Leaders across the Caribbean have renewed calls for reparations from former colonial powers. The renewed calls follow a week-long tour of the Caribbean by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The tour ended on Saturday, March 26. During the tour, Prince William said that he acknowledged that slavery was wrong and that the British government, the British people, have some responsibility.” While in Jamaica last Thursday, Prince William said: “I strongly agree with my father, the Prince of Wales, who said in Barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history. I want to express my profound sorrow. Slavery was abhorrent. And it should never have happened.”
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Dr. Keith Rowley responded to Prince William’s remarks. The Prime Minister said, “Recently I was very pleased to hear Prince William say that he acknowledged that slavery was wrong and that the British government, the British people, have some responsibility. In that piece of unforgettable history, I was pleased to hear a member of the royal household in the United Kingdom. But, I want to say to Prince William, having said that, I believe you. But I would believe you more if you do what you must now do, which is the offer of reparation to the people who were wronged.”
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Motley weighed in on the matter. Motley said that reparations should not be a contentious issue. The Prime Minister added, “It should not be, either, an issue that is driven by anything other than absolute clarity that there is a [Caribbean] development deficit today that is the result of that behavior in the past, and that development deficit has to be met [by those responsible]”.
Calls for reparations were also voiced in other territories including Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas. In Guyana, successive ruling administrations and Opposition political parties have been of one voice in the demand for substantive reparations. Such calls have also been made by civil society groups, activists, and individual Guyanese.
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