barbuda land rights

Barbudans have always protected their traditional right to use the extensive lands of Barbuda freely and in common. No land can be bought or sold on Barbuda to this day, only a lease can be agreed. This right was enshrined in the constitution by the British under the Barbuda Local Government Act 1976 and later by a UPP (United Progressive Party) Antiguan government led by Baldwin Spencer through the Barbuda Land Act in 2007. These laws gave Barbudans administrative rights over Barbuda through the Barbuda Council and as such they have continued to keep all land on Barbuda as common land, for Barbudans and their descendants wherever they may live in the world. It means in practice that anyone of Barbudan descent can acquire up to three areas of land on Barbuda to build themselves a home, for agriculture or for business, according to and administered by Council regulations. This right to use the land in common and to self-determination for Barbudans has been firmly established since the end of slavery when Barbudans refused to be moved from Barbuda, and in 1981 when it was central to the establishment of a separate and independent Barbuda Council at the Antigua and Barbuda Independence talks at Lancaster House in the UK. This freedom to use the island and our many resources without interference from Antigua has sustained the small population through difficult times since then – especially through fishing, hunting and agriculture – and gives Barbudans legal rights to the land they have looked after for centuries, and is the reparation that many are now demanding for  African ancestors, who in our case were brought to Barbuda as enslaved people by the British Codrington family.  As the Prime Minister regularly calls for reparation for slavery for Antiguans around the world, he would do well to consider his actions on Barbuda. This legislation only applies to Barbuda, and not to Antigua; Antiguans are not entitled to ‘free’ land here or on Antigua and after the ending of the trade in slaves were forced into a different model. As a twin island state we contribute to the Antigua economy on an everyday basis when we make the $400+ flight to and from our sister island, for many of our essential goods and services including medical treatment, and Antiguan businesses benefit from our regular spending there. This was especially noticeable after Hurricane Irma, when most of the aid that was not consumed by ‘government expenses’ was deliberately channelled through Antiguan shops, businesses and organisations and not given directly to Barbudans, even though Antigua suffered no damage at all.

The Barbuda Land Act was a response to other historical attempts to undermine the long term security and identity of the people of Barbuda, as we have learned from the many of the now infamous characters associated with various Antigua Government Ministers:  Robert Vesco and the Knights of New Aragon, Ed Joiner, Dave Strickland and the sand-mining, Bruce Rappaport and more recently Allen Stanford and now Peter Virdee. Poor leadership and failed projects have left Antigua and Barbuda a corrupt economic backwater, prohibiting genuine positive development on Barbuda and dividing us politically. But Barbudans have always fought back, with litigation over many years including successfully preventing the Antiguan Labour Party Government under Lester Bird’s questionable leadership from continuing to mine Barbuda sand and sell it for their own enrichment.

Since the change of Government in Antigua from UPP back to ALP we have been forced to return to the bad old days of the control of Barbuda land by the Antigua Labour Party. The Land Act has been tested, the intention being to force major development on Barbudans, to undermine the powers of the Barbuda Council and to monopolise all potential economic benefits from acres of prime Caribbean ‘real estate’ that still exist over here. Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s Paradise Found was part of this process – this 2015 Act was designed specifically to encourage his new economic envoy (the actor Robert De Niro) to take up another huge area of land on Barbuda in addition to the acquisition of the K Club lease, without any reference to Barbudans. Since then the Land Act was again amended by the Prime Minister to facilitate other even larger projects with long, cheap, beach-front leases proceeding without any local consultation, intending eventually to give freehold to these so-called investors and wealthy Antiguans who want to speculate on land on Barbuda, and in 2017 the Land Act was repealed.

So the land-grab began immediately after Hurricane Irma, even before people were allowed to return home from evacuation in Antigua, as Gaston opportunistically pronounced to the world that Barbuda was ‘uninhabitable’ and we were imbeciles not to accept his offers of paying him for land we already own. A huge area of pristine wilderness was immediately bulldozed to build an new airport for private jets in the immediate aftermath of this major disaster and soon after our wetlands at Palmetto Point were destroyed to build a golf course. Barbuda’s infrastructure has been forced through Hurricane Irma and Covid to completely run down, and as we rise up again we are now subject to armed police being used as Gaston’s own private army to try to prevent further opposition to his various exploits on Barbuda. The late John McDonald QC worked with Barbudans in their struggle for land rights throughout this time, and in consultation with local people drafted the Land Act. And now GLAN (Global Legal Action Network) are also involved in the struggle – one of our many activists and supporters around the world – as we start the same old story again as more fraudulent attempts to take Barbuda land and give it away to foreigners are challenged in the courts.

In spite of this many people of different nationalities live and work happily and have families here on Barbuda; Syrian, French, Italian, English, American, and Caribbean nationals from Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Cuba and more. Non- Barbudans can easily and cheaply lease land from a Barbudan resident or from the Council, according to the procedures that were listed in the Land Act, and many do. As a result Barbudans have a unique opportunity to enrich their lives through leasing or renting out a house or a business as is common in other parts of the world. The promotion of leases as a constructive way forward to develop Barbuda land without losing it forever has been continually and systematically ignored by Antiguan Government ministers over the years, coupled with missed opportunities to establish a port of entry, find small scale sustainable tourism projects that employ local people, and pressurise the appalling Antiguan banking system to recognise Barbudan land-rights as title deeds and assist us with loans to facilitate development. We are a beautiful twin island state, there is no need for conflict.

In the future Barbudans at home and abroad will continue to use their skills to sustain their island. The benefits of the small population on Barbuda are evident and these very special destinations are becoming increasingly desirable in an over-crowded world. We know why people want land here so badly – our community has successfully maintained much of what other Caribbean islands have lost – including a variety of wildlife only threatened by insensitive development and major hurricanes. Barbuda has many hundreds of acres of pristine mangrove surrounding the largest natural lagoon in the Eastern Caribbean, the only Ramsar site in Antigua and Barbuda. The acres of salt ponds here support sea birds and sea salt, and miles of scrub protect deer and land turtles, leaving them undisturbed – and we hope it stays this way. More and more visitors to the Caribbean are coming to stay on Barbuda as their favourite island becomes too developed, and when they look for something better they find it here – but it must be Barbudans first who benefit from this.