The former leader of Saint Lucia’s National Green Party (NGP), Andre ‘Pancho’ de Caires, has urged Saint Lucians to follow Canada’s lead and start boycotting United States goods as much as possible.
Canadians, outraged over President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs against their country, have been turning their backs on American-made goods.
Media reports have indicated that Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau has supported the boycott, which is gaining ground.
Former NGP leader Andre de Caires noted that with less than a month into the Trump presidency, the chaos is just beginning.
“Apart from the entire world having to deal with ever more frequent extreme weather events that have been devastating food crops over the past decade, resulting in the continuous rise in food prices. Now, we have our major food supplier, the United States, repatriating undocumented farm workers as well as starting a trade war with the rest of the globe, leading to a combination of food shortages and even higher food prices,” de Caires stated.
He warned that because Saint Lucia imports most of its food from the United States, Saint Lucians will ultimately pay the price.
The former NGP leader observed that the situation is ironic because the food Saint Lucia imports is highly processed, contributing to non-communicable diseases.
de Caires recalled that the NGP has always focused on food and water security, unlike Saint Lucia’s two main political parties.
He advised Saint Lucians that there is no better time to purchase and eat locally produced goods.
“Take your money and give it to another Lucian instead of giving it to some faceless overseas multinational corporation that is slowly poisoning you, and after you are finished with the unhealthy contents, the empty plastic receptacles then fill up our solid waste facilities not to mention the carbon footprint that we create shipping in all of that food from far away places. A lose, lose, lose situation,” de Caires asserted.
“I believe that Saint Lucians have a revolutionary spirit, and now is the time to find out who are the real revolutionaries,” he told St. Lucia Times.
At the same time, the former NGP leader noted that most visitors to Saint Lucia come from the United States tourist market.
“We have no beef with citizens of the United States. It is these crazy moves by the Trump administration that have the world on edge,” de Caires stated.
I agree with Pancho. Them folks are showing their true colors…as far as they know we are monkeys swinging on vines looking for bananas coconuts and mangoes to eat! Therefore, let’s quietly buy more local products…instead of the grades etc let’s eat more wax apple and mangoes. I would love for ministry of agri to develop and import list and recommend local alternatives with similar nutritional content. That’s the way we need to think. BTW, we need to boycott Massy auto teller machines, let’s send them a message to employ lucian women.
De caires tell massy , courts and the other stores about their high prices . ..fuel , bread , milk , TV …just to name a few. Then charter a path forward to boycott us goods
Boycott it on what grounds? What are the alternative options and who in government want their visa to revoked? You cannot go in someone else country and break their laws and you cannot blame the man for that. If lazy ass licians depending on imports so be it them whoever have to feed on it must pay it. It will worth it for us to fix our shit than to follow people who don’t care shit about us. They often vacuum our human resources from our labor force by allowing self sponsorship individual who used our tax payer money to educate themselves and move. Who applaud it the same Canadian government. We are cash strapped economy and they are human resources empty. Where do we draw the line. Who do you think the cuban government exporting their doctor and nurses. If we can’t afford it why buy it in the first place. We need to let common sense lead us and don’t let the ignorant one lead us
We will have no one to blame for poverty or hunger in Saint Lucia but ourselves .We have not been pro active in attempting to encourage or motivate our people to engage in farming .
.While tourism continues to play a significant role within the Caribbean region ,the time will soon come when they will be unable to travel to our shores. WE CANNOT WAIT until there are issues with travelling and other political dynamics to engage in life saving strategies for our people.FOOD IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE .
Please sit down and shut up sir. During Trump’s last presidency tourist arrivals from the USA our no 1 market was breaking records… Canada has already made a deal with the USA because not even them can boycott the USA and you calling on us to boycott them..and lastly Trump is a great president who is looking out for his country as all great leaders so and stop listening and regurgitating CNN propaganda
Boycot is not practical. Are you also calling on Lucians to reject the American life style and return to our historical traditions? Talk is cheap.
@Smart St Lucian the village idiots like yourself will get the wake up call of your lives real soon…….the likes you never think you would have foreseen. In the words of Trumps own mother “yes he’s an idiot with zero common sense and no social skills, he is my son I just hope he never gets into politics he’d be a disaster”. Similar words that were echoed about another Trump wannabe I was told by reliable sources, nobody knows their children better than mommy or daddy . Trump thinks he wheel a big stick over everybody but he does not. In term of Canada more than 80 percent of the US natural gas comes from Canada. Canadian lumber is another 80 percent, steel is about 50 percent from Canada. Farmers are worried because of his tariffs and low workforce we don’t feel the effects of that yet. USAID fallout already bringing mass suffering around the world with goods as we speak just sitting on docks and warehouses rotting, he wants to run out Palestinians out of Gaza and turn the Gaza Strip into a resort area. What ?? The the new 911 that’s brewing I hope am not around to see it and the second American civil war that’s brewing. Donald Trump is the most dangerous man to this world stability right now. I won’t even touch Ukraine, that’s a whole other topic.
