U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas J. Richard Blankenship has assured Prime Minister Perry Christie that he did not intend to insult the government of the Bahamas when he criticized local law enforcement agencies Friday in a hard-hitting speech that Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said has “shocked” the nation’s leaders and challenged the country’s dignity.
Mr. Christie also indicated that the ambassador’s remarks were perhaps inappropriate in the setting in which they were made.
“I spoke on Friday evening in the presence of both the ambassador for the United States and Mr. Mitchell and I indicated that in every country and in every organization there are people whose conduct would bring shame on an organization, but it is not for anyone, including the American ambassador, to draw the conclusion that [it] is the organization [that is corrupt.] You don’t judge the many by the few,” said Mr. Christie, moments after he returned from a weekend trip to Communist Cuba.
Ambassador Blankenship stunned government officials when he said during a bi-annual joint drug taskforce meeting that the Bahamas must revamp antiquated sentencing legislation, appoint an anti-drug Czar and throw corrupt elements out of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.
Mr. Mitchell said Friday that, “The ambassador made it appear as if the Bahamas and the United States are not working as one.”
Prime Minister Christie said today that the relationship between the Bahamas and the United States remains in tact.
“Because we are allies and we have a very close relationship with America, there is a way of dealing with these matters, other than the way the ambassador sought to deal with it,” he said. “Thirdly, and in any event, the ambassador did phone me and spoke with me several times to reassure me that he never intended to offend the Bahamas, to insult the dignity of the Bahamas or in fact question the integrity of the institutional Defense Force.
“I accepted his assurances and I accepted what he said…but I also exhorted both Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Blankenship to recognize that we are allies fighting a common enemy and that we must therefore resolve to work very closely together to ensure that this kind of development is minimized or does not happen again.”
While Mr. Mitchell said he was shocked by the ambassador’s remarks, Mr. Christie said, “I’m never shocked about anything, I just have to react to what has happened.”
During his 20-minute speech, Mr. Blankenship suggested the Bahamas clearly enunciate its national drug control strategy to address all aspects of the drug problem and clearly lay out the national direction for drug interdiction, law enforcement and detection, among other things.
“The American government wants all the RBDF personnel involved in the fight against narcotics to undergo the strictest of background checks and other “vetting” procedures, otherwise they will not be prepared to share “sensitive” information.”
The Minister responsible for law enforcement, Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt, in a clear response to Mr. Blankenship, said in the House of Assembly today that, “I do not support any form of drug dealing in this country. I do not support drug traffickers. I do not support their activity. I do not support any form of illegal behaviour in the country.
“And I believe that everyone of the members here will speak for themselves and their cry will be the same. This government is a government of transparency and whatever you want to see, you could pull it out from me and look and see.”
Over the past year, the United States Ambassador has been accused being “undiplomatic” and “overly heavy-handed” in his approach to Bahamian-U.S. relationship.
Mr. Blankenship was also recently criticized and accused by some members of the media with threatening freedom of the press in the Bahamas.
By Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
