PM chides “racist nations” and “diplomatic scavengers” for neglecting Caribbean
Political analyst Peter Wickham is standing by Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who has criticized first world countries for not doing enough to help Antigua & Barbuda and the region.
Browne says many countries have taken a biased approach to helping Caribbean states while doing little to help.
“Now unfortunately when it comes to small islands in the Caribbean when we get assistance from countries like China and Venezuela it is called ‘dollar diplomacy’, but when other countries get it is development cooperation,” Browne said.
He added, “I want the people of Antigua and Barbuda to understand exactly what we are fighting against because we take these things for granted but in essence there are countries in this hemisphere that have significant wealth that are not responsive to our developmental needs.”
He says the leaders of these countries have adopted a racist approach to smaller nations in the region.
“There is also a degree of what I consider to be discrimination in international affairs, I’ll go as far as saying racism, there are some countries especially in this hemisphere who have taken the position that white is superior,” Browne said.
He explained that leaders of small nations, “especially when you are black or if you are from Africa, that we do not have the capacity to run anything, they have taken positions that we are intrinsically corrupt.”
Browne is also blasting these countries for the quality of diplomats assign to the region.
“They send low tier or insignificant diplomats to this region, many of whom are what I call ‘diplomatic scavengers’, they have nothing constructive to do, all they do is create mischief, to fabricate information and send back to their capitals to justify their keep.”
Wickham says he is cautious of using the word racist but agrees that European countries have grouped us based on history.