> Fantastic, can we now hear from a Caribbean beekeeper...

Easy enough to verify with a search engine.  Just type in 
your favorite Caribbean country name or island name and 
add "+varroa" to the query.

Varroa is a serious problem in the islands, as the same lack
of money that makes foundation an unaffordable luxury for most
also applies to the cost of treatments.

It also applies to computers, so I wouldn't hold my breath
waiting for Caribbean beekeepers to respond to your posting.
(It is possible to contact some Ag extension groups via e-mail.)

But the verifiable information is:

1) The Caribbean has had a historical lack of foundation use

2) Caribbean bees have been free of other overt "influence" 
   from the US and other "industrialized nations".

3) Caribbean bees, never subjected to the upsizing influence of
   "unwitting beekeepers", do not seem to be surviving varroa
   as is claimed to be a direct benefit of "small cell" beekeeping.

Therefore we appear to be forced to select one of the following:

a) Caribbean bees never were "small cell".

b) Caribbean bees are "small cell", but they still need 
   miticides to survive varroa infestation.

c) Caribbean bees are somehow very different from North American bees.
   
Sadly my research to date has been hampered by the side effects of
the very effective bee attractants we are using to sample the
local populations:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tropanic/sets/72157604000323038/

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