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Volume: 123 No. 184, Thursday, August 20, 2026

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1

PM ON BPL CRISIS: ‘THE BUCK STOPS HERE’ Prime Minister defends Coleby-Davis and not concerned about work-to-rule action

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday defended Energy Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis amid questions over her relative silence amid ongoing controversy at Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), declaring that “the bucks stops here”.

Mr Davis made the comments after touring schools with Education minister Chester Cooper, where he

was questioned about the fallout from BPL’s allegations of overtime abuse, its unions’ work to rule mandate, and the silence of the minister responsible for the electricity provider.

Mr Davis said: “The buck stops here, and that’s the answer you’ll give to those who are concerned about whether she is quiet or not.”

The prime minister also declined to comment on whether members of BPL’s DAVIS - SEE PAGE FIVE

PRIME Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis speaks to the media during a tour of schools yesterday.

Photo: Nikia Charlton

TEACHERS UNION DEMANDS Former photographer faces eviction, 20% PAY RAISE OVER 3 YEARS blindness in battle with kidney failure

By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

BUT President Belinda Wilson.

BAHAMAS Union of Teachers president Belinda Wilson said teachers are seeking a 20 percent salary increase over three years after the government presented a salary package it had previously rejected.

Mrs Wilson said negotiations had been underway since October 2025 and that the parties returned to the table last Thursday.

"The government presented the same salary package that we've rejected already," she said at an orientation for more than 100 RAISE - SEE PAGE FOUR

By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN family living in Jacksonville, Florida, is appealing for public support after 37-year-old father-offive Terrel Carey was left unable to work by end-stage kidney disease,

diabetes and severe vision loss.

The family has launched a GoFundMe campaign as it faces eviction and mounting medical and household expenses.

Mr Carey’s wife, Waydelle Carey, said in a Facebook post that the household BATTLE - SEE PAGE THREE

TERREL CAREY

Mom of crash victim speaks on heartbreak and grief

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

GIOVANNI ‘GEO’ MCKENZIE

A MONTH after losing her only son in the fatal North Andros plane crash, Apostle Dr Jan Jones still struggles to separate the waves of grief crashing over her, admitting that she’s at a place where “me myself don't know where I'm at.”

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

“We pray but it ain’t easy,” said Dr Jones, whose son Giovanni “Geo” McKenzie was among the ten people killed on July 10 after their Flamingo Air aircraft crashed near San Andros airport. “We begin to laugh, talk and all the rest of it but it’s really hard.”

She said the family has its GRIEF - SEE PAGE THREE

PAGE 2, Thursday, August 20, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

Food vouchers and water donated to elderly home by PM’s wife IN recognition of World Humanitarian Day, Ann Marie Davis, of the Office of the Spouse of the Prime Minister presented food vouchers and bottled water to the Great Commission Ministries and the Persis Rodgers Home for the Aged at her Office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

Mrs. Davis said, “World Humanitarian Day is about people who show up when it is hardest. The nurse who stays late. The volunteer who shares water and other necessities, the neighbour who checks in. The stranger who becomes family.”

She also noted that humanitarianism is not about grand

gestures. “It is about choosing dignity, again and again. It is about saying: your life matters, your story matters and you are not alone.”

Mrs. Davis said, “Thank you to every humanitarian here and everywhere. You are the reason hope still has a name.”

Administrator of the Persis Rodgers Home for the Aged, Lavern Stewart and Secretary of the Board of Directors of Great Commission Ministries, Rev. Emily Demeritte received the donations on behalf of their organizations.

Photos: Ulric Woodside/BIS

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 20, 2026, PAGE 3

‘You could literally lose your mind,’ says grieving mom GRIEF from page one good and bad days, but is relying on faith to cope even as questions remain surrounding the tragedy.

Her youngest daughter, whom McKenzie helped raise, often asks why her brother died the way he did, Dr Jones said.

The teenager is also struggling with the painful reality that her brother will not be present for her graduation next year.

For Dr Jones, the pain is just as profound. She said her son’s death has left a piece of her missing.

“If you’re not careful, You could literally lose your mind,” she said.

“Sometimes I don’t eat.

Sometimes I can’t sleep.

It’s just gone. I don’t know. It’s like I’m at a place where me myself don’t know where I’m at.”

Dr Jones said she and her son had an unbreakable bond, with his three sisters often joking that McKenzie was her favourite child.

However, the mother of four said while she loves all of her children same, McKenzie held a special place in her heart because they had so much in common.

They also shared many firsts together.

“We spoke about everything and even though his father was there, I was the one who he always would come to,” she said. “I even taught him how to drive

the car. I bought him the first instruments he ever had.”

When Dr Jones learned of her only son’s death, she found out in the worst way possible — through social media. Calls later poured in, confirming the news.

“I think it was nasty.

Actually, I feel basically we should have had a call from the officials rather than just going on Facebook to see something, and people saying, “Oh, go look on Facebook!

That whole plane crash and all of them die and Gio die’.”

She recalled immediately experiencing pain after hearing the news, likening the feeling to having contractions.

“It was like I gave birth to my baby and at the time, I couldn’t cry.

I just started to speak in tongues. That’s the only language I knew at that particular time and I said God what is your response in all of this. I just needed to hear the response of God in the midst of it.”

Even now, she sometimes cannot sleep or eat, especially as the family prepare to bury him this weekend.

McKenzie, 35, was among the few victims whose bodies remained intact following the crash.

One of their final conversations before McKenzie’s death, Dr Jones recalled, was about his plans for the future.

The talented

GIOVANNI ‘GEO’ MCKENZIE keyboardist and popular bandleader had shared

his goals for the year, many of which centred

around his passion for music.

He had big plans for Da Pond, often dreaming of performing internationally. He recently purchased new instruments and also wanted to start a music school and launch several other businesses.

“Wherever music is, that’s where he is,” Dr Jones said. “He was somebody that was always ambitious and always believed that they’re going get to the top because that’s how I train my children because of what I do too.”

The disaster has also deeply affected McKenzie’s church family at Revolution Church where he worshipped and played the keyboard.

Members of the congregation called him a pleasant man who was dedicated to his faith.

Dr Jones, meanwhile, described her son as a visionary and people builder, saying he believed in bringing out the best in people.

She said she still has many questions surrounding his death, some of which she declined to disclose.

She said Flamingo air has yet to meet with family but added she remains hopeful that she will eventually get the answers.

“The only thing I want to do is at this time, right now, is to lay my son at peace, rest and then whatever I have to take care of, I’ll take care of afterwards,” she said.

FAMILY PLEADS FOR HELP AMID DAD’S SEVERE HEALTH CRISIS BATTLE from page one went from two breadwinners to one after his vision loss left him unable to work. She said a rent repayment plan requiring payments of more than $1,000 every two weeks recently fell through.

The family has five children: Mr Carey’s 15-year-old child from a previous relationship, an eight-year-old boy, a five-year-old girl and twoyear-old twin daughters.

Mrs Carey said the family was seeking assistance to remain in its rented home while paying for medical care not fully covered by insurance.

A former Tribune photogratpher, Mr Carey said his health crisis began in the summer of 2024 after severe headaches led him to hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with hypertension and found signs that his kidneys were failing.

He said doctors kept him in hospital for several days after tests produced abnormal kidney function readings. A biopsy was later performed to determine the stage of his kidney disease, and doctors estimated that his kidneys would reach complete failure by December.

Mr Carey said his condition became an emergency after excessive fluid accumulated in his body, slowing his movement and leaving him “fatigued 110 percent of the time”, struggling to breathe and feeling constant pressure on his chest.

Mr Carey was photographing a wedding in Tallahassee when his primary care physician called about his latest laboratory results. He said the doctor told him to go to hospital immediately because he was at risk of dying.

Upon returning to Jacksonville, he began dialysis through a catheter placed near his neck before undergoing surgery to create a fistula in his left arm for haemodialysis treatment.

TERREL Carey pictured with his family.

Mr Carey later transitioned to peritoneal dialysis, allowing him to undergo treatment at home.

He said it was less physically taxing than in-centre haemodialysis, which left him extremely drained, with slurred speech and difficulty walking.

“When you’re done with your treatment, you feel extremely drained,” he said. “As soon as I get home, the only thing I could do was probably manage to eat something, and then I had to go to sleep.”

Mr Carey said losing his vision had been the most difficult part of his illness because it deprived him of his independence and ability to work.

Before his illness, he worked as a photographer and videographer and created online content that

helped him provide for his family. However, his deteriorating vision eventually prevented him from continuing.

Mr Carey said he attempted to document his health journey through videos about dialysis, medical appointments and transplant evaluations, hoping the content could eventually generate income. Further deterioration in his left eye discouraged him from continuing.

His right eye is completely blind, while his left eye retains only enough vision for him to perceive light and shadows. He compared his remaining sight to trying to look through wet wax paper.

Mr Carey said the GoFundMe appeal would help cover household expenses, medication and

specialist care not fully covered by his insurance.

Appointments with a low-vision specialist could cost between $200 and $300, he said.

He said he needed continuing specialist care to help him adjust to severe vision loss and learn to navigate with a white cane.

Mr Carey said seeking financial help had been difficult because he was accustomed to providing for himself and his family.

Although relatives had offered support, he said assistance from friends and others had sometimes been inconsistent.

Mrs Carey said relatives had helped the family despite having limited resources of their own, but the situation had placed a strain on everyone.

“We need help and, pride aside, I’m asking,” she said. “I’m putting myself out there in an even more vulnerable way, just seeking some help, seeking some support.”

She said her husband continued to help care for their two-year-old twins despite undergoing treatment every night.

Mr Carey said his children had also helped him adjust to his vision loss.

During family outings, his eight-year-old son and five-year-old daughter sometimes held his hands and guided him when he needed to turn.

“They remind me that they love me,” he said.

“They remind me that I’m a great father.”

He said their encouragement helped him continue, although the emotional burden remained difficult.

“It gets heavy sometimes,” Mr Carey said.

Mr Carey said the emotional toll of his illness and loss of independence had led to depression and suicidal thoughts.

He recalled crying before dialysis treatments and feeling that he did not want to continue, saying the physical and emotional burden had become overwhelming.

He said therapy had helped him manage depression and thoughts of self-harm, while transitioning to dialysis at home had relieved some of the stress.

Mr Carey said depression was not limited to the initial diagnosis and could remain with kidney patients for years as they adjusted to relying on

treatment that prolongs life but does not cure the disease.

“The beginning part of it was definitely a life change,” he said. “It’s the most depressing part of your experience, but people still experience depression, or they are still depressed even years later dealing with kidney disease.”

Mr Carey is being evaluated for a possible kidney and pancreas transplant because of his diabetes.

He said he hoped the procedure could address his diabetes and possibly benefit the limited vision remaining in his left eye, although he acknowledged that his vision loss might not be reversible.

“At the end of the day, I just want to be able to live long and still enjoy life,” he said. “I understand that the situation with my blindness might not be something that can be reversed, but I’m not saying that I’m not hopeful that it can.”

PAGE 4, Thursday, August 20, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

Wilson blasts govt over ‘unreasonable’ pay offer RAISE from page one new educators yesterday.

“What we are asking for is not exorbitant. It’s reasonable. But ‘what they presented to us is unreasonable.”

Mrs Wilson declined to disclose the government’s offer.

She said all non-financial articles had been agreed, leaving the proposed salary increase and several other finance-related articles unresolved.

Mrs Wilson said the government’s negotiators needed to refer the remaining issues to their superiors and bring financial officials to the table.

“Its now time for the Minister of Finance and his team to get involved

with the negotiations, so that we will be able to speak clearly to them as to what the numbers are that we are looking at,” she said.

Mrs Wilson criticized the government’s approach, saying its offer was communicated through a letter addressed to chief consultant Bernard Evans and signed by Financial Secretary Simon Wilson.

“They have not presented any rationale,” she said. “They have not provided any data to say why they can’t pay one amount versus the other amount, and so we expect them to negotiate and not to dictate.”

She also accused the government of failing to negotiate in good faith

“They have not provided any data to say why they can’t pay one amount versus the other amount, and so we expect them to negotiate and not to dictate.”

- BUT president Belinda Wilson and said the union did not trust it.

“When you get to negotiations, you have to come with clean hands, and you have to come in good faith,” Mrs Wilson said.

“We’ve been working with the government in good faith, their hands are dirty, and I told them this.”

Mrs WIlson did not say whether the impasse

would affect the opening of schools, however, she did reveal the her union had held off industrial action around April and May, despite 90.5 per cent of members who participated in a union survey voting in favor of action.

“Industrial action does not come in one form,” she said. “It comes in several different forms.

BUT PRESIDENT BELINDA WILSON I will not tell you which form we will use if we are forced to do so.”

Mrs Wilson said she would prepare a

document setting out the union’s proposal more clearly. She did not give a date for the next negotiating meeting.

Repairs over 85 percent complete ahead of school reopening

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net SCHOOL repairs are 85 to 90 percent complete ahead of school reopening, Education Minister Chester Cooper said yesterday, with the government spending in “the region of $20m” on the works this year.

Mr Cooper and Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis toured Palmdale Primary School, SC McPherson Junior High School and HO Nash Junior High School yesterday to inspect ongoing

repairs.

The $20m has been budgeted for repairs covering 49 schools in New Providence, as well as campuses in Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.

Mr Cooper said most of the remaining work is minor and includes tiling, cabinet installation, painting, repairing leaks and ceilings, installing air-conditioning units and plexiglass.

“We are pleased with what we've seen so far,” Mr Cooper said. “The reality is, we met three eager contractors today

and it's interesting to see the entrepreneurship and the workmanship and the enthusiasm of these contractors and the motivation to complete on time and within budget.

So that excites me.”

“I reassure you that we are going to be ready on day one. Overall, we are 85, 90 percent complete.

But the schools we saw today are perhaps 90, 95 percent complete.”

Asked about the budget, he added: “Overall budget is in the region of 20 million dollars for school repairs.”

At the end of the tour,

the prime minister said he too was “encouraged” with what he saw.

“I'm delighted to know that works are as far advanced as they are, and that all works for what I call school repairs will be completed in time to ensure that our students have a comfortable place to learn and teachers have a comfortable place from which to teach,” Mr

Davis said.

Kendrick Antonio Smith, of Fine Line Construction, talked about renovations at Palmdale Primary School and predicted it will be completed by the weekend.

“We did most of the plexiglass. We did of some of the tiling. We install about just about like eight, about nine AC units in all of the

MINISTER OF EDUCATION CHESTER COOPER

classrooms. We plexiglass all of the classrooms out.

We are putting some cabinets in the classroom. We put some screen doors at the back door of the staff, and we tiled most of,” he said. “ Make sure we did everything, security fencing, and everything at the playground. We moved the replanters and stuff of this. Most of the classrooms are properly tiled and everything in all of the classroom.”

Meanwhile, the education minister spoke to reporters earlier in the day about the ministry making progress on teacher shortage as a gap of 300 was identified previously.

He said roughly 100 Bahamian teachers have been recruited.

“We have already enlisted some foreign teachers. We committed to the Bahamian people that we are not going to cut corners. This is a lengthy process of vetting through Interpol and the Royal Bahamas Police Force,” Mr Cooper said.

Mr Cooper said he did not yet have a specific figure for the number of foreign teachers recruited, but a “significant batch” of applications was being sent to the Ministry of the Public Service yesterday, with another batch sent last week.

He said the ministry hopes to fully bridge the teacher shortage over the READY - SEE PAGE 11

Charity pleads for donations as back to school needs rise

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net DEMAND for back to school assistance has risen this year as donations fail to keep pace, according to one major charity group appealing for more business partnership to meet growing social needs.

Mitsy-Ann Irving, Executive Director for Lend a Hand Bahamas, said the group has seen a significant uptick in the number of parents seeking help this year, with more than 300 families reaching out to get their children ready for school.

However, she said the organisation has struggled to meet demand since it relies on donations.

“I’ve gotten calls and people coming to the center and so it's a wide demand each year and each year it gets bigger and bigger so yes, we are having that influx of calls and walk-ins.”

The organisation is

currently only providing school and uniform vouchers to children enrolled in its after-school programmes.

“Based on our numbers of registrant, we have over 200. Yes, we could accommodate those kids for now but if we have more resources and donations coming in, we’ll extend to the wider community.”

Last year, the organisation distributed a little over 200 vouchers to families in need, but Ms Irving said demand has increased this year.

The surge in demand has also been reflected in government assistance programmes, with Social Services reporting a sharp increase in requests for uniform assistance.

More than 1,400 people in New Providence and Grand Bahama have sought government help to purchase school uniforms ahead of the new academic year.

Ms Irving attributed the

uptick to financial pressures caused by the high cost of living, saying while expenses have risen, people’s incomes have not.

“It’s hard to really turn them away like that. Normally we have groups coming in with backpacks, so normally those we couldn't afford to give the uniform and the shoe vouchers to, we’ll give them a backpack with supplies but we haven't seen that resource yet to even go ahead to give.”

She said donations have declined both locally and internationally, and appealed to corporate partners to step up and help meet the growing demand.

“A lot of collaboration is needed,” she added. “We don't need to be working in silos at this point in time because it's not really about us. It's about the immediate need of the people that we serve, and so yes, it's about working together for one common cause.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 20, 2026, PAGE 5

PM defends energy minister over silence on BPL crisis “I gave a national address on the subject matter.

I laid out what I perceive to be the issues and they’ll be dealt with.”

PRIME MINISTER PHILIP ‘BRAVE’ DAVIS

DAVIS from page one management would be held responsible for the alleged abuse of overtime hours.

But he said he was not concerned about the work-to-rule action.

“I gave a national address on the subject matter. I laid out what I perceive to be the issues and they’ll be dealt with,” the prime minister.

The Tribune revealed last week that three employees in BPL’s Fuel and Performance Department received a combined $601,295.16 in overtime between May 2025 and April 2026. Two received more than $200,000 each, with some monthly payments exceeding $20,000.

In his national address on Monday, Mr Davis said a system that allowed three employees to collect more than $600,000 in overtime in a year was an abuse.

“It is not credible that a person works twenty-four hours straight, three days running, and does safe work,” Mr Davis said in his address. “It is not fair to

the ratepayer, who funds every dollar. And it is not fair to the honest worker, whose profession is tarnished by it.”

The claims have sparked pushback from the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) and Bahamas Electrical Utility Managerial Union (BEUMU).

It was reported two BPL workers were suspended over allegations of “gross misconduct”.

The Nassau Guardian reported Senior Mechanical Technician Wellington Porter and Manager Melvin Babb were both suspended; however, it is not clear whether the suspension is connected to the overtime issue.

The records obtained by The Tribune do not identify Mr Porter as the employee who recorded the 90 hours over four consecutive days during Christmas week.

