The New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) is urging Americans as well as other Caribbean nationals to desist from traveling to the Bahams, until appropriate investigative and justice mechanisms are enacted to guarantee justice for Americans killed while visiting the Island.
CGID is also urging the US State Department to change its Travel Advisory for travel to The Bahamas from Yellow (Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution to Red (Level 4: Do not Travel).
The State Department’s current Level 2 Advisory for The Bahamas advises US citizen to Exercise increased caution due to crime.
The Advisory states that “Violent crime—like armed robberies, burglaries, and sexual assaults—can occur anywhere in The Bahamas.”
It further cautions that “Most crime occurs in Nassau and Freeport on New Providence and Grand Bahama islands. Stay alert in the “Over the Hill” area in Nassau, south of Shirley Street, where gangs have killed residents. Stay alert in vacation rental properties, especially where private security is not present.”
The Institute said it was motivated to call for this action after Bahamian authorities, including the Royal Bahamas Police Force, apparently engaged in a cover-up of the murder of 23-year-old Guyanese American, Dinari McAlmont, a Maryland resident, who was killed at Atlantis Paradise Island Resorts, The Bahamas, on the first day he arrived on vacation with his parents.
The Police said Dinari died by drowning. However, his body had what appeared to be several defensive wounds and he was last seen being chased by a security guard and running desperately for his life. The beach is no where close to the vicinity where he was last seen.
CGID President Rickford Burke denounced the Police investigation into Dinari’s murder as inherently inadequate, corrupt and “lacking integrity.”
Burke blasted Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, for the manner in which the investigation has unfolded, charging that Davis and his government have dismissed Dinari as they would cattle, and treated Dinari’s parents with contempt.
Burke said he wrote to Davis in October 2025, on the matter. He noted that although Davis’s spokesperson, Latrae Rahming, acknowledged to the Bahamian press that the Prime Minister received the letter, Davis neither acknowledged nor responded to the letter.
The CGID President said Davis did not even have the decency to at minimum express to Dinari’s parents his regret that Dinari died in the Bahamas and offer words of condolence to the family.
Mr. Burke further lashed out at Davis, describing his conduct on the matter as inhumane and callous and said he knew that Davis’ heartless, negligent and indifferent lack attitude was not a reflection of the nature of the Bahamian populace.
Burke said Americans must no longer send their children to the Bahamas, and all Americans, as well as Caribbean nationals, must stop vacationing in the Bahamas, as they run the risk of being robbed and murdered there while the Bahamian government will dismiss their murder as a casual affair for which no justice is warranted.
Burke said he was shocked by the level of callousness of the Prime Minister and his government. He added that he had the highest regard for the Governor General of the Bahamas, Dame Cynthia Pratt, who was previously the keynote speaker at one of CGID’s conferences and award ceremonies in New York.
“I know that the Governor General is compassionate and has been an advocate for justice and fairness throughout her career in politics. She would never tolerate the abominable inhumanity with which the Government of the Bahamas has treated the McAlmont family.”
Burke said he plans to communicate with Dame Pratt to seek her intervention to ensure Dinari’s parents received justice for his murder.
The CGID President will be meeting with several US and Maryland officials in Washington later this month to discuss the matter.
