The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Leader Michael Pintard challenged Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis to say whether he agreed with Bahamas Ambassador to the United States Wendall Jones’ remarks that US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents had operated in The Bahamas without authorisation.

“I was just taken back, as many of us were,” Mr Pintard said yesterday in the House of Assembly .

“When you could hear a sitting ambassador say, the country that they are often in pictures with, social events with, visiting on a regular basis, giggling at social functions on the margins of these meetings, that country is attempting to destabilise the Bahamas. Now that's a serious accusation.”

Mr Pintard was referring to Mr Jones’ comments about undercover DEA agents allegedly operating in the country without permission. Last month, Mr Jones confirmed that a Bahamian delegation had raised its concerns directly with the US Justice Department, meeting acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Skaret and other officials.

Those comments prompted a sharp response from US Ambassador Herschel Walker, who dismissed the allegation that DEA agents had operated illegally as “fake news” and questioned why Bahamian officials were concerned that the United States had helped arrest a known drug trafficker.

During his contribution to the anti-terrorism bill, Mr Pintard questioned whether Mr Davis shared his ambassador’s views.

“If he disagreed with one of his employees, appointees, making a statement that the U.S. is seeking to destabilise the Bahamas, that person would have recanted that statement or would have been fired later that day, maybe even sooner,” Mr Pintard said, referring to the prime minister.

Mr Pintard argued that the Opposition should be briefed if there was a conflict with the United States.

Mr Davis has maintained that the dispute concerns the procedures governing cooperation between countries, not efforts to target criminals. He previously said he did not believe the public disagreement would damage relations with the United States and urged the public to “wait and see”.

The row centres on a three-year undercover DEA investigation linked to Bahamian Jonathan Eric Gardiner, also known as “Player”. US court filings allege that an unnamed Bahamian politician met an undercover DEA source and a drug-mule pilot inside Parliament in October 2024 to discuss a proposed cocaine shipment through The Bahamas.

The Bahamas and the United States have a longstanding counter-narcotics partnership through Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, established in 1982 to coordinate drug interdiction efforts involving Bahamian and US agencies.

In Parliament yesterday, Mr Davis reiterated that his response to the dispute was to “wait and see”.