Antigua marks 39th independence

Antigua and Barbuda celebrated its 39th anniversary of political independence from Britain on Monday with a message from Prime Minister Gaston Browne that the anniversary is taking place despite the global pandemic.

Browne said: “Our nation is at war with an invisible enemy. Our economy is badly weakened through no fault of our own. But, our nation did not survive hundreds of years of slavery, and another 150 years of colonial exploitation, to surrender all that we achieved. We did not rise from our knees to stand as equals in the councils of the world, to turn back the hands of time.”

Antigua and Barbuda officially observed the independence anniversary on Sunday and in his national address, Browne said that the island did not make of itself a nation with one of the highest per capita incomes globally, to be cowered in the face of a pandemic, however menacing.