The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Michael Pintard yesterday urged Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell to clarify why he was seeking to grant asylum in The Bahamas for two Cuban men he now regards as “national security risks”.

He also called on Mr Mitchell to make public all supporting documents regarding this case. Mr Pintard said if Mr Mitchell was in fact searching for another country to accept Lazaro Seara Marin and Carlos Pupo he should produce records of diplomatic notes to ensure transparency.

On Monday, The Tribune reported that in November, Mr Mitchell sought Cabinet approval for the Cuban men’s release on parole into the Bahamian population with the issuance of an asylum seeker certificate to each of them. This is in strong contrast to a statement he released on Friday, when he deemed the men a national security risk.

Yesterday, Mr Mitchell criticised the media over how this issue was publicised.

“Anyone who understands Cabinet government and the law would understand the following: in law the Immigration Board is the Cabinet. The minister is therefore a delegate of the Cabinet,” he said in a statement.

“The instructions of the Cabinet to the Immigration Department and thereon to the lawyers of the government were to maintain that the individual Cubans recently released were a national security risk. That remains the position today and has not been countermanded. No minister in this matter therefore has a personal opinion. The assertion is stupid on its face,” Mr Mitchell said.

However, Senator Pintard told reporters yesterday that as it stands, the Fox Hill MP has completely “flip-flopped” and should clarify his position.

He also questioned National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage’s position on this situation, as Mr Mitchell has deemed the men risks to this country’s safety.

Mr Pintard said in doing this, Mr Mitchell has left the men vulnerable to acts of violence by citizens who might want to take matters into their own hands.

The FNM held a press conference at the party’s headquarters where shadow Immigration Minister Hubert Chipman also stressed that he and Mr Mitchell never had in depth discussions about the two Cuban men.

He insisted that their last conversation lasted less than five minutes and at that time there was no discussion about the men being considered national security risks.

He was responding to a press release Mr Mitchell released on Sunday night in which he claimed to have discussed the matter with Mr Chipman. He also rebuked the FNM chairman telling him he should have spoken to his colleague “before opening his big mouth.”

The men were released from custody last week after their lawyer Fred Smith, QC, argued that they had been held unlawfully for three years at the Department of Correctional Services. They were previously at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

After the court’s ruling, Mr Mitchell said he had called for an investigation into how the court was persuaded to release the Cubans.

“I would say the fundamental issue here is one of candidness and truthfulness,” Mr Pintard said. “That’s what’s at the core of this. If we are to believe the reports that are in the newspaper that Minister Mitchell in the past sought asylum for these individuals, why would you seek asylum for someone who you now consider some time later as a national security risk? That goes directly to credibility.

“So in the course of his presentation in the House of Assembly on Wednesday he must clarify that matter. Were you in fact seeking asylum for them in The Bahamas? Why would you have done that if you considered them a national security risk? If you were seeking to have them transferred to a third country do you have any records of any diplomatic notes (or) any correspondence and were you transparent in sharing with those third countries those possibilities what you knew of about these individuals? That’s a very serious thing because it is a complete flip-flop on the position. He ought to clarify.”

He added: “And then where is the minister of national security in all of this? If we have a national security threat, shouldn’t the minister of national security somehow weigh in on this and wouldn’t both Mr Mitchell and Dr Nottage have a discussion with the attorney general to ensure that national security threats do not find themselves back on the streets?

“Since none of that has been verified that they are national security threats, have you not now put their lives at risk in inciting persons to reach out and maybe approach these persons?”

Yesterday, Mr Mitchell said he was in the process of seeking the permission of the House of Assembly to address all the immigration matters in the public domain at the next available opportunity.