"THE blood of this good man shed in Memphis still cries out across the years, cries out to each and every one of us wherever we may be all across the world to stand up for freedom, to stand up for human dignity, to stand up for equality, to stand up for social justice, to stand up for right and not for wrong…”

These were the words spoken by Prime Minister Perry Christie yesterday as he stood in the shadow of the Abe Lincoln statue to commemorate the famous “I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King on the same steps 50 years ago.

We hope that Mr Christie’s words were sincerely spoken and not just mouthed by a man who fancies himself adept at stitching together the English language to great effect.

Mr Christie will have to live up to his words on his return home. He needs to apply them in dealing with the confusion left behind by his roving Foreign Affairs Minister, who condemned as traitors all those who refused to support the cat-and-mouse game he has been playing with protesting Miami Cubans over the treatment of Cuban detainees in the Bahamas. These Cubans were brutalised — one hospitalised with two broken ribs and a punctured lung – while in the Carmichael Detention Centre. An accusing finger pointed at some of their guards.

Yes “to stand up for right and not for wrong…” According to Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell we are all traitors for not standing together in defence of the Bahamas’ good name despite the wrongdoing of some of its citizens.

This was the same accusation made about Bahamians who cooperated with those who were trying to rid this country of the drug barons, both foreign and local, who destroyed our society.

The Bahamas’ reputation in those days was nothing to stand up for. As a matter of fact the international reputation of many of this nation’s leaders was so embarrassing in those narco-dollar days that many avoided claiming the Bahamas as their native land.

And now we are being asked to stand behind a position taken by our government that no honest Bahamian could possibly support. Read today’s front page and ask yourself if you could ever condone such behaviour.

When this story broke in Miami, Cuban-Americans protested outside the Bahamas Consulate over the treatment of detainees held in Nassau. They also threatened our tourist business unless we got our act together. A video was shown, which Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, immediately condemned as bogus. The creators of the video themselves confessed that it was not a video of the actual event.

This reminds us of years ago as a budding reporter in the courts. We shall always remember the late Chief Justice Sir Oswald Bancroft and his favourite offender, Joe Mounts. Looking over his glasses in his fatherly fashion, he asked: “Joe did you do it?”“Yes, yuh, honour, but with an explanation!”

Yes, the detainees had produced the video, but there was an explanation.

The night after their attempted escape and their brutal beating, they decided to re-enact what had happened. And so, with the help of Chico, another detainee, and his cellular phone camera, a video was made. The photographs — contrary to a statement by Mr Mitchell — were actually taken in the Detention Centre’s male dormitory. According to the investigation Chico had paid a guard for the phone, and paid two of the Defence Force officers for their uniforms to re-enact the beating scenes. According to the investigation all of those who had tried to escape the previous night had participated in the scenes.

So, although Mr Mitchell was correct in saying that the video was not of the actual event, neither was it a complete write-off in authenticity as he had tried to make the public believe. We all fell for the bogus line, and so, even The Tribune in the early stages fell down on seriously following through on the report.

However, we soon heard about the beatings and the escape, but again with Mr Mitchell’s protestations we fell down on the job. The rumours were so persistent that at a recent press conference one of our reporters was instructed to pop the question. Again there was a denial, but by then we knew that we were not being told the truth. Mr Mitchell was playing with the English language.

“Despite becoming aware that a serious instance of abuse had taken place, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has continued to use well-chosen language to mislead the public,” accused Opposition leader Dr Hubert Minnis.

“Minister Mitchell,” he said, “continued to use strong, combative and undiplomatic language intended to deflect attention from the underlying legitimacy of the issue raised by the demonstrators. He had multiple opportunities to tell the Bahamian people and the international community the full truth of what had transpired. Instead, he has chosen to engage in a full-fledged cover-up.”

As for Mr Mitchell, he found it “sickening” that the FNM sided with the international community in lodging criticisms against the Christie administration.

He said under such scrutiny, all Bahamians should have stood together to defend the good name of the country.

“No one from The Bahamas government,” said Mr Mitchell, “has admitted that there was any abuse of detainees by the Bahamas government.” He stressed the distinction “between the possible or alleged individual behaviour of agents of the state, and the state itself. Each individual bears responsibility for their own behaviour. All we had said is, that the allegations made are under investigation and the chips will fall where they may when the investigation concludes.”

Mr Mitchell is trying to play cute with Bahamians. He knows perfectly well that no one has accused the Bahamas government of abusing the detainees. However, agents of the Bahamas government have been accused. And having responsibility for their agents, government also stands accused. However, as a result of government trying to duck its responsibilities it stands twice accused in the eyes of the public.

On June 16th, Defence Force Commodore Roderick Bowe was contacted by the Ministers of National Security and Foreign Affairs to check out a video that had just aired on a Spanish Language TV station. The investigation started immediately. By June 26, the three main detainees had given statements.

And so by the time Mr Mitchell was having to face the Miami protesters, he knew or should have know that something was seriously wrong at the Detention Centre.

Instead of diplomatically playing for time, he became testy, telling the protesters that he was getting tired of them. He was petulant, he was arrogant, he was disagreeable. Everything an ambassador is not.

This was a matter that could have been settled quietly within a few days. Instead it has dragged on for over two months. The preliminary investigation has been completed. The rest is now in the hands of the administration.