In a series of unusually revealing stories about The Bahamas' political figures and happenings, the Nassau Guardian has begun a series of stories based on information from cables from the United States State Department.

The cables were made public by the website Wikileaks, which publishes submissions of private, secret and classified documents from anonymous sources; see their listing on Wikipedia here or their website at www.wikileaks.ch.

Complied below are links to the stories from least to most recent. Also click here to see search results for all Wikileaks stories on BahamasLocalNews.com.

The significance of the WikiLeaks cables
Today The Nassau Guardian began an interesting project. The paper has obtained, through hard work by its dedicated team of young journalists, the United States State Department cables on The Bahamas from the whistle-blower WikiLeaks. Over the next few months, the Bahamian public will develop a better understanding of what is said behind closed doors by high-ranking officials of this country and what view the United States

Bahamas WikiLeaks cables revealed
When he sat down with a U.S. Embassy official at his law office on April 8, 2003, Hubert Ingraham outlined who he thought would make up the new FNM leadership team, and dismissed any chance of Brent Symonette being a part of it due to his “personality and lack of appeal” outside the bounds of his wealthy constituency, according to an embassy cable obtained by The Nassau Guardian through WikiLeaks.
While he dismissed Symonette’s chance at a successful leadership bid, Ingraham denied that his race

A U.S. view of Perry Christie
The analysis by officials from the United States Embassy in Nassau of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and its leader Perry Christie after he announced the 2007 general election in April of that year, reveals that even though the Americans perceived the PLP and Christie as friendly bilateral partners, they also held the view that the Christie-led PLP was indecisive and disorganized, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by The Nassau Guardian from WikiLeaks. "The timing of the elections are typical of Christie's style of governance — uncertain, waiting until the

Cables reveal discussions of money elections
A senior member of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) disclosed that his party spent around $7 million on the 2002 general election campaign, and a senior member of the Free National Movement (FNM) revealed that his party would need to spend between $150,000 and $250,000 on a potential by-election in the then Holy Cross constituency, according to diplomatic cables obtained by The Nassau Guardian through WikiLeaks. There are no campaign finance laws in The Bahamas and the two main political parties do not disclose

Turnquest examined in cables
As someone who went head to head with Perry Christie, a formidable opponent in 2002, Tommy Turnquest was closely analyzed by the Americans, who met with him more than once to discuss various issues of a political and national nature, reveals several cables obtained by The Nassau Guardian through WikiLeaks. U.S. Embassy officials wrote that Turnquest was “born with a silver spoon in his mouth” and was “uninspiring”, but had a “reputation for honesty”. The meetings those officials had

Don't shoot the messenger
‘Don’t shoot the messenger’ is a well-known saying used to describe the act of lashing out at the bearer of bad news who is only reporting the facts or the news. In The Bahamas, as in most countries, that is very often the media. So it was hardly surprising that almost immediately after we hit newsstands yesterday with reports from the WikiLeaks cables related to The Bahamas, the Progressive Liberal Party went on the attack. The various attacks were in response to an article carried on our front page about the views of American

'National anxiety' over crime travel advisory
The United States Embassy in Nassau closely monitors the crime situation in The Bahamas, noting the potential for a “high-profile violent crime tragedy” and resultant media disaster as a result of the high rate of crime in the country. It is also very aware of the immense fear many Bahamians have of the issuance of a travel advisory by the U.S. government, according to several cables in the WikiLeaks cache obtained by The Nassau Guardian. “Against the background of economic crisis, the crime numbers, trends, and daily headlines, as well as the expressions of concern about the state of society, all indicate that no end is in sight to high crime

Cassius Stuart compared PM to dictator
When Cassius Stuart met with a U.S. Embassy official before the Elizabeth by-election last year, he claimed he had been approached by Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader Perry Christie “who said he was looking for someone to mold to eventually take over the leadership of the PLP.” Stuart also likened Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham to Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, according to one of the diplomatic cables The Nassau Guardian obtained through the whistle-blowing non-profit organization WikiLeaks. Now a member of the Free National Movement (FNM), Stuart was leader of the Bahamas Democratic