Garifuna Pilgrims call for reparations

President of the International Garifuna Council, Trevor Palacio says that he is of the firm opinion that reparations should be paid to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for native genocide, with a portion of this compensation going to the Council.

Palacio was speaking on Sunday, March 16, 2025, on the island of Balliceaux where a little over a hundred persons, some of them the descendants of Garifuna, Kalinago and enslaved Africans who were banished there in July 1796 by the British, had gone on an annual pilgrimage.

The Belizean born Garifuna, also a member of the Right of Passage and Pilgrimage Delegation, said that being on Balliceaux where over 2000 of his ancestors perished is not something that could be put into words.

“The feelings are limited by words to express. If we could find the words to express how we feel, we would, but we can’t describe how we feel.

“For the first time, I have seen the femur of a beloved one. I cried before when I came here in the past, and I promised not to cry, but I cried when I saw the bone,” Palacio said.

He noted that on this trip they brought a forensic archaeologist to document information so that they would be able to legally pursue reparations.

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