BEUMU President Chris Hanna confirmed Mr Babb’s letter did not list the overtime issue. Both the management and worker’s union have announced their members are on work to rule.

Grand Cay generator repair delayed until end of week

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net RESIDENTS of Little Grand Cay face a further setback in the restoration of electricity as repairs to a replacement rental generator have been delayed until the end of the week.

Bahamas Power and Light said the rental generation company has advised that repairs to the replacement unit have been delayed, pushing the estimated completion date to Friday, August 21.

According to an update issued yesterday by BPL, plans are already in place to ship the unit from Grand Bahama to Little Grand Cay as soon as repairs are completed.

BPL apologised to customers for the inconvenience and thanked them for their continued patience as crews await the arrival of the rental generation unit.

The latest delay comes as a blow to residents who have endured difficult conditions since August 5, without electricity, phone service or running water because of an island-wide outage caused by a generator failure. Before the outage, the island had also experienced frequent load shedding.

The prolonged outage has forced residents to rely on portable generators, spending hundreds of dollars on fuel.

One resident estimated spending nearly $90 a day on fuel as a result of the outage.

Residents are also questioning whether they will be reimbursed or receive credits on their electricity bills for money spent on fuel.

North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish said the government had sent two

new generators to Little Grand Cay, but both subsequently developed problems.

“We've already taken one out of service because that generator had some issues. We have now engaged the one from

LITTLE GRAND CAY, ABACO.

Walker's Cay that was there, and that has some issues, and now we are sending one from Grand Bahama.

“So, no effort has been spared. We are trying to address the issue as best as we can,” Mr Cornish said.

The North Abaco MP said he continues to provide updates to constituents through a WhatsApp group.

“I sent a voice note that I'm fully aware and we are fully working on it and we continue to face the challenges,” Mr Cornish said.

He also pointed to the number of generators sent to Little Grand Cay in recent years as evidence of the government's efforts to address the island's electricity problems.

“In less than five years, at least four or five different generators have been sent to Grand Cay,” he said.

Mr Cornish said the

government had also addressed what he described as a longstanding financial burden on the community.

He said residents had previously been instructed by a former administration to use utility services without paying their bills, resulting in arrears of more than $500,000.

“As a matter of fact, I'm a part of the government that recognizes how Grand Cay was disenfranchised when they were told by a former administration to use the utility services without collecting their funds, and the bills just accumulated over $500,000 plus. We came in and recognized that it was unfair, and we exempted that bill for them,” he said. “I care about those people.”

Asked about residents' calls for reimbursement for fuel expenses incurred while using generators during the current outage,

Mr Cornish said he did not control that aspect.

“I do not control that,” he said.

Residents have reported spending between $90 and $100 a day on fuel and said they hoped the government would reimburse them.

Mr Cornish said residents had the right to make that request.

“I feel like they have the right to do what they want. They feel like they should be reimbursed; they have every right to feel that,” he said.

The latest delay in restoring power has added to ongoing concerns among Little Grand Cay residents about the reliability of the island's electricity supply.

BPL said further updates would be provided as information becomes available on the repairs and shipment of the replacement generator.

PAGE 6, Thursday, August 20, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

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Spreading fake stories helps no one IT is hard to imagine the horror a family must go through when one of their loved ones is missing.

It is even more horrifying to think that some people would go to the lengths of making up fake stories that make that family’s hardship even greater.

That is the situation that the family of Katrina Kelly has found themselves in.

Ms Kelly has been missing and the search has been under way to find her – and the family has had to deal with a series of untrue stories as they wait for news.

One of those stories was that her body had been found, shot and badly burned – completely untrue.

What kind of person makes up such rumours – and why? For notoriety? For likes or clicks on their social media? Such people do not deserve our attention, though they certainly deserve our scorn.

Ms Kelly’s uncle, Keith Kelly, told of another rumour that she was found at Preacher’s Cave – “that was a lie”, he said.

Right now, all Ms Kelly’s family needs is support. That is help from the authorities. That is help from people using their eyes to watch for Ms Kelly. That is sharing the word so that more people know who to look for, in the hope that she is found.

What is not needed is social media speculation. What is not needed is people making up fake stories, or sharing their opinion without any evidence of how the situation came about.

These rumours do not just affect the family. The police have to take time to investigate such reports to see if they are true or not. The media has to check the rumours before they report them, to make sure fake stories do not gain the authenticity of genuine media outlets.

It takes a moment to make up a lie; it can take hours to find out the truth – hours that could be better spent devoted to finding the missing person.

This is far from the only way in which fake stories have been spread.

There are certain internet-only outlets that seem to specialise in getting

things wrong but generating outrage along the way. You will know the ones – they are the ones where it is not made clear who is behind them, the ones who do not dare put their name to a story.

Every time The Tribune prints a story, you know where we are. Our address is listed on this page. Our front door is open. If we get something wrong, we can be held to account, unlike some internet outlets where getting things wrong seems to be a habit, where apologies are few and far between, and the outlet can disappear overnight without anyone knowing who they are.

So gauge these stories by who is telling them. Find the voices of reporters that you can trust. If you cannot hold anyone to account for a story, perhaps you should weigh that for the likelihood that they might not take the time to check whether something is real – or even whether they might make something up entirely.

In this age of WhatsApp messages being circulated, it is all too easy for things to be shared widely without any way of holding the person writing it to account. Even more so in this age of AI images.

But we have long seen instances of crime scene images or crash scenes being circulated, even including photos or videos of people’s bodies, all without a thought for the fact that for some relatives, that might be the first they learn of a relative who has been killed or badly injured.

Social media can hurt. The things that get shared or claimed can be harmful to family members in traumatic situations – such as the family of Ms Kelly.

We hope and pray that the family has the support they need, and that their hopes that Ms Kelly will be found alive come true.

Whatever the outcome, what they do not need is people capitalising on their pain, all for some social media clout.

A lie is a lie, and it can hurt those in the toughest of circumstances.

Those who make such things up are not worthy of your time or attention.

Sober’s death proof Bahamas doesn’t consider itself part of Caribbean EDITOR, The Tribune.

ON Friday, July 17, Barbados lost one of its National Heroes: the legendary cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers.

The Mia Mottley Barbados Labor Party government quickly announced that the day of his passing was a National Day of Mourning in which the Bajan flag was flown at half-mast. Wednesday, July 29 was another National Day of Mourning. That was the day Sir Garfield was eulogised in a State Funeral at the Kensington Oval in Downtown Bridgetown. His remains were interred at the Coral

Ridge Memorial Gardens.

Sir Garfield was considered the greatest all-rounder in the history of the sport of cricket. He represented the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. In 1975, he was knighted.

In the year 1998, he was named a National Hero. Bajans view Sir Garfield much the same way Americans and Bahamians view NBA legend Michael Jordan and Argentinians view soccer legend Lionel Messi. News of his passing graced the front pages of the dailies in Barbados and has dominated the news since then. Many prominent

dignitaries attended his funeral, such as Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley and R&B singer Rihanna. I stand to be corrected, but I do not recall hearing any news from Bahamian media houses on the passing of Sir Garfield.

If so, this is largely due to the fact that Bahamians, by and large, do not really consider themselves to be members of the Caribbean community. Sure, The Bahamas has been a member of CARICOM since 1983.

But I feel as if this nation has adopted the culture of the United States more than the cultures of its Caribbean

Will those who knew dream of Majority Rule let it die?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

WHAT was or is the promise of Majority Rule?

One only has to take a look at the front cover of the Progressive Liberal Party’s 1962 platform that was framed by the leaders of the march to the achievement of Majority Rule.

The front cover of the platform was emblasoned as follows: Plan For Progress And Prosperity In a rectangle, the following words followed: “There Is a Place in this Plan for you” In the Introduction, the following was written, in part, in the first two paragraphs: “When the Progressive Liberal Party was formed nine years ago, it set as its goals the political education and emancipation of the Bahamian people and the accomplishment of social and economic justice

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net for all. We believe that our Party is best qualified to lead our Country with wisdom, integrity, foresight, and responsibility to new heights of prosperity and happiness in the years to come.

“Progress towards national unity has been slow because of the difference and ignorance of our political opponents to the just demands of the Bahamian people. Rich men have become richer, but the average man in New Providence and in every Out Island Community has found living more frustrating and difficult.

The high cost of living has caused privation and hardship. Promises have been broken, and personal power and desires have been put

before the good of the people.” This Was, In Part, The Promise. The essential question has it been kept as stated in the platform.

I am a part of a generation who knew of and bought into the promise of Majority Rule; sadly, many of us have passed on to the great beyond.

The numbers are dwindling! When we are gone, who will tell the story of the promise of Majority Rule.

Who will carry the flame of Majority Rule?

If those of us who are alive do not keep the original dream of Majority Rule alive who will? Who will?

Will the dream die with our generation? Or will the dream be cast into the sea of forgetfulness when We are All gone!!!

DR DONALD M McCARTNEY Freeport, Grand Bahama August 17, 2026.

Sovereignty and the survival of small states EDITOR, The Tribune.

LORD Palmerston famously declared to the British House of Commons in 1848: “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”

This foundational maxim of political realism perfectly captures the behavior of global superpowers, past and present. While global observers often express shock at transactional foreign policy agendas—such as modern “America First” doctrines—the reality is that all hegemons prioritize their own national interests.

The difference across political administrations is rarely one of intent, but merely one of style; where some leaders are overtly blunt, others mask identical strategic mandates in the softer language of diplomacy.

