For Immediate Release

9th December, 2008

The Prime Minister’s statements as quoted in the press today about Cuba are unfortunate, self serving and ill advised.  This is not the way to conduct diplomacy with a close neighbour and a friendly country.  This unnecessary intervention risks being interpreted as offensive by our neighbour.

Mr. Ingraham clearly does not understand why a proactive foreign policy for The Bahamas is necessary.  Given his latest comments, it is clear why his foreign policy is an abject failure and jeopardizes the interests of this country and its citizens abroad.

The establishment of an Embassy in 2005 by Cuba in The Bahamas was a natural progression from a decision made by the FNM government in 1999 to allow the establishment of a consulate general in The Bahamas.  Indeed, the work of the consulate general was not narrowly focused around consular issues but also on political issues as well.  That is why for strategic reasons the decision was made to follow the natural progression in this matter and to allow the upgrade to an embassy.

The decision for the PLP government to establish an embassy in Cuba was a strategic economic and political move, which allowed us to deal with consular matters where Bahamians were travelling to Cuba for health care and for tourism without any diplomatic representation.  There were Bahamians being imprisoned there and their interests and those of their families had to be addressed.

Cuba is one of three countries that border us, indeed, when the PLP left office, we were in the midst of discussions on establishing legally defined borders between our two countries.  Having regard to the issue which arose out of the sinking of the HMBS Flamingo in 1980, we believed that it was necessary to know our neighbours and for them to know us to avoid any possible mistakes between us.

Further, Bahamians can now see the wisdom of the PLP’s policy for wise strategic reasons, as the United States will be changing its Cuba policy, which will have economic implications for us.  It is wiser therefore to know Cuba and for them to know us so that the economic and political alignments can only have positive impacts for our country.  This has nothing to do with ideology, only good common sense, which from these utterings is clearly a commodity in short supply in the Office of Prime Minister.
 

It is obvious that the previous and current governments of the FNM have and had no full understanding of how relations between the countries have been driven by Bahamians themselves, with thousands of Bahamians travelling to Cuba for business, pleasure and all sorts of medical care, not just under the eye care programme.

The Prime Minister spoke about agreements that the PLP did not sign.  He is sadly seeking to throw clutter into the wind to confuse the public on his own shocking failure to act with regard to the eye care programme.  In fact, under the PLP the eye care programme was specifically defined and agreed in writing by the two sides.  Under the PLP, some 1500 people received free eye care under the Cuban eye care programme, but under the FNM as part of their stop review and cancel governance, the eye programme has ceased.  The government has not yet formally approved the resumption of the programme.  It is an absolute failure of their foreign policy.

It is interesting to note that The Bahamas and Cuba have just this month of December celebrated the fifth anniversary of an educational pact begun by the PLP Government between Ministry of Education and Cuban Government in 2003.  The FNM Minister of Education has just congratulated the PLP Government on the establishment of that programme, under which teachers of Spanish, Science and Special Education among others are recruited to come to The Bahamas and assist in improving our educational system.

Overall, there is a need to expand the range of embassies we have.  There should be an embassy in Brussels at the headquarters of the European Union our largest development partner; one in Jamaica because that is where most of the European Embassies that serve The Bahamas are located and it would enhance relations with CARICOM; and one in Brazil to reciprocate the presence of the Brazilian embassy in Nassau and to signal our interest in expanded trade with South America.  The number of honorary consuls for The Bahamas ought to be expanded.  The idea is to ease the passage of Bahamians everywhere in the world.  That is what the PLP sought to do.

The PLP will take no lecturing from the likes of Hubert Ingraham.  Instead of engaging in “stupidisms” as Prime Minister, he ought to govern in the best interests of the Bahamian people, which include a policy of good relations with all countries but especially our close neighbours the United States, Cuba and the Turks and Caicos Islands.