Detention Centre incident

Detention Centre incident
By LISA S. KING
Freeport News Reporter
lisa@nasguard.com

U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas John D. Rood said yesterday that although
he has not been personally contacted by the Prime Minister or the Deputy
Prime Minister about the recent incident at the Carmichael Road
Detention Centre, the U.S. Embassy is working closely with the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs to rectify the situation.

The Carmichael Road Detention Centre came under criticism last week when
an altercation between a Royal Bahamas Defence Force Officer and an
American TV journalist resulted in the journalist allegedly having his
head slammed against a car by the officer at the Detention Centre.

Mario Vallejo was part of a news team from Miami-based WLTV-Univision
23, who had to come to New Providence to investigate reports by family
members that their relatives detained at the centre were being abused.

Ambassador Rood was in Grand Bahama as the guest speaker at a special
luncheon held at the Ruby Swiss Restaurant yesterday by the Grand Bahama
American Women's Club (GBAWC) in celebration of their 40th anniversary.

In a brief interview with The Freeport News following his address,
Ambassador Rood said he has been assured that there will be a formal
investigation and that if there was something that was done that
appeared improper, he did not wish to comment on it because he did not
want to pre-judge the situation.

However, he noted that the Carmichael Road Detention Centre is not a
place that is equipped to handle the detainment of persons for long
periods of time. In fact, he said it does not have any proper
recreational or educational facilities to help detainees pass away
meaningful time while they await a solution to their dilemma.

He said the U.S. Embassy is working to help find ways to enhance the
conditions of the Centre or any efforts that will make it a place that
is better able to handle the amount of persons being detained there at
any given time.

Sharing his experience of the various things observed at the Detention
Centre, Ambassador Rood said there are several goals which the United
States would like to accomplish with The Bahamas. Those goals include
the democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

Despite negative comments made in the international media about the
incident and how it relates to human rights in The Bahamas, the U.S.
Ambassador said he believes the country is a strong believer in
respecting human rights and is working hard to influence the world in
that vein.

However, he said one country that directly challenges this value is
Cuba, adding that the European Union has stated that it would impose a
wide-range of sanctions against Cuba for what it called deplorable
actions by the Government that violated fundamental freedoms, where
Cubans are systematically denied basic human rights to free expression.

"None of us would tolerate these conditions whether you are Bahamian or
American," the ambassador said. "We would not tolerate these conditions
at home. So it amazes me how often those issues are ignored by this
country. That is something that we are really encouraging the people and
the Government of The Bahamas to speak out against."

Ambassador Rood said the concern over human rights goes beyond Cuba and
the Caribbean where the United Nations Human Rights Commission is
working right now on reforms. He said it is hoped that The Bahamas as
well as the rest of the Caribbean, will join in to assist the Commission.

"Where else are people in need of human rights going to turn to if they
cannot turn to the United Nations?" he said.

In his address to members of the GBAWC, Ambas-sador Rood commended them
for the wonderful endeavours they have been engaged in and he encouraged
them to continue doing so.

Pointing out that the relationship between The Bahamas and the United
States is more than just government to government, but also people to
people, he said their efforts represent the exact type of people-to-
people programme that strengthens the ties between the two countries.

He also commended The Bahamas for its active role in the recent
elections in Haiti, and the degree that the Bahamian government is
willing to take to participate with the new (Haitian) government to help
them get started on the right foot, and to have a much more stable
environment to implement change in that country.

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