ANTIGUA: THOSE WHO FORGET THE LESSONS OF HISTORY, ARE BOUND TO REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKES

We notice that the principal sponsor of this week's cricket games at the COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT MEETING, or CHOGM, being held in Antigua, is a controversial offshore bank that has defaulted upon a High Court Order to pay over to its customers their demand deposits, totaling eighty five million dollars, and which is prominently displaying its role at the event. Does Antigua's Prime Minister GASTON BROWNE not remember the painful financial, social and economic lessons his country was taught, due to its climbing into bed with former cricket sponsor ALLEN STANFORD and his STANFORD INTERNATIONAL BANK? I was in Antigua in the immediate aftermath of that scandal, and I witnessed the national malaise that infected Antiguans when the music died, and they were left holding an empty bag.

How soon Antiguans have forgotten that financial nightmare without end, a Ponzi scheme whose consequences affected the country for years. Apparently nobody in St. John's chooses to learn from this dark episode in Antigua's history, as is obvious from the association it has now attached itself to.