. These aircraft seem to have come down mostly on the main islands in Bimini--from Gun to Cat to Ocean Cay-as well as the waters east of (shallow) and west of (deep). Although presumably not drug-related, an article in USA Today in December of 1986 celebrates an unlikely survival. The headline announced Pilot Repels Sharks with Sneaker Attack.

It’s about Walter Wyatt, 37, a private pilot who crashed at Cay Sal Banks and floated for 15 hours before the US Coast Guard was able to rescue him. He ditched the

plan on his way from Nassau to Florida after learning that someone had drained the fluid from his compass.

In August 1986, Trey Wolfhart of Fort Lauderdale was flying a Piper Cherokee from The Bahamas to Florida when he also ditched in the ocean and drifted for two hours before Bahamas Air and Sea Rescue (BASRA) and the US Coast Guard rescued him and took him to Nassau.

During the boom-boom drug-trafficking years, one Bimini local in the trade built a $2M home on the small island. But by 1987, the island’s beaches and waters were littered with “underwater wrecks of a dozen such drug planes,” including the DC-3 in 30’ of water off the unlit runway’s eastern end. A Miami Herald article from June, 1990 recorded the hangover effect that descended onto the island after the crackdown on illicit trafficking began in earnest in 1987. “A dozen half-finished buildings [often unpainted exposed grey cinder block] attest to the day when the easy drug profits stopped.” That, or the lives of the profiteers did.

Smuggling has never been new to the western islands of the Bahamas, where the glow of America looms over the horizon within sight. Nor is the trade ever likely to be completely extinguished. The large scale smuggling of cocaine and marijuana resulted in Bimini and surrounding waters being littered with dozens of plane carcasses, many of which can still be seen to this day. They remain a sad testament to this intense epoch.

THE HIGHS AND... ...LOWS OF THE WEEK

IF you are a news junkie like I am, you appreciate the sheer genius of a Jimmy Kimmel who delivers verbal bullets every day with the ammo power of a controlled missile that could wipe out a nation if stinging syllables struck like firepower. As a news junkie, you’d be in awe of Jon Stewart – how his version of what happened today becomes the sardonic humour warning you to wait, just see what’s coming down the pike tomorrow. You’d appreciate the goodwill and cheery nature of meteorologist Al Roker who can leave you smiling after he’s just delivered the news of an imminent powerful snowstorm about to strike that will leave you homebound, without power and only your grit, muscles and shovel will clear the ice sheets from the driveway and car.

If you are a news junkie like I am, you would certainly appreciate the seriousness of Kristen Welker, who took over the coveted and demanding chair as host of Meet the Press in September, 2023. They don’t just remind you every week that Meet the Press is the longest running TV show on air. It actually is. It first debuted on November 6, 1947, and thanks to the persistent ranks and occasional wisdom of politicians, it provides a platform for those in the inner circle of weary Washington Beltway to explain to the rest of us what is really happening behind the scenes so we can agree or otherwise when guests and panellists praise or spank. Meet the Press always reminds me of our own Parliament, with guests on one side of the aisle or the other, the only place on American TV where if they didn’t speak with a decidedly American accent you’d think they were British, employing the Westminster party system, guests jousting for justice between the party in power and the loyal opposition.

That’s all a very long preface to get to the personality whose weekly show contains one of my favourite few minutes of TV time every week. His name is Willie Geist, host of Sunday TODAY, and segment is called the Highs and Lows of the Week. Willie Geist is stepping away from his Sunday role at NBC to focus on an urgent family matter and those of us who looked forward to his gentle approach to interviews and his Life Well-Lived tributes will miss him, but send our thoughts and prayers that the matter will be resolved in the way the Geist family deserves for it to be. Having met Willie Geist briefly at a media conference in New York, I can say without hesitation that he is as genuine a human being as he appears on the screen, taller perhaps and even better looking in person with piercing blue eyes and fairer skin than the camera portrays, but as down to earth and interested in others as he comes across in segments like his ‘Sunday sit down with…’ interviews. I hope he does not mind that I am carrying the Highs

and Lows of the Week to The Bahamas where I hope to “air” it as events unfold and qualify for Geist-like recognition.

