Prime Minister Perry Christie told the House of Assembly last Wednesday that the government had made a decision with regards to the two Cuban dentists being held at the Carmichael Road detention centre. He told House members the decision will be made known to the public after formal arrangements have been put into place.
On Saturday and Sunday Cubans in Miami staged a protest at the Port of Miami, in sight of cruise ship passengers, urging them to boycott The Bahamas. And that is after two U.S. Congressmen publicly stated that they will move for economic sanctions to be brought against The Bahamas, if the dentists were not released to the United States. Today, it is still not known what the government’s decision is in respect to the detained Cubans. Maybe the Prime Minister knows exactly what he is doing, but at this point, it appears to the general public that the government is dragging its feet.
It cannot be a deep, dark secret when The Bahamas is being paraded every day in South Florida as being a country that treats illegal immigrants unfairly and inhumanely. It cannot be kept from the Bahamian people when every night they turn on the American television news, The Bahamas is being talked about and shown in a bad light. It is time for the Prime Minister to tell the Bahamian people exactly what the government intends to do, and say it without equivocation to the world.
More than 10 months have gone by while the government pondered what to do about the Cubans; 10 months to make a decision that will now be made in weeks, and will be seen to have been made under pressure.
If it is the right decision, the Prime Minister need not go into a long philosophical explanation about how and why the government arrived at the decision, other than to say it is the right thing to do. And the right thing in this case is to uphold the treaty that The Bahamas has with Cuba regarding the repatriation of illegal Cuban immigrants taken in Bahamian waters.
The Bahamas can consider that the United States might be offended if its “good friend” The Bahamas, sends the dentists back to Cuba. But that is a consequence we must be prepared to take, because as Mr. Christie said after the Feb. 20 meeting with Florida Governor Jeb Bush: “The governor left the expectation on the table that The Bahamas government would address aggressively this concern of the continued detention of the two detainees and he has the assurance from us that as we speak we are in the process of trying to bring the matter, hopefully, to a conclusion in the best interest of all concerned and consistent with the national interest of The Bahamas.”
Two weeks later, that is still the expectation of the Bahamian people. They also need the assurance that whatever the outcome, they will still be able to lift their heads high to the rising sun and to the world, as they march on with dignity.
Editorial from The Freeport News
