PRESS STATEMENT

The United Progressive Party (UPP) stands proudly with our Barbudan brothers and sisters in protest of the wanton destruction of the environment and against the Browne Administration’s assault on their centuries-old land-tenure system.

In 2017, the Barbudans experienced the destructive force of Hurricane Irma, which would have wiped out everything on their island had it not been for its mangrove networks.

Since then, instead of being allowed to pick up the pieces of their lives, Barbudans have had to fight the Browne Administration’s efforts to impose on this ecologically fragile island a brand of “development” that threatens their livelihood and ways of life.

Further, the Administration has attempted to fool and induce Barbudans into giving up their land sovereignty – strictly for the financial gain of foreign investors.

Accordingly, the UPP agrees that environmental protection must extend beyond the flora and fauna to the protection of Barbudans’ right to have and hold the keys to their future.

Therefore, the UPP supports the picket at Coolidge/Powells now underway, and pledges to stand with our Barbudan brothers and sisters in defense of their land and human rights. We also condemn the exclusion of the Barbuda Council from the SIDS4 Conference and consider it the greatest contradiction in the execution of this event.

If the devastation of our sister-island is allowed to continue under the guise of foreign direct investment, the hosting of this Conference will have been in vain.

Barbuda’s people, lands, and culture are not for sale!