Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. According to Countryaah, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, together with other countries in the Caribbean, CARICOM, are planning to seek reimbursement from former European colonial powers that made money on the slave trade across the Atlantic. The work is led by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who in 2014 takes over the rotating presidency of CARICOM. In early November, CARICOM’s 15 member states politicians, lawyers and academics gathered for a conference in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to discuss how to proceed.
A large proportion of the population in the Caribbean are descendants of African slaves who were transported by colonizers. The CARICOM countries will demand financial compensation from the governments of the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands for slavery and for the genocide of indigenous peoples in the Caribbean. Gonsalves told media outlets that European countries must take responsibility and compensate for mistakes committed in history. No amount was mentioned, but it would be calculated with the help of historians and economists. However, Gonsalves said that the sum can be compared to the compensation paid to colonizers when the slavery ceased. British colonizers received the equivalent of about SEK 215 million when the slaves were released in 1834. In today’s money value it is about SEK 2 trillion.