In a hard-hitting address before world leaders, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell indicated on Thursday that it is “unfair for the United States to continue to name The Bahamas as a major drug trafficking nation.
“By virtue of its geographical location, The Bahamas is an unwitting transit point for illegal drugs from producing countries to the south of our borders, to consumer nations to the north of our borders,” said Minister Mitchell, who was addressing the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“We have consistently pointed out that The Bahamas neither produces these substances, nor is it the ultimate destination for them.
That does not stop those who consume the drugs from blaming countries like ours for this scourge. It is most unfair.”
Editor’s Note: Minister Mitchell conveniently forgets that many of the largest distributors of drugs in the Caribbean are Bahamians (ie: Samuel “Ninety” Knowles).
When Columbian drug lord Carlos Lehder operated his international drug distribution facility on Norman’s Cay, Exuma, back in the 80’s (with full support from the Bahamian government) it could also be said that the drugs were neither manufactured nor consumed in the Bahamas. But that did not make the Bahamas government any less responsible for allowing such activity on its soil. Nothing has changed. We still have major distributors (except now they are Bahamians) and we still have government ministers on the take.
The Bahamas government may be able to fool many Bahamians, maybe even a naive US Ambassador, but their feigned attempts at curbing the trans-shipment of drugs doesn’t fool those wise people who see through the insincerity and recognize it for the press release or sound bite that it really is.
Minister Mitchell’s blunt comments came a week after United States President George W. Bush named The Bahamas on a list of 20 countries that were either major drug producing or drug trafficking countries.
On Wednesday, US Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood apologized to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Cynthia Pratt for any embarrassment the placement may have caused the country.
“I apologize, madam deputy prime minister, if this report causes any concern about the close relationship [between our countries] or the progress being made, because that was not the intent,” Mr. Rood said.
Like Minister Mitchell, he too recognized that this country’s placement on the list comes as a direct result of its geographical location.
Addressing the UN, Minister Mitchell said it is clear that consuming nations must increase their efforts to reduce demand within their borders.
“We continue to cooperate with the United States and other countries in this international fight,” he assured.
“Our successful efforts and those in the broader region have been acknowledged by our international partners in the fight; in particular the admirable performance of The Bahamas in its counter narcotics effort and the superb record of our country’s police in terms of dismantling drug trafficking organizations as well as our hard work to improve the country’s ability to combat money laundering. It is a fight we pledge to continue.”
Minister Mitchell pointed out that The Bahamas, as with other transit countries, experiences the illegal activities associated with the drug trade and the negative social impacts.
“This deadly nexus between illicit drugs and small arms and light weapons and other criminal activities undermines the economic and social fabric of our nation,” he said.
“We therefore welcome the conclusion in June of this year of the work of the open-ended working group on the marking and tracing of small arms and light weapons. The Bahamas, along with many other countries, would have strongly preferred to reach agreement on legally-binding commitments on the marking and trading of these weapons.”
Minister Mitchell added, “We nonetheless hope that this tool will provide some of the accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons. We also look forward to adopting concrete commitments in the near future to regulate the activities of brokers of small arms and light weapons.”
He also said The Bahamas continues to call on developed countries to take the “same extraordinary measures they use in seeking to stop drug trafficking into their countries, to stop illegal arms from reaching our shores from their countries.”
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
