BARBADOS; KLEPTOCRACY ON STEROIDS

Welcome to the Caribbean island of Barbados, where the overpopulation of attorneys has resulted in their organized campaign to steal valuable oceanfront real estate from the estates of Bajans whose heirs, often grown children who are expats, never receive their due lawful inheritance, as properties disappear from estate inventories, and end up being sold to foreign resort developers. Neither the local bar association, nor the government usually reins in the corruption, as they themselves were previously guilty of such thefts whilst in the private sector. How do you think all those ambitious and amoral lawyers can afford to build their own expensive residences? Our articles, filed over several years, have failed to draw any serious reaction, either locally or abroad; the corruption dates back several decades, and is ongoing today.

Given the fact that the status of titles to the stolen real estate tracts may one day revert to the true owners of the stolen tracts of land, how any investor can be properly advised to purchase the disputed properties, and erect a major resort on the premises is beyond my comprehension.

The government is actually no better than the country's avaricious lawyer class; when Shell Oil tendered a generous financial settlement, intended for the farmers whose airport-area land was polluted by an oil spill, the government simply kept the money, and it continues to ignore the claims of the victims. You might think that a government which is seeking to ultimately place its leader at the head of the United Nations might want to reduce systemic corruption, especially as all this misconduct is painfully obvious to the American diplomats at the local embassy, but the kleptocracy continues.