Bhms: Walking and chewing gum

Mr. Christie told participants in the prayer breakfast that during a meeting with United States President George Bush, he was surprised over the reaction expressed over his visit to Cuba in November, 2002.

Mr Christie made history, when he became the first Bahamian Prime Minister to make an official visit to Cuba, that he attended along with a delegation of 14 Caribbean Heads of State and Government officials attending the 30th Anniversary celebration of diplomatic relations between Cuba and four Caribbean nations, namely, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

"Why should that be an astonishment when The Bahamas has over 160 students in Cuba; when Caribbean countries have thousands of students in Cuba; where Bahamians go for medical attention; where our Commissioners of Police meet annually?" Mr Christie asked.

"But, the President of the United States knew that when I sat in Cuba I sat also as a friend of the United States of America," he assured.

"So it was nothing to go to Haiti," he added. "These are necessary things that must be seen in their true perspective.

"Your government has been able to so conduct itself in international relations (that) it is not an unusual thing for the President of South Africa, or the Prime Minister of Jamaica or the President of Guyana to pick up the phone and say, 'Christie, what's happening'. That is the way it is in The Bahamas today," Mr. Christie said.

Wonder no more why the Caribbean keeps right on producing happy little socialists and communists.