DEATH IN BIMNI THEN AN ARGUMENT OVER HEALTH CARE
Around the same time that death and destruction was taking place at Government House in the early hours of Sunday 28th April 2019, someone shot and killed 47-year-old Alain Perez, the owner of tourist hotspot Big John’s Bar and Grill in Alice Town in Bimini. He is a native of Miami-Dade County in Florida. His business has sponsored an annual back-to-school drive on the island for several years. The Bimini community was perplexed but they had an answer. Given the type of death and murder described most people feel that it was a hit organized from the United States and the person has made good his escape. The question is now what, for the employees of the popular night spot. That issue has been lost though in the row which broke out with members of the dead man’s family accusing The Bahamas Government of causing his death. They claimed or at least his lawyer claimed in the press that the Government held up permission for the man to be airlifted to Florida. The Government countered that the Bimini clinic was equipped to the extent that a small community is to be equipped and that the appropriate care was given. He died in the clinic within two hours of the incident. Of course, at the centre of this row is Dr. Duane Sands, the Minister of Health and a heartless heart surgeon. He again needs to resign. The fact is people have been saying for years that Bimini needs for the level of tourist arrivals a more complete facility. That does not mean we agree with the Americans. The man could not have survived no matter what, having been shot point blank in the chest. The US people like to denigrate others and look at themselves as Gods and others as not worthy of their standards. We have heard that the real reason the delay took place had nothing to do with the Government of The Bahamas but with the insistence of the family that their own doctors fly in from Florida before any further action could be taken.