The 1st high of the week

In this week’s Highs and Lows of the Week, the first high goes to officials who banned jet ski operators from riding with guests. The new order was announced on March 5 by Acting Port Controller and Senior Commander Berne Wright who said the policy aimed to curb sexual misconduct and tighten safety oversight in The Bahamas’ water sports industry. He did not mince words. “If an operator rides with a guest, it cracks the door for unwanted sexual misconduct, so in order to mitigate or limit that, at no time should an operator be riding with a guest for no reason — that should never happen,” Mr Wright said. And we say well said, Mr Wright. Congratulations, too, to the US Embassy and, in particular, the Deputy Chief of Mission Kimberley Furnish who, when she was serving as Charges d’Affaires prior to the arrival of the Ambassador Hershel Walker, campaigned hard to find a solution to the tragedies reported to the Embassy by young girls who had opted for a jet ski ride, paid the fare, hopped on full of holiday happiness and ended in tears and trauma when the ride led to an abandoned beach and rape.

The 1st low

The first low of the week has to go to the same man who we credited in the first high, Acting Port Controller Berne Wright. Or maybe it’s his team or the Royal Bahamas Defence Force or just the owner/operator of the trawler Drianna. In case you haven’t seen it, Drianna is that large, black-hulled vessel sinking, sitting near the middle of the channel off Arawak Cay, looking very forlorn, and very much

“...the first low of the week is not about her peeling paint or rusting superstructure, it’s about why we let her sit right there, listing to starboard, in the path of other vessels, unsure of what could be leaking into the waters or whether fuel or battery acid or anything else could be leaching into the channel.”

attached to the bottom which may be the only thing keeping it from sinking altogether. It’s probably fair to say that wherever she went before Drianna was a productive member of a fishing fleet. She has all the markings of a ship that has seen far better days but our ranking for the first low of the week is not about her peeling paint or rusting superstructure, it’s about why we let her sit right there, listing to starboard, in the path of other vessels, unsure of what could be leaking into the waters or whether fuel or battery acid or anything else could be leaching into the channel.

The 2nd high

The 2nd high of the week goes to the Rolle sisters, Bridgette and Sophia, who used their 62nd birthday to give back to community by hosting and putting together a 5k fun run, walk or whatever at Goodman’s Bay March 7 to raise funds for the Bahamas Feeding Network. The Rolles took some of the pain out of showing up at 5:30 am. They had Sandbar coffee set up and start custom-brewing the morning joe with young Mr. Sands’ specialty flavours providing an instant revival beverage. Good going, Drs Bridgette and Sophia. Those doctorate

HOUSEKEEPER NEEDED

We

Three (3) Years

Housekeeper

Marina just before the Poop Deck and Yacht Haven. Can someone please explain why this area has suddenly become a secondary unofficial cargo port with containers parked there overnight and sometimes for days?

Did we run out of space on Arawak Cay where Nassau Container Port is located?

The eastern paved and landscaped walkway is not the only place 20-80-foot cables cargo containers, fuel trucks and others are overnighting. They are also on the western esplanade though they don’t seem to stay as long. Maybe someone has an answer. We are all ears though our eyes are not happy especially since I could get a ticket for parking my car in the wrong spot downtown so just not understanding how commercial equipment can put down metal feet and hang out on public property presumably intended for other uses without repercussion. If there is a good explanation, I am all ears. Meantime, it’s painful to the eyes which would much prefer a view of the waterfront.

Ending on a high note

degrees paid off taking empathy for a community cause to a new level, adding the delicious taste to the morning air and proving sisterly love, like brotherly love, can extend far beyond family borders.