Ultimately, international relations are governed by power dynamics, proving that the concept of a benevolent hegemon is entirely mythical.

History demonstrates that when a hegemon’s dominance becomes absolute, its relationship with smaller allies’ shifts from consensual leadership to coercive extraction. A prime historical example is the transformation of the voluntary Delian League into the tyrannical Athenian Empire during the 5th century BCE, where Athens ultimately told the weaker Melians that “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” This same realist calculus dictates modern American foreign policy in the Caribbean basin.

Under Barack Obama, Jamaica faced intense diplomatic pressure to extradite Christopher “Dudus” Coke to satisfy U.S. security interests despite local

political fallout. Decades after Ronald Reagan’s military invasion of Grenada, the island faced swift economic levers when it reportedly refused to let its airport be used as a platform to apprehend Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; the U.S. institutionalized a rigid Visa Bond Program, requiring Grenadian applicants to post refundable security deposits of up to $20,000. This transactional shift is explicitly codified in U.S. National Security Strategies, which condition favorable trade, tech-sharing, and defense procurement on an ally’s willingness to absorb military burdens and eliminate “free-riding.”

Currently, many nations across the Global South view China as a more benevolent, development-focused partner than the United States, but history suggests this perception is a temporary illusion. Superpower behavior correlates directly with a nation’s developmental trajectory, meaning geopolitics is never a matter of virtue, but a calculated pursuit of resources to maintain domestic growth. Just as the United States offered generous frameworks like the Caribbean Basin Initiative during the Cold War—only to pivot to an extractive stance once the Soviet Union collapsed— China’s current global generosity mirrors that of a rising politician seeking favor. As China’s global economic dominance solidifies, its strategic approach will inevitably shift from economic charm offensives to aggressive hard power projection to secure its own national development.

To survive in this unforgiving landscape, developing nations must understand that modern sovereignty is the ability to maximize national welfare

while aggressively building the strategic strength necessary to resist external coercion. China itself provides the ultimate blueprint; following its “Century of Humiliation” marked by Western dominance after the 1840 Opium Wars, it executed a disciplined, longterm strategy to rebuild its economy into the world’s largest by Purchasing Power Parity. The contrasting modern trajectories of isolated nations illustrate the high cost of this preparation. Through decades of immense domestic sacrifice, structural fortification, and strategic alliances with Russia and China, Iran has successfully insulated itself against direct U.S. military intervention.

Conversely, Venezuela lacked the same level of long-term structural resilience and caved rapidly under the weight of crushing U.S. economic and political maneuvers.

In conclusion, the international arena rewards perseverance and swiftly discards the weak or unprepared. For a small nation, maintaining true sovereignty requires an unyielding commitment to self-reliance, supplemented by pragmatic, strategic alliances. Even global superpowers like the United States and China rely on coalitions to distribute burdens and project global power. For developing states, survival depends on abandoning the dangerous illusion of foreign benevolence, viewing every international partnership through the cold lens of national interest, and strategically building the economic resilience needed to withstand the inevitable shifts of global hegemons.

neighbors. When my sibling had visited Barbados about six years ago, he was surprised at the fact that many of the Bajans were unfamiliar with The Bahamas.

Some of the Bajans told him that they had never heard of The Bahamas. This might be an indictment on the educational system in that Caribbean country.

But I think one reason for this glaring ignorance might be due to the leadership of that country believing that Bahamians are Americanised; rather than being “Caribbeanised.”

My sibling took note of the fact that there was only one US fast food eaterie on the island of Barbados, Wendy’s. The residents he spoke to said they prefer eating from the ground; yam, cassava, potato, etc.

Also, he discovered that curried meat, particularly

goat meat, is very popular on the island. He said also that over 90 percent of the Bajans he saw were very slim. He only recalled seeing one obese person.

In The Bahamas, obesity is a pandemic, due in large part to the proliferation of US fast food eateries on New Providence and Grand Bahama. Obesity is also an issue in the US. Few Bahamians watch cricket or soccer. Few are familiar with the game of cricket.

The World Cup tournament recently ended with Spain defeating Argentina. For many Bahamians, World Cup Soccer was irrelevant.

For the people of Barbados and elsewhere in the Caribbean, especially Haiti which fielded a team in the tournament, soccer is very popular.

In The Bahamas, we prefer American football or

NBA and NCAA basketball. This underscores the fact that we have far more in common with the US than our Caribbean allies.

The death of Sir Garfield is just one more proof of this dynamic. Many had never even heard of his name. For the overwhelming majority of Bahamians, his death meant nothing. For the people of Barbados and elsewhere in the Caribbean, his passing had the same impact as the untimely death of NBA legend Kobie Bryant in The Bahamas and North America. Again, this proves my point, I believe, that Bahamians do not consider themselves to be members of the Caribbean, notwithstanding our diplomatic ties.

BRIAN ELLIS PLUMMER Nassau, August 7, 2026.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama July 29, 2026.

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 20, 2026, PAGE 7

Officers win damages over Suspect admits to raping unlawful arrest in Acklins woman during home invasion

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net THE Supreme Court has ruled that two police officers were unlawfully arrested and detained during a 2022 drug investigation in Acklins, finding that their constitutional right to liberty was breached.

Justice Cheryl Bazard KC found that Arnold Cooper and Brandon Dean were effectively under arrest after police removed them from duty, searched their homes and transported them from Acklins to Nassau.

The judge said police had reasonable grounds to investigate the officers in connection with the drug matter but failed to tell them they were under arrest

or explain the grounds for their arrest.

The officers were taken to Spring Point Police Station before being flown to Nassau and held at the Drug Enforcement Unit.

They said their movements and communication were restricted and that they were treated as suspects.

Mr Cooper also said he was unable to have a private meeting with his attorney.

Both men were eventually released without being charged.

Chief Superintendent Roberto Goodman denied that the men had been arrested, saying they had accompanied him to Nassau under a lawful order. The judge rejected that position, finding that the officers were not free to leave and were under police control.

Justice Bazard said an

arrest does not require handcuffs or formal paperwork, adding that the key issue is whether a person's freedom has been restricted.

The judge also found that the officers suffered reputational harm after police announced that three officers had been arrested in connection with the drug investigation.

Although Mr Cooper and Mr Dean were not named, she said they could be identified by people in the small Acklins community.

The court ruled that Mr Cooper and Mr Dean are entitled to damages for their unlawful arrest, loss of liberty and reputational harm. The amount of damages will be determined by the Registrar. Legal costs were also awarded to the officers.

$7,000 bail for man charged with indecent assault of a 13-year-old girl

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A MAN was accused of indecently assaulting a 13-year-old girl in New Providence earlier this month.

Prosecutors allege that Nelson Duncombe, 38,

inappropriately touched the girl on August 8.

Duncombe pleaded not guilty to indecent assault before Magistrate Abigail Farrington.

He was granted $7,000 bail with one or two sureties.

As a condition of his bail, the accused must sign in at the Grove Police Station

every Friday by 7pm.

He was also warned not to contact any witnesses in the matter or risk having his bail revoked.

Duncombe returns to court for trial on October 29.

Reserve Inspector Deveaux prosecuted the case.

Mother and daughter accused with stealing $10,000 in Grand Bahama

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A MOTHER and daughter were accused of stealing $10,000 from two people in Grand Bahama earlier this summer.

Prosecutors allege that Lyndera Clarke, 19,

and Carmel Clarke, 45, stole $6,600 from Daryle Isaac in Freeport, Grand Bahama, between June 11 and 15.

The defendants are also accused of stealing $3,400 from Locksley Munroe between June 19 and 22.

The pair pleaded not guilty to two counts each

of stealing and money laundering before Acting Chief Magistrate Ancella Evans.

Bail was set at $3,000 each with one or two sureties.

The pair return to court for trial on October 21.

Corporal Moultrie prosecuted the case.

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 47-YEAR-OLD man admitted to sexually assaulting a woman during a 2024 home invasion in the middle of his trial yesterday.

Mike Dwayne Rahming pleaded guilty to charges of rape and burglary just days

after his trial began before Justice Loren Klein.

During the trial, the court heard a recording of the defendant apologising to the victim for the rape and burglary during a confrontation. He also asked the woman to forgive him.

Rahming broke into the woman's residence and raped her on October 20,

2024.

Following his guilty plea, he was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until he returns to court for sentencing later this year.

Janessa Murray and Terneille Bain prosecuted the case.

Nathan Bain represented the accused.

Shooting victim charged with attempted murder after near-fatal street shootout

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A MAN was accused of a near-fatal shooting near Augusta Street earlier this month involving two men who allegedly shot him during the same exchange.

Prosecutors allege that Desmond Clarke, 27, attempted to murder Omar Daniels, 25, and Berrin Fenelus, 30, near the junction of Augusta and Meadow streets around 11am on August 7.

During the alleged exchange of gunfire, Daniels was reportedly shot in the right hand, while Clarke

was treated in hospital for gunshot injuries to his chest.

Daniels was reportedly stopped by police on Augusta Street after he was caught speeding in a silver Nissan Cube with its rear windshield shot out. He told officers he had been shot in the right hand.

While receiving treatment in hospital, Daniels and his passenger, Fenelus, were arrested after Clarke allegedly identified them as the other shooters.

Clarke was not required to enter a plea to two counts of attempted murder before Acting Chief Magistrate Ancella Evans.

Daniels and Fenelus

were each charged with the attempted murder of Clarke last week.

