Hundreds of Vincentians, members of the visiting Garifuna delegation and members of the Diplomatic Corp converged at the Obelisk in Dorsetshire Hill on Thursday, March 14 to pay homage to this country’s sole National Hero- Garifuna Chief The Right Excellent Joseph Chatoyer.
Speaking at the Wreath Laying Ceremony, Committee Member of the Garifuna Heritage Foundation Marlon Joseph said this year’s ceremony marks the 229th anniversary of the death of Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer and described Chatoyer as a badge of honour shining against the splendid apparel of our nation’s history.
Joseph said Chatoyer continues to be an ideal representation of courage, resilience and determination in the face of adversity.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has a special place in the historiography of the Caribbean having had the shortest period of the enslavement of African bodies because of its rugged terrain and because of the determination of the Kalinago and the Garifuna not to be colonized.
“So while I have pain for the death of Chatoyer and while I have pain and suffering for the 2000 and something persons who died in a six-month period on Balliceaux, nobody must ask me not to celebrate them because they live everyday in me…. when we get Balliceaux in our hands, I will celebrate with joy and commune with the spirits of the ancestors on that day where a historic wrong would be righted.”
The Prime Minister noted that he wrote to the Chief Surveyor on January 2nd on the acquisition of Balliceaux by the Government of SVG as a cultural historic memorial site. He said he was hoping that the transaction, purchase or acquisition would be effected before March 14, 2024.
“They have not been able to get it done because they went late to Balliceaux to do the evaluation. And I haven’t gotten the evaluation report as yet but the chief surveyor is in communication with the lawyers. For owners and the Attorney General, his office is carrying out a title search to see whether those who say they are owners, are in fact the owners,” Dr. Gonsalves said.
The Prime Minister also noted his government has always engaged in making the links with Garifuna in Belize, in Guatemala, Honduras, in Nicaragua, North America and anywhere else where there are descendants of the Garifuna as it is part of our diaspora policy to reach out and engage as we address the collective memory of our history.
On the matter of selecting other notable Vincentians for National Heroes Status, names such as George Augustus Mc Intosh, Ebenezer Theodore Joshua, Robert Milton Cato and Dr. JP Eustace are being considered.
“There have been further discussions and the idea is that the pantheon of heroes ought not to be entirely masculine. There is more than one woman in our history who can easily be considered to be elevated to the status of national hero”, the Prime Minister said.
At the Wreath Laying Ceremony, Dr. Gonsalves received a Humanitarian Award for championing the cause for reclaiming Balliceaux from the 2023 International Indigenous Film Festival.
President of the Garifuna Heritage Foundation Zoila Ellis Browne also received an award for championing the cause of cultural preservation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.