Members of the Garifuna community are celebrating “a historic and long-awaited victory” after the Caribbean nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) announced the purchase of a privately owned island where thousands of their ancestors perished from disease and starvation.
The uninhabited island of Baliceaux has long held great significance for the Garifuna people, the descendants of enslaved Africans and Indigenous Kalinago and Arawak people.
In 1796, British forces ejected about 5,000 Garifuna men, women and children from their homes on mainland St Vincent and marooned them on the barren island in an attempt to quell decades of resistance to colonisation.
Left with no shelter and little food or water, nearly half of the exiles had died from starvation and disease before British ships returned the following year to transport them 1,700 miles away to the island of Roatán off the coast of Honduras.
Since then, Baliceaux has been seen as a sacred place by today’s Garifuna, a population of about 600,000 scattered around the world. Activists have long campaigned for the island to be bought from its private owners and designated as a heritage site.
On Thursday, the SVG prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves, announced in parliament that the island had been acquired for the nation because of its historical significance.
“The Government of St Vincent and Grenadines, given the historic importance of Baliceaux, has taken the decision to acquire Baliceaux,” he told lawmakers.
He did not reveal the terms of the deal, but said the owners would be given “fair compensation within a reasonable time”.
Ubafu Topsey, an activist from Belize who has been at the forefront of the fight for Baliceaux said: “We are ecstatic that the government of SVG is doing the right thing for us. [Gonsalves] put his money where his mouth is. He made his promise a reality.”
Topsey, who is preparing for an annual Garifuna pilgrimage to Baliceaux on 14 March – celebrated in SVG as National Heroes Day in honour of the Garifuna chief Joseph Chatoyer – said this year’s visit would be an occasion for special celebration.
“It is our homeland… and every Garifuna around the world understands that these are holy, sacred grounds. We are just so thankful and joyful,” she said.
Topsey is hoping the island will become a World Heritage Site in honor of the Garifuna people, who she said were “transnational” and borderless”.
She also expressed hope that vegetation could be encouraged on the parched island.
“That barrenness is too much of a reminder of our grief and our suffering, and moving forward, we have to go beyond the pain and the agony and the suffering. Although we will never forget it, it is a tremendous opportunity for healing and setting an example for unlimited possibilities for future generations,” she said.
Princess Eulogia Gordon, 35, a California publicist and Garifuna campaigner, described the news as an opportunity for unity.
“Baliceaux doesn’t just belong to us. This is bigger than us. This is truly about unity and family and togetherness,” she said.