Clarke was informed that his case would proceed to the Supreme Court by way of a voluntary bill of indictment.

He was advised of his right to apply for bail in the Supreme Court.

Clarke was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until January 28, 2027, when he is expected to be served with the voluntary bill of indictment.

Corporal Moultrie prosecuted the case. Levan Johnson represented the accused.

PAGE 8, Thursday, August 20, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

Simon • Front Porch

Lessons from FNM’s 1992 victory: what people really want (and don’t!)

AS the Free National Movement (FNM) celebrates the 34th anniversary of its first election to office in 1992, there are lessons the current FNM might draw from that victory.

Though we’re in a new century and era, the party might recall what is required to win office and to govern effectively, especially after its recent general election loss and the continued poor governance of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).

The FNM of that day convinced the Bahamian people--weary after decades of mismanagement and corruption--that it had the quality of leaders and vision to turn around a country stagnating from government dysfunction and the collapse of public services.

The FNM cannot simply revel in the glory of 1992 or try to repeat what it did back then. The public mood, voter expectations, and means of communication have changed significantly in the past three decades.

What has not changed is the need for a powerful compelling message about a potential new era of reform and modernization, advanced by leaders the public believes can deliver change and not just become a revolving door of politicians failing to capture the public imagination.

Today, both major parties are struggling to garner 50 percent of registered voters.

As in many other countries, voters have lost faith in politicians. They are hungry for leaders they believe are genuinely interested in their daily struggles.

The PLP’s advantage has been the ability to mobilize its base at election time.

Much of the FNM’s base has collapsed. The party is struggling, like the PLP, to attract younger and new voters.

That the FNM has yet to launch a serious postmortem and far-reaching analysis of the electorate after its second crushing general election defeat is telling.

Prior to 1992, the Bahamas economy was in a nosedive. Our international reputation was shattered.

Much of the social fabric was torn asunder by a pernicious drug culture, which senior PLP officials either tolerated or in which some were complicit.

After the FNM’s and Hubert Ingraham’s historic defeat of the PLP and Sir Lynden Pindling in 1992, the deposed leader cockily

and wrongly bragged that the election was an anomaly, that the FNM could not govern the country, and that the PLP would return to office in five years.

From 1992 to 1997, the FNM steadily fulfilled many of the promises of its manifesto. The first Ingraham administration began revamping the economy and our tourism product. It initiated an extraordinary upgrade of the country’s infrastructure, both in New Providence and the Family Islands.

Ingraham and the FNM launched an era of reform and modernization, which included greater transparency and accountability, and improved conditions and standards in the public service. Today, we are in

dramatically increased the number of Bahamians receiving Crown Land.

The highest level of growth and lowest level of unemployment in the history of an independent Bahamas helped the FNM to secure a historic 57 percent of the vote in 1997.

Staterun hotels were privatized,

the economy and public finances. This dramatic growth helped to provide funds for investments in infrastructure, health care, education, social services and other areas of

boosting

and upgraded health care facilities, housing, police stations, government offices, town centers, airports, roads, bridges, docks, water systems, schools, post offices, and other facilities.

Long-neglected Family Islands that the PLP had abandoned for decades, received access to services taken for granted on New Providence and Grand Bahama.

A 30th anniversary article, The New Birth of Freedom, recalled the FNM’s success in transforming a tourism plant and product that were moribund.

“The era of reform and modernization transformed a stagnant Bahamas and an anemic economy teetering on the brink of collapse.

The main priority was eco-

Photo: Tribune file

another depressing period of opaque, non-disclosive, and unaccountable governance.

Critically, the FNM did not engage in the wide scale corruption and victimization that marked much of the Pindling era. Ingraham insisted on tabling heads of agreements before parliament. The party famously advanced democracy by ending the state monopoly on the broadcast media.

Voters saw a government in action trying to improve their daily lives.

Voters believed that public funds were being used for their benefit not the benefit of political cronies. Beginning in 1992, the FNM

The decade of the 90s started with considerable discussion about low-spending tourists visiting the Bahamas. It ended with the highest levels of visitor satisfaction, visitor spending, and hotel occupancies that The Bahamas had ever enjoyed. employment and the economy, easing some of the drain on the Public Treasury.

“The dramatic rebound in tourism revitalized

national development.”

Throughout The Bahamas, the FNM transformed the country’s infrastructure. This included new

nomic restoration.

This required the revival of tourism and the provision of modern infrastructure the length and breadth of the country…

“The decade of the 90s started with considerable discussion about low-spending tourists visiting the Bahamas. It ended with the highest levels of visitor satisfaction, visitor spending, and hotel occupancies that The Bahamas had ever enjoyed.

“A substantial reason for this transformation was that

the 1992 election ushered in both a new philosophy and new approaches in the conduct of national affairs, with tremendous implications for tourism, the largest sector of the economy…

“This included the conversion of the benefits of the Hotel Encouragement Act from a rebate to an exemption that improved the cash flow of many properties that often waited for more than a year for refunds due under the Act.” A former senior government official, who worked in the first two FNM administrations of Mr. Ingraham, described the gargantuan task of rescuing The Bahamas from the misrule and maladministration of the then-PLP. A culture of slackness and entitlement was pervasive, encouraged by many in the PLP oligarchy, who raided the state with plundering zeal as social values declined and positive social mores atrophied. A syndrome of lawlessness and irresponsibility spread tentacles throughout the society, laying waste to basic values such as paying one’s bills and abiding by basic laws and rules.

For a decade, from 1992 to 2002, Ingraham and the FNM labored to rebuild the country and to address the social decline and culture of criminality that had metastasized.

A part of this effort was ensuring greater responsibility and accountability by citizens in terms of a basic obligation such as paying taxes or funds owed to public corporations, abiding by the rule of law, and respecting the general order in the country.

For some years now, The Bahamas has slipped back into a period of decline.

Standards in government and parliament continue to deteriorate. Public services are in crisis. Corruption is rampant. Most Bahamians feel that we are going backwards.

The ongoing success of the Coalition of Independents and the inability of either major party to win a majority of voters suggests a broader public hunger for a party that can offer and implement good and generally honest government.

This is both the opportunity and the challenge for the FNM as it celebrates the dawn of one the best eras of government in Bahamian history.

A looming rock collapse threatens a Swiss village

By HERNÁN MUÑOZ Associated Press KANDERSTEG, Switzerland (AP) — An unstable mountain rock formation looming above the Swiss village of Kandersteg threatens a landslide that could rival the disaster that destroyed nearby Blatten last year, a collapse scientists linked to thawing permafrost and glacier dynamics.

The 1,300 residents of Kandersteg, in Switzerland's Bern canton, live amid a quintessential Alpine landscape of sharp peaks, white glaciers, steep green valleys and the distant sound of cowbells.

But a catastrophe looms over the quiet village: a mountainside rock formation called Spitze Stei, part of a mountain landscape increasingly affected by thawing permafrost, threatens to collapse into the valley in a massive landslide.

"You are aware that it's happening, but not afraid," said Brigitte Jüni, an inhabitant of Kandersteg.

She said authorities took all the precautions they could.

"But then it's nature. It's nature and you never know," Jüni added.

As glaciers and permafrost — the frozen soil sediment and rock that acts like a glue holding mountains

Markus Stoffel, professor for climate change and natural risks at the University of Geneva, said climate change leads to the melting of both glaciers and permafrost.

"In the mountains and in the unconsolidated debris, there is lots of ice," Stoffel said.

"Once this AREAL view of the village center of Kandersteg, Switzerland, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. ice is melting, it acts AP Photo/Hernan Munoz like a cement.

These together — melt due to higher tem- thundered down the mountainside mountain slopes will become peratures caused by climate change, in the nearby Loetschental valley, increasingly unstable." the threat of landslides is rising in sending plumes of dust skyward Locals in Kandersteg say their and coating with mud nearly all of situation is different from Blatten the Swiss Alps.

In May 2025, a huge mass Blatten, which had been evacuated and that preparations made already of rock and ice from a glacier earlier as a precaution. allow them to live calmly.

"This isn't the same case as in Blatten. It's a different situation," said local resident Rudolf Isler.

"We are not afraid of the Spitze Stei rock. It's been many years seeing stones falling from up there. The problem here is about global warming and rising temperatures."

If the entire unstable section of the Spitze Stei — estimated at roughly 15--20 million cubic meters — were to collapse, it would trigger a massive natural disaster. But the rock is under constant monitoring, evacuation plans are prepared and experts say the rock is more likely to break down gradually than in one huge chunk.

Nathan Solothurnmann, a climate and energy expert for Greenpeace Switzerland, says that climate change means landslides or avalanches will become more common.

"Maybe even one day we will have to abandon certain valleys or certain villages because it's becoming impossible to live there," Solothurnmann said. "Or the measure you will need to take to protect infrastructure is so expensive, the efforts are so big, that it's not worthwhile anymore living there."

THE TRIBUNE

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Thursday, August 20, 2026, PAGE 9

Isaiah 16

the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone For it shall be, that, as a over the sea. wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Therefore I will bewail with Moab shall be at the fords of the weeping of Jazer the Arnon. vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, Take counsel, execute and Elealeh: for the shouting judgment; make thy for thy summer fruits and for shadow as the night in the thy harvest is fallen. midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that And gladness is taken wandereth. away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the Let mine outcasts dwell vineyards there shall be no with thee, Moab; be singing, neither shall there be thou a covert to them from shouting: the treaders shall the face of the spoiler: for tread out no wine in their the extortioner is at an end, presses; I have made their the spoiler ceaseth, the vintage shouting to cease. oppressors are consumed out of the land.

Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp And in mercy shall the throne be established: for Moab, and mine inward and he shall sit upon it in parts for Kirharesh.

Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

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truth in the tabernacle of And it shall come to David, judging, and seeking pass, when it is seen judgment, and hasting that Moab is weary on the high righteousness. place, that he shall come to We have heard of the pride his sanctuary to pray; but he of Moab; he is very proud: shall not prevail. even of his haughtiness, and This is the word that his pride, and his wrath: but the Lord hath spoken his lies shall not be so. concerning Moab since that Therefore shall Moab howl time. for Moab, every one shall But now the Lord hath howl: for the foundations of spoken, saying, Within Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; three years, as the years of an surely they are stricken. hireling, and the glory of Moab For the fields of Heshbon shall be contemned, with all languish, and the vine that great multitude; and the of Sibmah: the lords of the remnant shall be very small heathen have broken down and feeble.

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THE BIBLE IS OPENED AND WHATEVER SCRIPTURE IT OPENS TO THAT IS THE SCRIPTURE THAT GOES FORTH IT IS OF GREAT GREAT PLEASURE AND AN HONOUR TO BE CHOSEN BY THE LORD TO BE HIS SERVANT.

The Lord’s Servant

PAGE 10, Thursday, August 20, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

Charlie Harper • Stateside

Pundits balk as Trump “collapses world order” FOR a growing number of Americans, there’s a feeling of wanting their president to just go away.

Even though the American punditry universe is bogged down in the heat and humidity of Washington DC’s notorious ‘dog days’ of latter August, when most families are away at the beach or on last-chance holidays before their kids return to school, president Donald Trump continues to make daily headlines.

“It’s been a while since we have actively wished for a president or other prominent politician to take a longer vacation,” mused one veteran pundit from the fringes of yet another impromptu presidential press availability. “But this guy keeps reaching for a bigger shovel with which to deepen the hole he has already dug for himself. He just cannot keep his big mouth shut.”

Trump also persists in fiddling around with the powerful levers of political, economic, and military power that he continues to manipulate in his evolving role as the ‘interim’ leader of the free world. On Tuesday he made more headlines by first imposing, then temporarily suspending, some new tariffs on America’s great neighbor, Canada, apparently simply to invigorate ongoing trade negotiations.

Earlier this week on Monday, Trump had decided to diminish the scope of American participation in long-scheduled joint military exercises with South Korea, while at the same time appearing to reach out to the brutal dictator Kim Jong Un in North Korea.

Closer to home, Trump’s lawyers appealed once again to the Supreme Court to overturn a multi-million-dollar civil penalty he faces after he was convicted several years ago of sexual assault in the dressing room of a fancy Fifth Avenue New York City store.

“It’s all making me numb.

I really cannot stand all these antics anymore,” said one commentator. “Just when you think that Trump might realize that he’s losing the battle for public approval in what seems like almost unprecedented fashion, he blunders on in a different direction. This public figure has been analysed so often that his various diagnoses could fill several volumes on your bookshelf!”

All these moves, magni- embraced the ‘neocon’ label fied dramatically because applied to many influentheir perpetrator is the Amer- tial foreign policy thinkers, ican president, may not especially during the first individually add up to much eight years of the 21st Censignificance in the greater tury when George W Bush scheme of things. But they was the American president. make up key parts of an Quickly and publicly decryevolving narrative that has ing the threat to traditional continued to alarm histori- American internationalism ans and some of the more posed by incoming president serious commentators on Trump in 2017, Kagan broke American life and the arc of with his Republican past and that nation’s history in the joined the Democratic party. world.

He has criticized Trump regOne such prominent com- ularly since then. mentator is Robert Kagan, While stopping short of now affiliated with the pres- directly blaming Trump for tigious Brookings Institution the collapse of the American think tank in Washington reign of peace since the end and a regular contributor to of the Second World War, reliable on-line journal The Kagan nevertheless describes Atlantic, but previously a the president as emblematwell-known ‘in-and-outer’ ic--and perhaps energizer--of who flits between high-level a dangerous isolationist trend government foreign policy in the American political jobs and stints at politi- fabric. cally-affiliated research Kagan simultaneously institutes.

Holder of Yale and Harvard degrees, Kagan has served both Democratic and Republican presidents and is married to another prominent Washington insider, who rose to the highest levels of the US Department of State during an illustrious career.

Kagan is now out on the summer lecture circuit and spoke at a private gathering in New York last week.

He bluntly expressed his view that the ‘nearly unprecedented’ 80-year post-World War II peace guaranteed by American liberal internationalism, military, and economic hegemony is fading right Photo: Alan Fikz/pexels before our eyes.

“It’s a hard thing for human beings dismissed Trump as a to recognize rapid change thoughtless historical lightwhen it’s actually happening, weight, but also well noted especially when we’ve been the president’s ongoing living in a period that had historical significance. It been relatively peaceful and was clear that he believes relatively prosperous for a the damage Trump has very long time,” Kagan said. inflicted on the US reign of Kagan is a former conserv- peace cannot be reversed. ative Republican who once He declared that Trump’s

much better focused second term has enabled the president to so severely damage longstanding institutional bastions like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that the key element of trust that bound together the US, Canada, and Western Europe is now gone.

In the postwar era, Kagan said, “what happened in that period was really historically unprecedented and almost impossible to believe.

Because if you think about the settlement of World War II, I would urge you to look at all the great prewar powers, whose conflicts with each other kept the world perpetually at war for centuries if not millennia. Those included, more recently, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

“Then, after World War II, they all gave up all those

great power ambitions that had sustained them for so long and allowed themselves to be encompassed under the American security umbrella.”

Not unaccustomed to the use of passionate hyperbole, Kagan sees us in the midst of the collapse of a

Robert Kagan

Photo: Mariusz Kubik - Own work/Wikimedia

durable world order. And Trump is at the center of this disintegration.

“By destroying our alliances, by tariffing our allies, by making it clear that the United States is not interested in protecting others – that we’re really only in it for ourselves and the money that we can make – we are destroying a system which really became a remarkable period in human history.”

During the US reign of peace that Kagan so blissfully recalls, the Americans were, ironically, almost always at war with someone, somewhere in the world.

There have been military adventures in Korea, Panama, Vietnam, Libya, the Balkans, the Dominican Republic, Iraq, Grenada, Afghanistan, Iran, and elsewhere.

But Kagan points out that these wars were not between what he calls ‘great power nations’ whose military and economic strength would

mean that merely their involvement in a war would trigger a global conflict.

The ‘great power nations’ instead entrusted their security to the US, which would in turn provide protection, establish an international economic order focused on values of free trade, and refuse to abuse its power to bully its allies. The Europeans trusted America, and for eight decades the US earned that trust.

Now, Kagan asserts, the US has basically ruined its reign of peace. He mentioned Article Five of the NATO treaty, under which an attack against any member state compels alliance-wide response and assistance.

“I’m sure that the Europeans don’t think that Article Five means anything anymore, which is why they are rearming. They’re not rearming because Donald Trump has convinced them of the importance of burden sharing (allotting a greater percentage of their budget to defense spending), though that demand has been a cornerstone of American diplomacy for decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

“No,” he continued. “It’s not burden sharing. It’s because the Europeans are rushing to rebuild their militaries because they are scared to death of Russia.”

The scholar is particularly concerned about Germany, whose might and ambition threatened European and world peace for almost a century before World War II finally convinced the Germans that economic peace with their neighbors offered a better future.

This Mass. sanctuary takes in hundreds of guinea pigs from across the US

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press SALISBURY, Mass. (AP) — Kimie Smothermon begins each day greeted by the squeals, chirps and purrs of nearly 400 guinea pigs.

Depending on who you ask, tending to the daily barrage of guinea pig needs can be either a fairy tale or a horror show. For Smothermon, it's often a mix of both.

"If I could figure out how to get out of this at this point, I probably would," Smothermon joked. "But I do believe that to a certain extent, I probably wouldn't get out of bed if I didn't have this."

Smothermon is the owner of the Guinea Pig Sanctuary, in Salisbury, Massachusetts, roughly 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Boston.

On any given day, 350 to 400 guinea pigs are housed in a modest workspace, split into cages stacked from the floor to ceiling.

The space is cramped and chaotic as volunteers and visitors squeeze past each other between the rows of cages in a converted office space. People constantly move throughout the space cleaning out cages and checking on any sick animals.

But there's also joy. The squeals from the little piggies about to eat lettuce and other vegetation often spark laughter, while others cuddle

and comfort some of the guinea pigs. Each animal has a name prominently displayed outside their cage, as volunteers tick off their personalities.

Maui is friendly and gives kisses. Gritty is older, but shy. Rio has spunk and likes to run around.

They all remember the smell of their caretakers and gravitate toward their favorites.

"They're very sensitive animals," said Janet Woodman, a volunteer at the nonprofit. "I personally think they are probably the best therapy animal next to a horse."

Smothermon's operation is one of the handful of animal rescues in the U.S. devoted solely to taking in abandoned guinea pigs — filling a need as people become overwhelmed with the responsibilities required to take care of these pets.

The sanctuary additionally offers boarding for guinea pigs when their owners are traveling, as well as encouraging rehoming of the animals when they can.

Measuring between 8-10 inches (20.32-25.4 centimeters) long, these small beasts originally came from South America derived from the Cavia porcellus species, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo. After being domesticated in 5,000 B.C., there are now 13 different breeds that are distributed as both pets and for food.

