Royal visit spurs protests, reparations demands

A weeklong visit to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas by UK Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, was intended as a charm offensive to persuade other Caribbean nations not to follow Barbados in removing the Queen as head of state this year. (Guardian) Just eight former colonies in the English-speaking Caribbean, including Jamaica, still pay allegiance to the queen. 

Instead the tour has stirred up protests and debate about colonialism, reparations and an apology for slavery in some corners of the countries they are touring, reports the Miami Herald. 

Republican sentiment is not new in the Caribbean Commonwealth, but it has recently gained momentum amid worldwide protests against racism and police violence against Black people and calls for Britain to atone for the ugly legacy of colonialism, including by paying reparations for the slave trade, reports the Washington Post.

The British royals started their week-long tour in Belize, where they cancelled a planned visit to a village after residents protested against it. (Reuters, Guardian)

Then in Jamaica, protesters welcomed them with a list of 60 reasons why they should apologize for slavery and begin a process of reparations. Jamaican campaigners have accused British Queen Elizabeth of perpetuating slavery, and, in a letter, urged the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to atone for colonialism during their ongoing Caribbean tour, reports the Guardian. (See also Petchary’s Blog)  

The Duke of Cambridge expressed “profound sorrow” for the “appalling atrocity of slavery” during an address to Jamaica’s prime minister and other dignitaries that stopped short of the apology activists had demanded, reports the Guardian. William also made reference to the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which is Friday.

But much more than lip service is needed, writes Jamaican MP Lisa Hanna in a Guardian op-ed, calling on the U.K. to seriously engage on the issue of reparations, specifically on Caricom Reparations Commission’s 10-point-action plan. “Flowery words and artful symbols not only do not placate us, but words without action will also offend us. We need leaders in civil society, in politics and in the monarchy to not only acknowledge historic exploitation and the consequences thereof but to begin to make concrete steps to rectify it.”

Jamaican prime minister, Andrew Holness, surprised many when he greeted the royals saying  the visit provided an opportunity to address “unresolved” issues, likely including reparations and the removal of the Queen as the head of state. 

Jamaican officials have previously said the government is studying the process of reforming the constitution to become a republic. Experts say the process could take years and would require a referendum, reports Reuters.

More Decolonization and Racial Justice

• Can luxurious tropical vacations be squared with the Caribbean’s painful past of human enslavement and abuse? Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon argues for tourists to “acknowledge and honor the region’s difficult past while celebrating” its people and places. (Travel and Leisure)
  
• A year after being reintroduced in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, a Puerto Rico self-determination bill appears ready to die on the vine again in the current Congress, according to Latino Rebels.

Diplomacy and Territory

• Russia’s war in Ukraine could fan Venezuela’s territorial aspirations in Guyana’s Essequibo region, argue Paul Angelo and  Wazim Mowla in Foreign Policy. “Maduro has pursued volatility as a matter of policy. We should take his threats toward Guyana over the Essequibo at face value.” Preventing conflict over the Essequibo in the long run requires ramping up disincentives for Venezuelan cross-border aggression today, they write.
  
• Cuban life is dominated by the U.S. embargo and the shortages it causes in vital necessities — such as milk. Some in Washington and Miami worry that lifting any restrictions now would reward the Cuban regime, but the members of Congress urging Biden to suspend the sanctions say they are not giving the Cuban government a pass,” just recognizing the deleterious effects of the policy on Cuban lives, writes Anthony DePalma in a Los Angeles Times op-ed.

Climate Justice and Energy

• The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognised that addressing unsustainable debt is central to responding to the climate crisis, explains the Jubilee Debt Campaign. The report recognises that debt undermines countries’ ability to invest in climate change adaptation. This creates a vicious circle, where lower-income countries’ inability to invest in adaptation exposes them to ever greater harm from climate disasters, driving them deeper into debt to pay for reconstruction. 

Public Security

• Rampant gang violence and crime has rocked the Haitian suburb of Croix-des-Bouquets, pushing hundreds of residents to flee the criminal stronghold on the outskirts of capital city Port-au-Prince that has been pivotal to the rise of feared street gang, the “400 Mawozo,” reports InSight Crime.

Migration

• Guyana could be sanctioned if it is found guilty of mistreating Haitians, since its actions in this regard has been brought to the attention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), reports Kaieteur News.

Economics and Finance

• UK officials are discussing how to implement sanctions against Russian oligarchs in the British Virgin Islands, reports the Guardian. The talks follow reports that a succession of oligarchs appeared to have hidden their assets in trusts based in the BVI in a bid to put them beyond reach of UK sanctions.

Women’s Rights

• Attorney and CEDAW Committee member Marion Bethel analyzes The Bahamas’ Sexual Offences Act and the proposed amendment bill to criminalize marital rape. (Equality Bahamas)

Indigenous Rights

• Guayana’s Amerindian Peoples Association has called on the relevant authorities to provide increased humanitarian support to the Warrau migrants from Venezuela. (Kaieteur News)

Democratic Governance

• Policy Forum Guyana accused Guyana’s government of weakening civil society by not involving groups in important policy making bodies and decision-making, reports Kaieteur News.

Culture

• Tostones and other plantain dishes have prevailed over centuries in many kitchens in the Caribbean and beyond. Plantains are not only a fruit or a dish, they are a family custom, a marker of identity, writes Israel Meléndez Ayala in Whetstone Magazine.

Events

• 31 March — Current status of hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in greater Caribbean — Virtual Forum Greater Caribbean. Register.
  
• 31 March — Migration in the Americas: The Workings of Collective Hope — Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) at Florida International University. Register.
  
• 7 April — Subregional Consultation for the Caribbean to Advance Development of Inter-American Principles on the Legal Regime for the Creation, Operation,
  Financing, and Dissolution of Non-profit Civil Entities — International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and Inter-American Juridical Committee Member Dr. Ramiro Orias Arredondo. More information.

Opportunities

• The Black Feminist Fund Grant Review Committee is looking for Black feminist activists from diverse movements in Latin America, North America and Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean. More information.

caribbean-news-updates@googlegroups.com