Amid protests in Guadeloupe over new restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19, France said it was open to discussing autonomy for the French Caribbean region.
Barricades of lit cars on a highway following violent demonstrations over COVID protocol in Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, November 23, 2021. Reuters
Government minister Sébastien Lecornu said France was willing to discuss autonomy for the French Caribbean region of Guadeloupe if it is in the interest of the people living there.
Guadeloupe and the nearby French island of Martinique have seen days of protests against COVID-19 measures escalate into violence.
France’s Foreign Territories Minister Lecornu said in a YouTube video released late Friday that some elected officials in Guadeloupe had raised the question of autonomy, changing its status as an overseas territory.
Reading: Shooting Black Friday in North Carolina, Washington; 7 injured
“The government is ready to talk about this. There are no bad debates, as long as these debates serve to solve the real everyday problems of the people in Guadeloupe,” he said.
It was one of a series of initiatives he said the government in Paris is taking in Guadeloupe, including plans to improve health care, infrastructure projects and create jobs for young people.
The French government announced this week that it would postpone a requirement that public sector workers in Guadeloupe and Martinique get a COVID-19 vaccination.
This had sparked protests, fueling long-standing grievances over the standard of living and relations with Paris.
There is a historical mistrust of the French government in its handling of the health crisis in Guadeloupe after exposure to toxic pesticides used in banana plantations in the 1970s.
Click here for IndiaToday.in’s Full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.