PLP ON VIOLENCE IN WASHINGTON D C

The following statement was issued by Senator Fred Mitchell, Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs in The Bahamas:

For Immediate  Release 

7 January 2021

The Progressive Liberal Party calls on the Government of The Bahamas to condemn the violence in the United States by partisans of the sitting President of the United States Donald J. Trump.

Consistent with the conduct and conventions of a free and democratic state, our Government must be seen publicly to uphold the democratic norms, amongst them the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power.

There is a lesson to be learned by the Minnis administration in all of this.

The public is reminded that we warned our government  about walking in lockstep in the United  Nations, in the Organization of American  States and other fora with policies engineered in those fora which undermined these principles. What  unfolded on our television  screens on 6 January 2020 in the U.S. capital, buttresses our view that in these international fora it is important to stand for values as opposed to the convenience of ad hoc positions, based on craven supplications to powerful men.

In this regard, the Venezuelan policy comes to mind. We point out that the European Union has now reversed its position on  recognizing the insurgent  team in Venezuela as the legitimate government of that country; that legitimacy  was based in part on scenes in Venezuela which looked similar to scenes that played out yesterday in Washington DC.

In light of this, we invite  the government of The Bahamas also to rethink its policy and realign itself to our traditional policy of non interference in the internal  affairs of another country.

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