Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda against Spain celebrating the discovery of the Americas

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ambassador of the Caribbean territory of Antigua and Barbuda to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ronald Sanders, called on Tuesday (6) for an end to the celebration of the meeting of two worlds that represents the Day of Hispanidad, on October 12, promoted every year by Spain on the occasion of the discovery of the New World.

Sanders, through a statement, said Antigua and Barbuda, like the rest of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries, would not be a true friend of Spain if it “pretended that this occasion is one we welcome and support.”

“The original peoples of these lands did not need to be discovered because they already had a civilization, a rich culture, and knowledge that was adapted to the ‘sustainability of their environment,” Sanders maintained.

“All of that was destroyed or desecrated by the arrival of Christopher Columbus, who stumbled upon these lands in the mistaken belief that he had sailed a new route to the Indies,” the Antigua and Barbuda diplomat said.

He pointed out that, in addition to the genocide and enslavement of the native peoples of the Americas, “the encounter opened the door to centuries of brutal enslavement of Africans and exploitation of Asian labor in some Caribbean countries.”

He stressed that these events should not be celebrated, adding that it was a meeting devised “on the ideology of European superiority that today is commonly called racism.”

“The freedom that European settlers sought in these lands now called the Americas came at the expense of the lives, land, labor, blood, and resources of non-whites,” he said.

“That is what we remember and what we see every time this so-called meeting of two worlds is celebrated,” he said, after insisting on ending a commemoration that reopens wounds and reinforces the strong desire for restorative justice.

“Our country highly values its current relationship with Spain,” he said.

“We congratulate Spain for the positive role it plays today in global affairs and appreciates its efforts to make today’s encounters with our nations mutually beneficial to all. In our relationship, we would like to move forward into a bright future, not look back at a dark past,” he stressed.

“It is the encounters, which we should all focus on, that offer a better future for our common humanity in our unique world,” he concluded.