Not a bright Idea..to small of an island to have any effects on the USA..
Think positively before you open your Mouth..
@Smart Lucian!
If we had a leader like President Trump St.Lucia would be far better off.
It would of been St.lucia FIRST….
Love your comment
Mate doing his part to bring Lucian back into 1940s lifesyle ..and to eat more green figs while he and the other politicians eat imported steak ….Lucian High grade is also a clown that is challenged in understanding geopolitics …
It is not surprising that St. Lucians (for-profit stenographers, political dissidents & sycophants alike) gather together to wallow in their various delusions regarding local, regional, and global affairs. They do this, of course, for the sole purpose of reinforcing their severally biased delusions. As a result, nothing really changes in their individual thought bubbles; no remedy is taken to cure them of their insanity.
For the last third of the 20th century & the first quarter of the 21st century, there has been a voice crying out in the wilderness, to anyone who would listen, about the causes & the cures for this mass psychosis. Lend him an ear if you need a way out from your worldly ailments; which neither side of the political divide in St. Lucia wants to see happen:
Global Capitalism: What Trump 2.0 Means
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u4A0D_Wc9c
The technicalities of his informed opinion are discussed here:
Dialectic At Work: Capitalism hits the fan 2.0?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMd_4-fA6e8&t=3090s
John, are you involved in business operations? Many of us are feeling the strain of soaring prices. Companies like Courts, Massy, and others are primarily distributors rather than manufacturers. Often, we only see the final retail prices without considering the significant overhead costs, employee demands upheld by unions, instances of internal theft, substantial governmental taxes, and numerous other factors that contribute to pricing. The issues raised by the gentleman may seem baseless, but they prompt us to consider viable solutions and alternatives. Some us tend to criticize without offering constructive input, merely commenting for the sake of it.
Well said, Pancho. Good on you!
SL people ought to pay attention to the principles expressed here:
https://ngp-lc.org/policies.html#Agriculture
What a joke….man focus on the issues that we facing in st.lucia. tell me what if what you’re asking of us is even practical. You forgetting the number of st.lucians who have migrated to the states and they are the ones fending for their families at home.
Well you know what Rastas been saying for the longest time Babylon must fall….and the US it’s on its way down and China will be the world dominant economic powerhouse…….it’s almost there already I love what China is doing and how they are moving away from US dependency…….just look at DeepSkeek what a wake up call the US got loosing Billions in just one day to it. I learned a lot from Covid as far as food dependency and I have taken the opportunity to grow and consume what I mostly need but our laziness and program dependency on US goods will eventually force more of us to do the same when their economy crash and we can’t afford their poison anymore, and those days are coming sooner than expected, so there will be no need for boycott soon St Lucian’s will get the message . The bird flu has not reached St Lucia yet, but it will soon. The Richard Wolf of the world already predicted this with some accuracy, but are we listening. A few years ago Andrew Holness in a sat down with NBC News expressed interest in exploring the dynamics of joining Bricks and the Red Phone rang it was a warning from Trump you go there and you will see 100 percent tariffs on your goods coming to America, so we here in the Caribbean will always get squeezed and be at their mercy if we don’t start implementing initiatives on developing our own food security. We must act now.
I agree let’s eat what we produce here,,BUT let’s grow healthy food without all the chemicals. I read the report cancer is up 88% in U.S. Here where there are no watchdogs checking on how much poisons are sprayed, or put into the soil, I am sure our rate has increased 100% Grow organic, your grandparents did and had a long healthy life.
Buy what local produce? Where? I’m sick oc looking at empty shelves, trying to find the basics already.
Well it’s March. What are the people who disagreed with my statement back in February
saying now? In the last election, our slogan was, ” Agriculture First. Food and water security “. We have been encouraging Lucian to support their own for over a decade and agriculture has always been our main focus. To those of you who had negative comments above, you have completely misunderstood my plea. This is a boycott by individuals. Not businesses. If you believe that the US is behaving in a way that is not in line with your values, morals and beliefs, this could be your way to privately protest. This is ones own private pushback against a bullying nation. The rest of the world is now is doing exactly what I proposed. Boycotting US goods. Mental slavery is still a thing. Smh