NASSAU, Bahamas – The U.S. ambassador drew a sharp response from the Bahamas’ foreign minister Friday when he suggested that the country is being too easy on drug traffickers and that its national defense force needs to undergo reform.
U.S. Ambassador J. Richard Blankenship made his comments at a news conference before a meeting of an anti-drug task force.
“Convicted narcotics traffickers caught with thousands of pounds of drugs are only being sentenced for periods of 18 months to two years, even when guilt is demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt,” Blankenship said.
Under Bahamian law, magistrates can sentence convicted drug dealers to a maximum of five years in prison.
“This practice is ludicrous and out of step with modern judicial practice in much of the developed world, including other countries with an English common-law based system,” the ambassador said.
The ambassador urged the Bahamian government to create an anti-drug czar position to control all agencies involved in fighting drugs.
He said the Royal Bahamas Defense Force should be “full partners” in the drug war but must first undergo “a thorough reform effort.”
Bahamian Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell abruptly adjourned the meeting after Blankenship’s remarks and held a news conference several hours later.
“Our dignity as a nation was challenged and our law enforcement officers embarrassed,” Mitchell said.
“The remarks made this morning made it appear that the Bahamas and the United States are not at one in our efforts to fight the scourge of drugs,” Mitchell said. “Nothing is further from the truth.”
U.S. embassy officials in the nation of islands off southeastern Florida didn’t immediately respond to Mitchell’s comments.
Blankenship criticized one investigation by the defense force, saying it was “poorly handled and seemed to have had some institutional and political motives.”
Defense force ships participate in anti-drug operations in the nation’s more than 700 islands.
Blankenship said future allegations involving the police or defense force, “must be fully investigated and resolved by independent judicial authorities, an independent prosecutor… or neither will be accepted as a full partner in the war on drugs by the United States.”
The ambassador also urged the government to develop a spending plan for US$1.2 million seized in anti-drug raids and held in government accounts.
“I have to admit that I get extremely frustrated when the government of the Bahamas approaches the United States for additional funding when I know that there is this pool of money available sitting untapped,” Blankenship said.
Mitchell said every concern raised by the ambassador is being addressed, including the allegations about the defense force, but he said it was “unacceptable” for him to make such statements before a technical meeting with Bahamian officials.
Blankenship, originally from Troy, Alabama, has been serving as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas since December 2001.
By Tosheena Blair, AP
