An op-ed piece by Wellington C. Ramos for Caribbean News Now.

Centuries before the Europeans and the British came to this part of the world our Garifuna people had their own nation by the name of “Yurumein”, now known as St Vincent and the Grenadines. We had a government that was headed by a paramount chief and other chiefs that had jurisdiction over their local regional areas. There was a treaty among all the Galinagu and Kalingu people that if any of their territory was attacked they would all come together and fight against that foreign nation.

The Spanish under the leadership of Christopher Columbus were the first Europeans to attempt to take over the island of St Vincent in the 1400s but our people fought back and defended our territory. Columbus and his crew left the island and warned all European countries from making the same mistake. He…