Bahamas News
Canadian & US Intervention taking the long road, Haiti still in dire crisis
By Deandrea Hamilton & Dana Malcolm
Editorial Staff
#Haiti, January 24, 2023 – On the ground, Haitians are terrified. The gangs they’d thought would be nuetralised by now, are thriving and have enveloped much of the impoverished country in a fog of fear. Kidnappings, targeted killings of law enforcement and others who dare to speak out and raging control over parts of the almost leaderless Caribbean country have inspired even more attempts to flee; Haitian men, women and children are risking it all in an unrelenting flow driven by hope and desperation.
Despite sanctions on so-called elites and allegedly corrupt ex-politicians and promises of military intervention to disarm the gangs terrorizing and threatening the government of Haiti, the occupation of US and Canadian soldiers is having little effect, it seems, on the worsening humanitarian crises, raising questions about the effectiveness of the strategy.
The US, Canada and others stepped up late last year with the intent to send a multinational military force into the Republic after Ariel Henry, Haitian Prime Minister publicly requested it in October 2022.
The request came after gangs demanded Henry’s resignation.
The United Nations reports that at least 60 percent of Haiti is controlled by the country’s 200 gangs; residents
however say the footprint of lawlessness and takeover is much, much higher. Police are afraid and are being slaughtered in the streets.
No one is coming when back-up is called.
Canada took the lead on the combined military charge, described by the UN as a security assistance mission and authenticated by a UN Security Council resolution. Canada, in November, had maintained they would not put significant boots on the ground until all Haitian leaders agreed on the decision.
While politicians fought amongst themselves on this tactic, assistance arrived in the form of Haitian-bought armoured vehicles for the police and sanctions began to be laid against certain Haitians. The list of those to be sanctioned and declared ‘enemies of the state’ was compiled by US and Mexican authorities and included gang leaders and other elites who were summarily placed under travel bans, had their assets frozen and were banned from purchasing arms and doing business in the US and Canada.
But that has not stopped the chaos and mere weeks into 2023, the final cohort of democratically elected leaders dramatically left office; their terms having expired in early January, collapsing the last shreds of democracy.
The US and Canada have met to discuss the situation, but no concrete way forward was announced other than the sanctioning of two more ‘elites’.
Despite Henry’s cry for help and the UN agreement, Bob Ray, Canadian ambassador to the UN, has indicated that major military operations in Haiti would not have a lasting impact on the Caribbean nation and Canada is instead looking at more long-term options.
“We have to admit there’s been a history of what I would call large-scale military interventions that have not worked,” Ray told Canadian media houses. “The question is what form of intervention would be the most sustainable, and that is what we are still discussing.”
The assessment comes as Henry indicated he hoped the multinational force would arrive in the country this year. And as the crisis worsens, Haitians have continued to finance their exodus, even in dangerously small boats, hungry for a taste of a better life, albeit on another shore and without the welcome mat.
Record numbers of migrants have now illegally turned up in countries like the Turks and Caicos, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the United States, exposing a worrying trend mere weeks into the New Year.
Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, August 5, 2023 – An American woman has been arrested in The Bahamas, accused of conspiring with two men, one of them alleged to be her lover, to murder her estranged husband.
The woman, 36 year old Lindsay Shiver and the two men, 28-year-old Terrance Bethel, the alleged lover and 29 year old Faron Newbold, were taken into custody last week following police investigation of a reported burglary at
Grabbers Bar and Grill restaurant on Great Guana Cay.
The police looked into their cell phones and found WhatsApp messages detailing the assassination plot to kill her husband.
The couple, who built a life in South Georgia have three children and are home owners on the island in the Abacos.
News outlets throughout the US have reported on the scandalous story, including that a nasty court battle over the couple’s reported, $5 Million dollar fortune and three children was underway. Shiver, an entrepreneur is a former beauty Alabama queen, her husband a former football player was an insurance executive.
According to US media, the husband, Robert, recently filed for divorce from Shivers after a decade of marriage upon discovering she had an alleged extra-martial affair with Bethel whom she met in The Bahamas.
While the husband claims infidelity on the part of his wife, the wife claims he was abusive.
The suspects Shiver, Bethel and Newbold appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Roberto Reckley on Friday July 28th. Their next court date is set for October 5th.
Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, August 5, 2023 – The Bahamas is now facing an unfortunate reality as sexual assault has become and is a growing issue since 2023. Women and girls are said to be living in fear for their safety from these perpetrators.
The Royal Bahamas Police force has reported on instances of assault in press releases found on their Facebook page.
One report spoke of a 50 year old they were searching for after he burglarized a home and sexually assaulted an elderly woman, 82 years old. She was reported to be asleep when he woke and assaulted her.
This took place on Tuesday July 11th, 2023 at the home in the Centreville area of Nassau.
There is another incident that took place on July 17th, 2023 which the police are seeking in catching the suspect as they investigate. It involves a man believed to the perpetrator in for an armed robbery and sexual assault.
According to preliminary data, he approached the victim, a female, with a firearm, robbed her and sexually assaulted
her. He proceeded to enter the house and robbed a male and escaped. This happened in the Cowpen Road area; also in Nassau.
The assaults continue to grow in number as the police reported that they were investigating two other incidents that took place on July 24th.
The first had to do with a female, 30 years old who reported she was driving on West on Marshall Road when two men approached her after she slowed down near Faith Avenue. One of the males with a firearm, forced her from her vehicle and took her to nearby bushes where they sexually assaulted her after which they escaped.
The second incident involved à 32 year old woman who was sexually assaulted by a male known to her. It is reported that she was walking in the Fleming Street area when she accepted transportation from the suspect, who drove her to a dirt road off Gladstone Road where he presented a firearm and proceeded to rape her.
Furthermore, another assault, this time involving a 9 year old girl, was reported. As revealed by preliminary information, the victim was playing with friends outside where she lives on Saturday July 29th, 2023 when the suspect, a 42 year old male of Summerset Estate, driving a white Nissan Skyline, arrived and gestured to her to enter the car.
She entered the car after which he took her to an unknown location, threatened her and sexually assaulted her. She was later found somewhere in Spikenard Road; this also happened in Nassau.
Fortunately, he was caught and arrested for abduction and sexual assault on Sunday July 30th by officers affiliated with the Drug Enforcement Unit.
There are other reports of sexual assault throughout The Bahamas as well as rape and attempted rape during the earlier parts of the year, dating back to as early as February.
CAPTION: Women Leaders, including Ann Marie Davis, wife of the Prime Minister filled the gallery of The Bahamas Senate this week as members of the upper chamber debated the Protection Against Violence Bill 2023. The debate came just as the country experiences a spike in sexual assaults against women and girls. Photo by Patrick Hanna, BIS.
#TurksandCaicos, August 5, 2023 – On August 3rd, 2023, Premier Misick met with the Leader of the
Opposition of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the Honorable Michael Pintard. The discussion was highly productive, and they delved into matters of mutual concern between their neighboring nations. Hon. Pintard was accompanied by other opposition members, including Senator the Honorable Darren Handfield and Mr. Joshua Sears.
Group photo caption:
From Left to Right: Mr. Joshua Sears, Senator Hon. Darren Hendfield, Premier Hon. Charles Washington Misick, Bahamas Leader of the Bahamas Hon. Michael Pintard and Deputy Premier Hon. Erwin J. Saunders.
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