According to Smothermon, guinea pigs often need to be adopted in pairs.

They're social and can't be kept in cages full time.

Within minutes of opening the sanctuary earlier this year, an older woman walked through the door carrying two cages needing to "surrender" her guinea pigs. The woman's husband had become sick, she explained to Smothermon, and she couldn't properly take care of both him and her pets.

KIMIE Smothermon feeds some of her several hundred guinea pigs while operating Smothermon hugged a guinea pig rescue in Salisbury, Mass., Friday, July 10, 2026. the woman and waived the usual fee.

AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi "I tell people, just bring them here," she said. "If he was 12, when he discovered it still kept dropping off guinea pigs that's what you need to do, was safe to interact with guinea that needed help.

I'll take on the responsibility."

Seeing the need gave SmothOther days, Smothermon is pigs. fielding calls from across the U.S., From there, Smothermon said, ermon and her family the focus asking if she can take 11 piggies her family became a resource to and motivation to continue Alex's from Illinois, seven from Texas, take in abandoned guinea pigs. The dream, and eventually they reloand 97 from New York — where family ran the rescue out of their cated to Massachusetts.

Smothermon says the work is nearly half are expected to have New Hampshire house until a fatal hard. She only gets a handful of babies. fire burned it down in 2019. The days off a year, but the constant It's a constant stress that Smofire resulted in the loss of Smoth- drumbeat of needing to take care thermon never imagined would consume her life. It initially began ermon's other grandson, two dogs of hundreds, if not thousands, of guinea pigs keeps her grounded. when her grandson, Alex, brought and dozens of guinea pigs.

The tragedy sent Smothermon "If I don't get up, they don't eat home a guinea pig. Alex had fallen into a fire as a child and experi- into a depression, but when her and they can die. So even though enced health problems, causing family was living out of a hotel as it's not a choice, I have to," she him to avoid most animals up until they looked for a new home, people said.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, August 20, 2026, PAGE 11

Cable Bahamas launches STEM academy for girls THE Cable Bahamas Cares Foundation has launched a new programme aimed at encouraging more young Bahamian girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The initiative, called iGNITE Her, is the inaugural programme of the foundation's new iNSPIRE Her Academy and will provide 20 high school girls with hands-on training in technology, innovation and leadership over 13 weeks.

The programme begins on September 12 and is open to girls entering grades nine through 12 in New Providence. No previous technical experience is required.

Participants will receive instruction in coding, artificial intelligence, robotics, cybersecurity, engineering, computer-aided design and 3D modelling, while also taking part in mentorship and leadership development sessions.

Amber Carey, Cable Bahamas' vice president

of consumer solutions and marketing, said the programme is designed to help young women recognise their potential in technology-driven fields. “iGNITE Her is about helping young women see what is possible when they are given the opportunity, exposure and support to explore their potential,” she said. “We want girls to understand that technology and innovation are spaces where they belong and where their ideas can help shape the future of The Bahamas.”

The programme will be delivered by Happy STEM Bahamas, which received $40,000 in funding from the Cable Bahamas Cares Foundation during the foundation's relaunch in June.

According to the foundation, the investment is intended to expand access to STEM education and practical learning opportunities for young Bahamians.

Throughout the programme, participants will work on projects culminating

in presentations at iHER 2026 on November 13.

Ms Carey said the event will allow students to showcase their work before an audience of accomplished women.

“What makes this experience even more meaningful is that the girls will have an opportunity to take what they have learned and created and present it at iHER,” she said.

“They will be stepping into a space surrounded by accomplished women, sharing their own ideas and demonstrating what the next generation of Bahamian innovators is capable of.”

The foundation said iGNITE Her forms part of its broader commitment to supporting education and youth development while preparing Bahamians with skills needed in an increasingly technology-driven economy.

Applications are now open for girls entering grades nine through 12 in New Providence, with the inaugural cohort limited to 20 participants.

Govt spends $20m to fix public school buildings READY from page one course of the term. In the meantime, its director and executive team are developing strategies to ensure students receive the necessary attention with the resources available.

The minister said lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic would help the ministry expand its virtual capabilities and strengthen digital literacy among students and teachers.

Mr Cooper pointed virtual schooling and other

digital tools the ministry to deploy.

“I’m positive that we are going to be ready at the beginning of the school term and we are going to consistently seek to bring the teaching cadre up to 100 percent in terms of filling the gap that that exists.”

PRIME Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis and Education Minister Chester Cooper toured several public schools yesterday works to complete final repairs before reopening of schools are underway.

Phot: Nikia Charlton

Amber Carey, VP of Mareting & Consumer Services

PAGE 12, Thursday, August 20, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

Donated guava tree planted as part of beautification for Pride Estates Park

JAMAHL STRACHAN, executive chairman of the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority, plants a guava tree with Gene “Sparky” Fountain, civic donor at Pride Estates Park in Blue Hills Estates yesterday, as part of an initiative to beautify the community and enhance the park’s green space.

Photos: Shawn Hanna

GENE ‘SPARKY’ FOUNTAIN

HELP WANTED Established electrical company seeking to hire electricians to join our team.

Contact 466-5632 For more information.

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Thursday, August 20, 2026, PAGE 13

World News

Prince Harry and Meghan are returning to the United Kingdom with their children

By DANICA KIRKA and JAMES POLLARD Associated Press PRINCE Harry and his wife, Meghan, have decided to return to the United Kingdom for an extended stay starting this fall, but they won’t resume their roles as working members of the royal family, The Associated Press learned Wednesday.

The couple’s children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, have

already enrolled at British schools and will start classes in September, according to a person close to the Sussexes who was not authorized to speak publicly. The family plans to live at a private, non-royal residence outside of London, but plans to maintain their home in Montecito, California, and their vacation property in Portugal.

The Daily Telegraph first reported the story.

When asked to discuss

the reports by the AP at a roundtable event with U.S. veterans in Washington Wednesday night, Harry replied, “Nothing to say.”

Harry and Meghan gave up their royal duties and moved to California more than six years ago to earn their living through lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify. Although relations with the rest of the royal family have soured since then, Harry has recently expressed an

Rescue mission is called off for NASA’s aging Swift space telescope

THIS photo provided by NASA shows Kieran Wilson, LINK’s principal investigator, and Hunter Robertson, a space systems engineer, both at Katalyst Space, standing next to their spacecraft inside the SES (Space Environment Simulator) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., April 17, 2026, ahead of thermal vacuum testing.

Photo: Sophia Roberts/NASA/AP

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer THE mission to save NASA’s sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry later this year.

NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies announced the news more than a month after the startup’s Link spacecraft rocketed away to the telescope’s rescue.

Katalyst said Link will not attempt to capture Swift and boost it to a higher orbit because of problems with controlling the spacecraft. NASA said this means the telescope will plunge through the atmosphere after more than 20 years of tracking some of the biggest explosions in the universe like gamma ray bursts and exploding stars. Its demise is not expected before October.

NASA paid $30 million to Katalyst in an attempt to raise the telescope to a safer, longer-lasting orbit.

Intense solar activity caused it to lose altitude faster than expected. The rescue spacecraft went into an uncontrollable spin a few weeks after its liftoff in early July. While flight

controllers managed to slow Link’s tumble, issues continued to plague its pointing and positioning in orbit.

“This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement.

As a consolation prize, Katalyst will continue to operate Link in proximity with the telescope to demonstrate capabilities for future rescue operations.

Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee said it was an ambitious mission on an aggressive timeline that was thrown together in under a year .

“We took on this highrisk, high-reward challenge and are proud of the milestones we reached along the way,” Lee said in a statement. “We have already learned a tremendous amount.”

Launched in 2004, Swift’s science instruments were turned off earlier this year to slow its descent.

It was orbiting 214 miles (345 kilometres) high as of Wednesday. Katalyst had hoped to lift the telescope back to its original orbit of 373 miles (600 kilometres), allowing for many more years of cosmic

observations.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope could benefit from an orbital boost and had been next in line for a rescue attempt had this mission gone well. The 36-year-old Hubble is also dropping in orbit because of all the sun’s recent outbursts. It wasn’t immediately known whether Hubble is now out of luck.

interest in reconciliation so he could spend more time with his father, King Charles III, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer.

Charles was informed of the couple’s plans on Sunday. Harry and Meghan visited the UK last month.

Buckingham Palace has a policy of not commenting on speculation about non-working members of the royal family. A representative for Harry and Meghan declined to comment.

According to a source close to the Sussexes, Meghan will continue heading her As Ever company from the UK, while Harry can spend more time working with his UK-based charities.

Harry and Meghan have had a stormy relationship with the royal family ever since they decamped to a mansion in the exclusive Southern California enclave of Montecito.

In a series of interviews and Harry’s memoir “Spare,” the couple said they left Britain to escape the restrictions of royal life and criticized palace officials for being insensitive to Meghan’s mental health while alleging that at least one member of the royal family had expressed racist views when she was pregnant with their first child. Meghan describes herself as biracial.

Those tensions were exacerbated by Harry’s long-running legal battle with Britain’s tabloid newspapers, which he alleges illegally hacked his phones and invaded his privacy when he was younger.

The prince has lost a series of lawsuits against the media, including one against the publisher of the Daily Mail, which concluded last month.

PRINCE HARRY, and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive for an event, during a visit to Bondi Beach, Australia, April 17, 2026.

