PM Barrow Pays Tribute on Garifuna Settlement Day

Garifuna Settlement Day was celebrated on November nineteenth with festivities in various communities across the country.  In Belize City, Yurumein, or the traditional re-enactment of the arrival of the Garinagu to the shores of the Jewel, culminated at the foot of the BelCan Bridge.  The re-enactment was succeeded by a parade to Saint Martin’s Church where a Mass of Thanksgiving was held.  It was the same in Dangriga, where an official ceremony was held.  Prime Minister Dean Barrow and President Robert Mariano of the National Garifuna Council were among the guest speakers who paid homage to Garifuna heroes.

Dean Barrow, Prime Minister

Dean Barrow

“In paying tribute to what is so particularly well known about Garinagu, the fact of their spirituality, if I could use that and the fact that it is that spirituality that infuses the culture of respect for the elders and for the ancestors, if I can take that so that I begin with recollecting that while the country now known as Haiti was the first black republic in this hemisphere and while a great deal is rightly made of that, and while much tribute is heaped on the founders of that republic, we in Belize, we in the Caribbean, we in St. Vincent always remember that before there was Toussaint, before there was Dessalines, before there was Kristoff, there was Joseph Chatoyer.  And so this morning, I consider it a privilege to be able to pay tribute, first of all, to Chatoyer and then to come down the line and to say on this day we particularly salute as well the memory of Alejo Beni.  We salute especially, the great Thomas Vincent Ramos and we recognize that these are the people responsible for Garifuna survival, Garifuna triumph over adversity, Garifuna defeat of exile and current, modern-day Garifuna progress.  Please let us never, ever forget those examples.  Please never, ever let us forget the inspiration of these Garinagu heroes.”