The final low

And we have to add another low from along the waterfront. This one, from the once beautiful walkway running parallel to East Bay Street from Potter’s Cay to TPA

In addition to commending Atlantis on a hugely successful and well-run Wine & Food Festival, I wanted to end on another high note. Watch for an announcement this week of a rock concert coming to Nassau. It’s big. It’s British. It’s loud and it’s packed with talent. Coming to a distillery near you in April with the band’s leader stopping by Nassau for the pre-concert press conference on the 26th of this month. The event is set for April 8 at John Watling’s Distillery, quickly emerging as the favourite grounds for the extraordinary.

Trade with Cuba collapses as Trump escalates pressure on Communist Party leadership

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press

T HE Cuban Communist Party has shown an astonishing resilience over six decades in power.

Whether it’s the United States trade embargo to counter Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, or the widespread starvation of the “special period” that followed the breakup of its Cold War patron, the Soviet Union, both US hostilities and calamities of its own making have proven no match for the country’s leadership.

But perhaps none of those crises pose as grave a threat as the one triggered by an allbut-declared naval siege by the Trump administration as it seeks to force regime change in the wake of its successful ousting of Cuba’s longtime ally Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Even as he fights a war with Iran, President Donald Trump this week said he believes he’ll have “the honour of taking Cuba” soon. While it wasn’t clear exactly what he meant, the US is looking for President Miguel DíazCanel to leave power as part of ongoing talks with Havana that could avert some kind of US military intervention.

Without declaring a formal blockade, Trump and his administration have already crippled trade with the island.

In March, supplies of oil, food and other goods to the island collapsed, with no foreign-originating tankers arriving to Cuba, according to shipping data analysed by Windward, a maritime intelligence firm.

The volume of port calls, which includes tankers moving from one Cuban port to another, averaged around 50 per month in 2025 but fell to just 11 in March - all of them arriving from domestic ports. It was the lowest since 2017. Moreover, little relief is in sight: with no tankers and only three container ships — originating in China, India and the Netherlands — listing Cuba as their intended harbour.

On Thursday, The Associated Press reported that two vessels, one of them sanctioned by the US, could arrive in the coming days carrying Russian fuel.

The stranglehold is disrupting the lives of Cuba’s 11 million residents, who are enduring massive blackouts and

a breakdown in medical care due to a lack of fuel to power ambulances and hospital generators. The country, one of the most heavily reliant in the world on oil to generate electricity, produces barely 40% of the oil needed to cover its energy needs.

Ian Ralby, head of I.R. Consilium, a US-based consultancy focused on maritime security, said the United States’ aggressiveness will not endear Trump to Cubans long eager for change.

“Every Cuban resident is suffering the acute inaccessibility to fuel and all the knock-on consequences in terms of access to food, hospitals and free movement,” he said.

The sudden halt in trade has taken place without the White House reapplying restrictions on exports to Cuba that were last loosened during the Biden administration. Indeed, shipments of US-produced poultry, pork and other foodstuffs to Cuba — which account for the vast majority of US exports to the country — last year soared to $490 million, the most since 2009. Non-agricultural exports and humanitarian donations, much of it to Cuba’s emerging private sector, more than doubled.

But emboldened by the US capture of Maduro, Trump has gradually escalated his rhetoric on Cuba, first suggesting he would pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country and more recently telling conservative allies from Latin America that he would “take care” of Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.

While neither he nor the administration has articulated what exactly the pledge means, the continued presence in the Caribbean of US warships used in the strike against Maduro has led companies and countries that do business with Cuba to self-police.

“Nobody wants to be on the radar of Trump’s Truth Social account,” said John Kavulich, president of the New York-based US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

In the run-up to the US military’s ousting of Maduro during a nighttime raid on Jan. 3, Trump declared that the US would block all Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and even seized a few tankers to enforce what it called a “quarantine,” borrowing a term used by President

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John F. Kennedy during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Later in the month, Trump signed an executive order threatening tariffs on any country that supplies oil to Cuba. The warning alarmed officials in Mexico, who have long opposed US policy toward Cuba and where state-run oil company Pemex emerged as a valuable lifeline last year as Venezuelan oil exports declined.

Cuba has upped its rhetoric against what it calls a “fuel blockade” by the US But the Trump administration has disputed that characterization, no doubt aware that according to international law any naval operation seen as punishing civilians is considered an illegal act of aggression outside wartime.

“Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign state — nobody dictates what we do,” Díaz-Canel said in a social media post in January. “Cuba does not attack; we are the victims of US attacks for 66 years and we will prepare ourselves to defend the homeland with our last drop of blood.”

Amid mounting criticism that US actions are starving Cuba, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has started to walk back some of the administration’s threats. In January, the State Department sent $3 million in food kits, water purification tablets and other humanitarian assistance items to the island. Then last month, the White House said it would allow US companies to send fuel — including Venezuelan oil — to private businesses in Cuba.

The goal, said Rubio, is to encourage the development of the nation’s small private sector.

“The reason why those industries have not flourished in Cuba is because the regime has not allowed them to flourish,” Rubio said when announcing the private sales.

But it’s unclear if any companies have started fuel shipments and critics say the strategy is unrealistic as most Cuban companies lack capital and the Cuban government has a monopoly on gasoline distribution.

John Felder, owner of Premier Automotive Export, a Maryland-based business that has been selling electric cars and scooters to Cuba since 2012, said most Cubans, even in their current anguish, are fearful of what lies ahead.

“US policies have created the most resilient people in the world and yet all they want to do is buy things in Miami like you and me,” said Felder, who just returned from a four-day business trip to Havana and says he’s never seen conditions worse. “They want change but they don’t want to be controlled by the United States.”

and spirit in motion

“I didn’t want the album to sit in sorrow or in a minor tone. I wanted it to rise. I wanted people to feel that even after loss, we still gather, we still dance, we still celebrate life. Footwork is heartbeat music. It's a movement. It’s gathering. It’s generational. I wanted the album to reflect the full Bahamian spirit , not just introspection, but celebration,” said Qpid.

Rake n’ scrape, he said, is not nostalgia, it’s power and resilience.

“It’s proof that our culture carries energy that can compete anywhere. That track anchors the album in true joy and identity. That contrast is the truth. We mourn deeply, but we also must live loudly,” said Qpid.

At the centre of it all is Goat Skin & Glory, an album that Qpid says eventually evolved beyond a simple collection of songs. The shift came during a moment of clarity in the studio, when the project began to reflect something more symbolic.

“It became bigger when I stopped writing songs to fit in and started telling my truth without editing it. There was a moment in the studio when I realised this wasn’t just about a collection of songs to release. It was about responsibility. The symbolism of goat skin changed for me. Goat skin is prepared through ten sion, through stretching, through fire. Only then does it produce sound.

That realisation hit me deeply. My life had been stretched; heated, pressed, and instead of breaking, it started producing something meaningful. That’s when I knew Goat Skin & Glory wasn’t just an album. It was a statement,” said Qpid.

The personal challenges he has faced in recent years of losing people close to him, have also reshaped the way he views performance and the privilege of step ping onto a stage.

“It removed fear. When you sit beside hospital beds and confront mortality, applause feels different. Ego feels smaller. Time feels sacred. Even though those losses happened after much of the album was already created, they deepened my understanding of it. It reminded me that the stage is not a guarantee, it’s a gift and a privilege.

Now whenever I perform, it’s not about proving myself anymore. I've done that, this time, It’s about connecting. It’s about honouring time, honouring cul ture, and purpose,” said Qpid.

For listeners, the two singles offer a glimpse into the broader story that unfolds throughout the album. Qpid hopes audiences take the time to experience the work fully and absorb the layers of sound and mean ing within it.

“I hope they feel the range, depth and identity. Side by side, the singles show vulnerability and celebration. But the full album shows intention. Pound for pound, I believe this is one of the most musically layered cul tural projects I’ve created. It explores multiple genres, yet carries one unified sound that identifies as Bahamian at its core. I hope people allow themselves to sit in it and not rush it. Sit with it and let it unfold. It’s layered, it’s a musical, cultural and cohesive. If it sparks conversations about identity, modern Bahamian artistry, resilience, and global readinessthen Goat Skin & Glory has done exactly what it was meant to do,” said Qpid.