Photo: Jonathan Brady/AP The latest trial has left Harry facing a potential bill for millions of pounds after the court ruled he and other plaintiffs in the case were liable for the publisher’s legal fees. Associated Newspapers has filed documents showing that its legal costs amounted to 34.5 million pounds ($47 million).

Harry has also been embroiled in a legal wrangle with the British government after a government committee refused to authorize police protection for the prince and his family when they are in the UK The prince says he and his family need armed police protection because they are at risk simply because they are members of the royal family, regardless of whether they are working royals.

After losing a court battle over the security issue last year, Harry said he hoped to rebuild relations with his family.

“I would love reconciliation with my family.

There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC. “I

don’t know how much longer my father has.”

Last month, Harry returned to the UK for a series of charity engagements. Meghan and the children joined Harry for part of the visit and they spent time with the king at his Highgrove estate in western England. It was the first time Archie and Lilibet had seen their grandfather since the late Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee in 2022.

While Harry has recently met with his father, there are no signs of a warming of relations with his brother, Prince William, the heir to the throne.

Peter Hunt, a former BBC royal correspondent, said the surprise announcement would make William “apoplectic.”

“In the short term, Harry will be able to deepen his rapprochement with his father,” Hunt told Britain’s Press Association. “And his presence back home will make it harder for his brother to duck a reconciliation.”

PAGE 14, Thursday, August 20, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

World News

A triple crisis: Earthquake takes a heavy toll on Colombia’s impoverished and neglected region

By MANUEL RUEDA and ASTRID SUÁREZ Associated Press ISMAEL Arias was headed to the market when the devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit western Colombia last week, sowing death and destruction. His home region of Choco was the epicentre.

Leaving home early that day likely saved his life, he says — the two-story home he had spent years building with his modest wages collapsed during the quake.

“The house is completely destroyed,” said the 66-year-old math teacher in Quibdo, the regional capital.

At least 312 people were killed by the Aug. 10 quake, according to figures published Wednesday by the central government, and 29,000 homes were destroyed.

Recovery will be particularly challenging for Choco, which was already struggling with high poverty rates, poor infrastructure and underfunded health and education services.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 69,000 people in Choco were affected or displaced by the earthquake — about 10% of its population.

The regional government says more than 200 schools were damaged, and poor internet access will make it difficult for children to take online lessons. With around 600,000 inhabitants, mostly Afro-Colombian or Indigenous people, Choco has

A CRANE lifts a concrete slab to clear the way for rescuers searching through the rubble three days after an earthquake hit Pereira, Colombia on August 13, 2026.

Photo: Brandon Pinto/AP long been one of the country’s most neglected regions.

Largely covered by mountains and rainforests, only two precarious roads connect Choco to the rest of Colombia. Many towns are only reachable by plane or boats, and the rivers can be dangerous. There are no roads linking communities along the more than 650 kilometres (406 miles) of Choco’s coastline hugging the Pacific Ocean to the interior.

In large swaths of the region, rebel groups fight over the control of illegal mines and drug trafficking routes, displacing civilians or imposing lockdowns that prevent villagers from working their fields for days at a time.

“We are facing a triple crisis,” said Luis Mora, the United Nations Population Fund’s representative in Colombia. “You have the humanitarian crisis caused by the earthquake, now joining the under development crisis and the crisis caused by armed conflict in this territory.”

The agency has been supplying kits with personal hygiene products to women affected by the earthquake and working to create safe spaces for women within shelters.

The regional capital’s only public hospital is illequipped for the disaster Cristian Maturana, a doctor at Quibdo’s only public hospital, said that

after the earthquake hit, the emergency room overflowed with patients with broken bones and other injuries.

In the days that followed, 36 patients with multiple fractures were flown to a hospital in the city of Medellin, in the neighbouring region of Antioquia — because his hospital lacked enough personnel and equipment to treat them, Maturana said.

The hospital’s only refrigerator capable of storing blood donations was also damaged by a power surge following the quake, rendering transfusions impossible. It was replaced over the weekend with a fridge donated by a group of oncologists

PSYCHOLOGIST TESTIFIES LINDSAY CLANCY WAS NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE IN KILLING OF HER 3 CHILDREN

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press LINDSAY Clancy didn’t appreciate the “wrongfulness” of killing her three children because of her mental health issues, a psychologist testifying for the defence said at her murder trial Wednesday.

The testimony of Paul Zeizel is the strongest evidence yet to support the defence contentions that Clancy should not be held legally responsible for murder because she has bipolar disorder and was in the grip of a rare mental illness called postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children before trying to kill herself. Zeizel began seeing Clancy as a patient at a hospital after the deaths.

“She was unable to conform her behaviour to the rule of law. She had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act,” Zeizel said, adding that she had “a mental disease or a defect.”

Clancy, 36, has pleaded

not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged from 8 months to 5 years old.

Postpartum psychosis is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.

Researchers estimate that the condition — which is more serious and less common than postpartum depression — afflicts 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery.

Prosecutors say the former labour and delivery nurse planned the January 2023 killings and contrived to get her husband out of the house by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.

Clancy was not getting better Zeizel, who said he spent more than 35 hours with Clancy over dozens of visits and reviewed her medical records, said she went to a perinatal clinic in December 2022 because she felt her “brain was

in Bogota, the country’s capital.

“These have been tough days,” Maturana said, adding that support from elsewhere in Colombia and abroad “has been crucial.”

The emergency room is currently operating at twice its capacity, with patients being treated in chairs or on stretchers in the hospital’s hallways, Maturana said.

Donations of antibiotics, bandages, blood pressure monitors and other equipment have been helpful, but the hospital still needs wheelchairs and more beds.

“These seem like basic things,” Maturana said.

“But they are items we have long had shortages of.”

Camilo Prieto, a doctor with the Colombian Environmental Movement, a humanitarian group, said his organization brought in more than 2 tons of medical supplies, including electrocardiogram and ultrasound machines last week. The group also flew some of the aid to remote towns with helicopters and small planes.

“By land it would be very difficult,” Prieto said.

“But some companies and owners of private planes have given us flight hours.”

The region has a history of neglect Wiston Mosquera, the Roman Catholic bishop of the Quibdo diocese, said he hopes the quake brings attention to many of Choco’s structural problems, like poor healthcare facilities, the lack of roads

pharmacy and a restaurant.

“So the fact she is not talking about the unicorns in the corner, she is not slurring her words and she is not unable to walk, to your opinion to a degree of medical certainty, does that mean she is not in a psychotic state?” Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington asked.

Zeizel responded: “It does not.”

Prosecution challenges Zeizel’s credibility

Lindsay Clancy listens during her murder trial Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Photo: Amanda Sabga/The Boston Herald/AP damaged,” “she should kill herself” and that she “is never going to get any better.” She also showed signs of psychosis, was paranoid and feared that people could hear her thoughts and that she would lose her children.

“She was worried that her children would be removed from her and that she would never see them

again,” he said.

But just because she was in a psychotic state, Zeizel said, that didn’t mean she couldn’t do “everyday tasks of living” like driving and searching the internet, a reference to the fact that the day of the killings she took her daughter to the doctor, played with the children in the snow and searched online for a

On cross-examination, prosecutors pointed out mistakes Zeizel made in his report about Clancy and questioned whether he could be objective about her diagnosis when he was seeing her as a patient and working with the defence including appearing with Reddington at a news conference.

Zeizel acknowledged that there was nothing in Clancy’s medical records in which she reports hearing voices telling her to kill herself, only that she told her caregivers that “she wanted to die.”

Prosecutors have questioned the seriousness of Clancy’s suicide attempt.

After strangling her children, Clancy jumped from a second-story window and remains paralyzed from the waist down.

or the permanent problems with the power supply.

“We are decades behind the rest of Colombia’s regions,” said Mosquera, who was born and raised in Choco.

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has visited Choco twice since the earthquake, and promised a plan that will include billions of dollars in infrastructure investment and programs to generate jobs.

Choco’s unemployment rate was the highest in Colombia last year, according to DANE, the nation’s statistics agency.

The region’s GDP per capita was 14.3 million Colombian pesos in 2025, or about $3,500 dollars, a quarter of Bogota’s per capita income.

De la Espriella said he will designate a government official to oversee Choco’s recovery, and provide subsidies to families left homeless by the earthquake so that they can rent new homes.

Arias, the math teacher who lost his home, said he’s sceptical of such promises because of the region’s history of neglect. He said he spent around $32,000 building his home, taking out loans from banks, and will be hard pressed to raise those kinds of funds with his current teacher’s salary.

“Even if I am helped, I don’t think I will get enough,” Arias said. He and his partner are for now staying at a relative’s home.

“It’s not the same,” he says. “You don’t have the freedom there that you get in your own house.”

Prosecution brings up the children’s birthdays Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham also read from daily reports from Tewksbury Hospital, the state psychiatric hospital where Clancy stays, that included the anniversary of the killings and what would have been her children’s birthdays. Those reports mentioned her parents sometimes visiting or her talking with other patients.

But they never mentioned anything she did to remember her children.

Reddington asked Zeizel if he saw anything in the record from the hospital about her “laughing, and partying and having a good time” while in the hospital.

“Lindsay Clancy has bad days and worse days,” Zeizel said.

Zeizel also said Clancy often talks about her children, aiming to dispel prosecutors’ contention that she never mentions them. “She really loves them and misses them and thinks of them every single day, almost every moment of the day,” Zeizel said.

If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty because of a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.

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PAGE 16, Thursday, August 20, 2026

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