President of Guyana demands slavery reparations ahead of apology from plantation owner descendants
Source: Associated Press
President of Guyana demands slavery reparations ahead of apology from plantation owner descendants
BY BERT WILKINSON
Updated 5:39 AM EDT, August 25, 2023
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana president Irfaan Ali on Thursday lashed out at the descendants of European slave traders, saying those who profited from the cruel, trans-Atlantic slave trade should offer to pay reparations to today’s generations.
The leader of the South American country also proposed that those involved in the slave trade be posthumously charged for crimes against humanity.
Ali spoke ahead of Friday’s planned formal apology in Guyana by the descendants of Scottish 19th-century sugar and coffee plantation owner John Gladstone, saying the apology should also include issues of compensation and reparative justice.
The president said that while he welcomed plans by the family to acknowledge what he called the sins of the past, it also implies “an acknowledgement of the cruel nature of African enslavement and indentureship in Guyana and an act of contrition that paves the way for justice. The Gladstone family has admitted that it benefited from African enslavement and indentureship on the Demerara and other plantations owned by its patriarch, John Gladstone.”
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/guyana-britain-slavery-reparations-gladstone-trevelyan-9b51375026d3fd4afb2cbff1cb108c91
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