PM Gonsalves writes to CARICOM

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is so incensed with what he calls “an insidious campaign of defamation of this blessed country” that he has complained in an open letter to the Caribbean.{{more}}

In the letter dated August 24, Gonsalves said over the past 11 months, commencing around October 2009, foreign elements out of Britain and the United States of America have aligned themselves to the Opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) to, among other things, destabilize the Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration led by him.

The letter has eight sections: “The Issue”, “Latest Chapter”, “Freedom and Democracy in St.Vincent and the Grenadines”, “Earlier Chapter”, “Quest for Foreign Control”, “Control and Heroic Resistance”, “The Next Phase”, and “Solidarity and Struggle”.

Gonsalves wrote that in the run-up to the eighth general elections since independence, a “dishonest and anti-national campaign” is being led by two Americans in conjunction with the NDP. He identified the Americans as Dave Copps, a dot.com millionaire who is the owner and founder of Pure Discovery Corporation, and Blake Burris of Dynamo Labs. Gonsalves said the men are co-founders of CoHabitat, a co-working space for entrepreneurs in Dallas, Texas.

“CoHabitat is master-minding a campaign in relation to St.Vincent and the Grenadines under the rubric “Save Democracy for Just $5”. “Their damning falsehood is that there is no democracy, no freedom, and an absence of a guarantee of civil liberties in St.Vincent and the Grenadines under the ULP government,” Gonsalves wrote.

“According to them, I have aligned myself with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and thus should be removed from office. They proclaim that ‘St. Vincent and the Grenadines deserves to be free as the rest of us’. They assert that they are doing what they could ‘to give the people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines back the democracy they painfully miss and we fervently cherish’. What imperial, what colonial arrogance!” stated Gonsalves.

Gonsalves noted that the recent campaign against his government and the quest to remove him from office “are but a continuation of the nasty, dishonest campaign of the opposition NDP for the Referendum on a proposed new Constitution for St.Vincent and the Grenadines on November 25, 2009”.

The Prime Minister stated that in that venture, the NDP was aided and abetted by Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) of Britain, led by Nigel Oakes.

“SCL advertises itself as an organization which has as its principal business “the art and science of mind-bending”. It boasts of having borrowed its techniques, in part, from Adolph Hitler, the founder of racist Nazism,” said Gonsalves, adding on the Advisory Board of SCL sits former Prime Minister and founder of the NDP, Sir James Mitchell.

Gonsalves stressed that this is not merely an exercise by an opposition party hiring foreign consultants to assist them in mounting an electoral campaign. He said it has gone further and involves seeking to exercise foreign control of St.Vincent and the Grenadines.

The prime minister said he has also seen the strengthening of cozy relationships between some Opposition figures and those engaged in drug trafficking and money-laundering.

“We must resist them firmly,” Gonsalves added.

The letter, three and a half pages in length, was sent to the Heads of Government of CARICOM and several regional organizations.

Meanwhile, Eustace sharing his perspective on the matter on Nice radio on Wednesday evening, said the NDP like most Caribbean countries would have consultants at election time: some are regionally based and regionally owned; some are foreign based and foreign owned.

Eustace disclosed that these individuals would normally assist the NDP with their strategies and other areas of electioneering. He said he does not see what is the problem, because Gonsalves also has his own consultants for the ULP.

The Opposition Leader disclosed that the main consultant used by the NDP is Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL).

“SCL worked for the Prime Minister of St.Kitts who is a close friend of our Prime Minister,” said Eustace, noting that they worked in the recent general elections held in St.Kitts.

“Our Prime Minister didn’t object to them. He went up there to campaign with the same consultants and now has the hypocrisy and the gall to come and question us about the consultants that we have retained,” said Eustace.

“They are suddenly imperialists who want to undermine his administration….Their job is to help us to remove him from office,” said Eustace.

“He said those same imperialists are aware of the work that he is doing for democracy in this region. If they so pleased, then why is he so worried about consultants that come from those countries? The problem is Gonsalves is frightened he is going to lose government and he is doing everything possible to try and avoid that,” said Eustace.

Eustace is of the view that Gonsalves and the ULP have also contracted the help of American consultants who want to keep the NDP in Opposition.

“We don’t have any problem if he has consultants,” said Eustace.(HN)