The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE war of words between Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell and human rights advocate Fred Smith escalated yesterday when Mr Smith accused Mr Mitchell of seeking to “cover his political backside” in his reaction to the release of two Cuban men from prison last week.

He also accused Mr Mitchell of trying to “poison” the public’s attitude against the Cubans.

Last Thursday, a Supreme Court justice ordered that Lazaro Seara Marin and Carlos Pupo be released from prison after Mr Smith, QC, argued that they were unlawfully detained for three years.

On Friday, Mr Mitchell announced that he had launched an investigation into why the court was persuaded to release the men given that, in his view, they posed a national security risk to the country.

His statement came despite the fact that the Office of the Attorney General did not oppose the application seeking their release during the court proceedings.

It was also revealed this week that Mr Mitchell, despite calling the Cubans a national security risk, moved last year to have Cabinet release the men into the general population on parole and give them each an asylum seeker certificate.

“This was a case going on for months before we actually had the hearing last week,” Mr Smith said. “And the affidavits were filed for months beforehand and there were several appearances in court and Fred Mitchell and the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Immigration knew about this case for months. They came in and asked for adjournments for months so that they could file affidavits and at the end they determined not to do so because there was no sense in holding people without charging them for nearly three years.”

Mr Smith’s comments came after he called in to 96.9 FM’s radio show, The Revolution, with host Juan McCartney.

He said: “Fred Mitchell is trying to cover his political backside. That’s all that’s happening right now because as minister of foreign affairs he needs to pretend that something happened that he didn’t know about so he could tell the USA or Cuba or some other country that he did all he could to prevent those people from being released into the community. It is pure deceit, pure hypocrisy, political doublespeak for Fred Mitchell to be going out in the public and now trying to distract as to whether these men have status or not (when) he recommended as minister of immigration to give these people asylum status and release them into the general population.

“Mr Mitchell needs to stop creating political mischief in this country and to stop throwing arrows and poisoning the public’s mind about these two gentlemen who are innocent until proven guilty.”

As for the notion that the Cubans pose a national security risk to the country, Mr Smith said Mr Mitchell should explain to Bahamians under what statute does such an offence as “national security risk” exist.

He warned that under the anticipated National Intelligence Agency legislation, a statute may be created that allows authorities to detain people they say pose a potential national security risk to the country.

“In the new NIA Act, they are going to have an offence of being someone who is a potential national security threat and the minister will be able arrest you, arrest me, and put us in indefinite detention,” he predicted.

After numerous delays, the long-anticipated NIA legislation is expected to be tabled in Parliament soon.

As for the matter of the now released Cubans, Mr Mitchell is expected to address it in the House of Assembly today.