SIR RONALD SANDERS CALLS FOR BALANCED APPROACH TO ‘ENCOUNTER OF TWO WORLDS’

Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the Organisation of American States, Sir Ronald Sanders urges reflection on the past and a focus on the future, as the hemisphere contemplates the encounter of two worlds.
It is regarded as an epochal point in the region, when Spain started what was to unfold as centuries of systematic European colonization of the Americas.
Sir Ronald commented on the issue as he chaired a special meeting of the OAS Permanent Council on Tuesday.
The meeting came ahead of Spain’s National Day on October 12.
Sir Ronald says this encounter of two worlds brought connections and exchanges, but also suffering and dispossession for indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.
It also gave rise to the trans-Atlantic slave trade.