Government looking to purchase or acquire Baliceaux – PM Gonsalves says

By Admin. Updated 9:46 p.m., Wednesday, January 3, 2024, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said on radio today (January 3) that he has requested that a valuation be done of Baliceaux as the government looks to purchase the island.

“I have requested the Chief Surveyor over the holiday period to have a valuation done for Balliceaux with a view to the government setting up to purchase if we have an agreement,” Dr. Gonsalves said on radio.

He said if no agreement can be reached then the law in relation to acquisition can be invoked.

“Of course, we would have to pay fair and reasonable compensation and if we can’t agree, we would have to go to a tribunal, under the law,” he said.

The prime minister said he hopes the matter can be sorted out in relation to the purchase or acquisition of Baliceaux before March 14, 2024, which is the anniversary of the death of Paramount Chief – His Right Excellent Joseph Chatoyer, this country’s National Hero.

Balliceaux is a privately owned 320-acre Island in the Northern Grenadines that has deep historical significance to Garifuna people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and around the world.

It is the place to which more than 5,000 Garifuna were exiled by the British after Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer was killed in 1795. More than half of them died on the island which is now being regarded by many as a shrine.

On radio, Prime Minister Gonsalves said he spoke to the lawyer for those who have acknowledged that they have title to the land (Baliceaux). He said: “Naturally that title would have to be interrogated to make sure that everything is in order,” as is the case if the government is buying anything or acquiring anything, any land.

Many persons and organisations in the Garifina community have been calling for the purchase or acquisition of the island, but the asking prices have always been a matter of contention. The prime minister spoke to this issue.

At least one real estate company has USD $30 million as the listing price for Baliceaux.

“Almost every year around March 14, some agency of some kind will publish some astronomical number in relation to the value of Baliceaux,” he said, adding that any kind of development on Baliceaux will be difficult due to the historical importance of the island.

“If a non-Vincentian wants to buy it, the first thing they have to get is an Alien Land Holding License, and that will not be easily granted because this is a historical site, this is a place for a memorial, and if you’re having a development which is of value but which has a certain amount of land set aside for the memorial, said, adding, “and it is clear that there are really no takers and the owners either don’t have the inclination or don’t have the resources to develop”.

The prime minister went further to say: “because to develop that is going to cost a huge amount of money. There is only one little piece of a beach, the place doesn’t have any infrastructure, nothing at all, and the island next door, the small one – Battowia, you know I’ve said we would never give an Alien Land Holding License, we will never allow development on Battowia because it is a bird sanctuary, and that has to be kept as a natural habitat”.

“So, in practical terms, anybody owns that really doesn’t own anything because there is not going to be any development on it there,” he said referring to Battowia,

“And in the case of Baliceaux, there can only be particular types of development which have a sensitivity towards the historical, cultural, memorial dimensions because that is where 2,500 of our ancestors – Garifuna where 5,000 or thereabouts were put after the British defeated the Garifuna-Kalinago resistance in 1795 and ambushed and killed His Right Excellent Joseph Chatoyer – Paramount Chief of the Garifuna people and our National Hero,” he said on radio.

“So, I am hoping we can get that kind of a matter sorted out in relation to the purchase or acquisition before March 14 this year which is the anniversary of the death of Chatoyer,” the prime minister added.

The prime minister said he would address the issue more in his 2024 budget speech. The budget period runs from January 8 to 12, 2024.

Brief backstory:

The period of native genocide signaled the beginning of the spread of the hybrid race (a mixture of Africans and Carib Indians), as the survivors were then exiled to Roatan and then to several Central American countries such as Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

The descendants of the survivors claim that St. Vincent is their ancestral home and that Balliceaux should be established as a shrine to honour the hundreds of Garifuna who died there.

On March 14 each year, there is a pilgrimage to Baliceaux where scores of Garifuna from around the world attend to pay homage to the ancestors.