Barbadians to mark 50th anniversary of grouping with July 31 holiday
By Jenique Belgrave
Barbados will have a one-off public holiday as it joins the rest of the region in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), although not exactly like the other member nations.
While some other countries will mark that day on July 4, the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas which established CARICOM, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said it would be marked on July 31 here.
“We have today as a Cabinet . . . consulted with the Social Partnership and indicated our preference to them that as a one-off, Barbados will celebrate 50 years of the Caribbean Community on the 31st of July as a national public holiday, on the eve of the first of August which remains sacrosanct for us as a former slave society as Emancipation Day,” she announced on Thursday evening at Ilaro Court, during a press conference to update the public about her two-week trip to England, France, Africa and China to attend several important events.
“We felt that to do it on July 4 would have been a little too early.”
July 4 marks 50 years since the signing of the Treaty but it was not until August 1, 1973 that it went into effect.
Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis have all announced that they will observe CARICOM Day as a public holiday.
Noting that the decision to allow the region’s people to celebrate the anniversary with a holiday was taken by CARICOM states earlier this year in Nassau, Bahamas, Mottley outlined that several events, including a concert, would be planned for the day.
“What we didn’t want to do was to offset anyone who has already announced something, and, therefore, I’ve paused and asked the Ministry of Culture to advise us as to what else there is on that day, but Barbados will have a regional CARICOM celebration on the night of July 31,” the Prime Minister said.
“In addition to that, I have asked to have the CBC [Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation], and I will ask the other media houses, to start to have on each weekend during the month of July, something that will reinforce and reflect moments of the last 50 years in the integration movement.”
The Prime Minister will attend the 45th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago from July 3 to 5.
jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb
