Speeches

New OPBAT Housing Officially Opened on Inagua

March 29, 2005

REMARKS AT GREAT INAGUA RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY

Honored guests, OPBAT personnel, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

It gives me great pleasure to be here today to inaugurate new housing for the OPBAT personnel on Great Inagua.  The shared funding of this project - by the governments of the U.S., Bahamas and Turks and Caicos - underscores our steadfast commitment to OPBAT’s mission and to its people.

The OPBAT mission remains as vital today as when it was launched more than 20 years ago: to stop the flow of drugs from South America and the Caribbean to The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the United States.  As President Bush has said, illegal narcotics trafficking constitutes a serious threat to the health and well-being of individuals and to international security as a whole.  The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos sit on the doorstep of the United States, making them a crucial part of the President’s Third Border Initiative to enhance cooperation and collaboration with the countries of the Caribbean.   

OPBAT brings together personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State’s Narcotics Affairs Section, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police, in a coordinated effort to combat international drug trafficking into and through The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. 

Assets used by OPBAT -- such as bases, helicopters, interdiction boats, and military personnel -- are a crucial part of the war on drugs, each year seizing tons of cocaine and marijuana and helping to block what had been an easy access route to the United States.  The success of OPBAT is illustrated by the fact that we have reduced the percentage of cocaine destined for the U.S. that flows through this region from a high of seventy percent in the 1980’s to the current level of less than ten percent.    It is critical that we not waver in our commitment to this mission. 

Today we also honor the men and women of OPBAT.  You must patrol 100,000 square miles of ocean.  You must be ready to deploy at a moment’s notice into potentially hostile and dangerous circumstances.  You spend extended time away from your homes and your families while carrying out the difficult tasks you have been assigned.  We don’t always get a chance to say it, but we appreciate the work that you do.  Thank you! 

Thanks to your efforts, we know our streets are safer, our children more protected, our borders more secure.  We are all grateful.

Minister Mitchell and I were in Washington several weeks ago meeting with State Department representatives, military officials and Congressional leaders, particularly the Florida delegation.  Together, we explained that one of the strongest pillars of our relationship is cooperation on counter-narcotics.  And that’s because of OPBAT.  I will continue to fight to ensure that OPBAT gets the credit, the resources, and the housing that it deserves.

Thank you very much.