Last night, we gave you a recap of the highlights of the official trip to Belize by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
As we told you, the royals made their first stop in Belize as part of the celebration of Queen Elizabeth the Second's 70 years on the throne. But, Prince William and his wife had to deviate from their planned trip to the village of Indian Creek. Before they arrived in Belize, some of the villagers of that community launched a protest to make it clear that they don't want the royal helicopter to land on the village football field.
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay gave his opinion that this controversy, which forced the Royals to make a detour to another non-controversial farm, was a missed opportunity for the community to advance their case for community land rights. Well, one indigenous group of people who made sure to capitalize on the opportunity to make their case for indigenous rights is the Garifuna. Their views were represented by Cynthia Ellis Topsey, a Garifuna champion who acts as an ambassador for the Garifuna Nation.
We showed you how she danced with the Prince and the Duchess of Cambridge as part of the festivities. Today, she and other leaders from the Garifuna Nation granted us an interview via zoom to make the point that her mingling with the Royals was strategic diplomacy to advance the cause of the Garinagu. Here's how they made that point to us this morning:
Cynthia Ellis-Topsey - Representative, Garifuna Nation
"Whilst I was dancing with the Prince and Princess Kate, we were having some deep discussions. I said to him, stand up for your mother. The Garifuna Nation will take a pilgrimage to England, to the place where our people were incarcerated, and we are going to do like what the Jews did when they went to the Holocaust, to Auschwitz. We want to acknowledge the fact, and we want your participation in this, in this process of healing, in this process of reparation, in this process of reconciliation. So, it wasn't just dance taking place."
Joseph Guerrero - Lands Affairs, Garifuna Nation
"Prince William is a direct line to become the King of England. Now, as the King of England, you inherit the entire history of the nation, of the people you represent. Now, he as a great grandfather, George the Third, who was King, took the same throne that William will ascend to one day. That king took actions against many indigenous people, and as such, William is inheriting all the wrongs that his great-great grandfather performed against indigenous peoples of the world, including Garifuna. So, as such, William has a duty to begin to heal, reach out to the indigenous peoples of the world, as this tour
seems to be doing. It seems to have an air of reaching out, and it also exposes him as a future leader of his nation. But, the healing needs to be immediate because we still feel the hurt of what happened, and England still reaps the benefits of what happened. So, as part of the healing, of the bigger picture that Cynthia is talking about, their meeting, and Cynthia thankfully informed him about the genocide that happened on the Garifuna people at Yurumein. So, whether they like it or not, she had his ear. Talks have begun. That's how I consider it."
We note that - as far as we could see - the Kriol Council was not a part of the Royal visit - which speaks volumes about the falling stock of the ehtnic group once most trusted by the colonial masters.
As for the Garifuna, historical accounts say that the ancestors of modern-day Garifuna lived in peace on St. Vincent alongside the French settlers. The British colonizers tried to take over the island in 1763. Despite their resistance, the Garinagu were forced to surrender in 1796, and that led to their subjugation and expulsion by the British military - who sent them to the Atlantic coast of Central America.
