Tourism is the main engine of this country of less than 300,000 inhabitants and that is no longer a monarchy.
Millennials to later generations may know your name because it is the country where singer Rihanna was born, but Barbados has a hundreds of years history in the Caribbean. A past linked to British colonialism, slavery and tourism. Stories that are remembered again this week after becoming the youngest republic in the world, which precisely chose the singer as its first “national hero” in this new stage.
After almost six decades being a constitutional monarchy, with Elizabeth II as queen since she achieved her independence from the United Kingdom (1966), the Caribbean island changed the monarch for its first president: Sandra Mason, who took office on November 30 – national day celebrating its 55th year of independence — at a ceremony attended by the Prince of Wales, Charles, representing his 95-year-old mother.
“Over the years, our countries have enjoyed a partnership based on common values, shared prosperity, and close collaboration on a wide range of issues, including recent work on climate change … It is also a source of great I am pleased that Barbados continues to be an active participant within the Commonwealth, and I look forward to the continued friendship between our two countries and peoples, ”Queen Elizabeth said in a statement from the crown after being deposed as Head of State.
But this change occurred after a process of several years in which the country gradually dissociated itself from its past and created its own institutions, while continuing with the parliamentary constitutional monarchy system, in which the monarch was the ceremonial head of state and the Government was formed in Parliament. The prime minister and judges had to swear allegiance to the monarch, in this case, Elizabeth II and her successors.
The new action is a symbolic and even psychological act to try to separate the rulers from the crown and what they represent, taking into account the past and that more than 90% of its population descends from slaves brought from Africa.
But even though it is now completely independent, Barbados will remain part of the Commonwealth of Nations, which is made up of 53 other states that were once part of the British Empire.
For a long time, Barbados was a world leader in the production of sugar and rum – it has been said that it is the birthplace of this liquor – but much of it came from a system of slavery, although it was one of the first to abolish it, in 1834.
It was one of the first colonies of England in the Caribbean, in the second decade of the seventeenth century.
The small island, which currently has around 287,000 inhabitants, lives mainly from tourism – especially from the United Kingdom and the United States – which generates employment in the service sector, manufacturing and agriculture. It is common to see advertisements to visit its beautiful beaches; But the pandemic, like other countries, has caused a great impact.
“Now tourism is regaining strength, people are getting vaccinated, they are starting to travel again. We hope that this new variant does not imply an obstacle for tourists who want to come to visit this enchanting island ”, he told BBC Henderson Carter, an island historian.
It is considered one of the most prosperous countries in its region and with great democratic stability since its independence, “a leading black country,” according to Carter.
At 34 km long and 23 km wide, this country still maintains British traditions that it has made its own, such as a passion for cricket, driving on the left side, English as its official language and that the majority of the population professes a religion Protestant. In addition, banking secrecy is maintained in the country.
It is also the 159th economy by volume of gross domestic product (GDP). Its public debt in 2020 was 6,594 million dollars; With a debt of 156.76% of GDP, it is among the countries with the most debt relative to GDP in the world. Its per capita debt is $ 22,950.
Within the country, as is often the case in these cases, there are people in favor of the process taking place at this time, others who preferred to do it at the end of the pandemic and even those who wanted a referendum vote. However, Mason thinks it was about time. There is even a movement that would think of asking for reparations for the past, with no intention of damaging future relations with the UK and other countries.
In September 2020, the then-Governor General of Barbados, Sandra Mason, had indicated that the time had come to completely leave the colonial past behind. Prime Minister Mia Mottley had promised that this would come true in November 2021.
However, the start of the process could be dated to 1998, when a government-appointed commission concluded that Barbados should become a republic with a non-executive president as head of state to replace the queen.
Its flag, shield and anthem will have certain modifications, but in general they will remain the same.
It is a decision that has not been seen in the Caribbean and South America since the 1960s and 70s, when Guyana, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago completely separated from the British monarchy by becoming republics.
Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth remains head of state of the United Kingdom and fourteen other countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu), which in the past were under the command of the United Kingdom as territories or colonies. (I)
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