In the late 1970s the Bird government allowed millions of - TopicsExpress

In the late 1970s the Bird government allowed millions of dollars’ worth of weaponry to be moved through Antigua to white-ruled South Africa in contravention of a United Nations arms embargo. The arms were shipped by Space Research Corporation, a Canadian-American12 company run by artillery wizard Gerald Bull. In exchange, the Bird government received cash payments as well as outfitting and training for the Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force. The defense force increasingly would be deployed to suppress opposition marches and demonstrations, and it was used to militarize the port area when AWU longshoreman refused to handle Space Research cargo following exposure of the arms shipments by Tim Hector in Outlet. AWU workers were forced off the docks at gunpoint and during subsequent protests they were tear gassed. The law firm of Bird and Bird was the legal representative for Space Research in Antigua and Barbuda and Lester Bird was the company’s principal spokesperson. In April 1978 Lester denied in parliament that arms were being shipped through the country to South Africa and threatened to have anyone making such an allegation tried for treason. Seven months later, when conclusive evidence was revealed in the international media that Antigua and Barbuda had been used to import, test, and ship arms to the apartheid regime in South Africa, V.C. Bird was forced to concede publicly that such was the case. He tried to suggest that Antigua and Barbuda was not the only Caribbean country involved in such activities, but provided no evidence to back his claim and none ever emerged. A U.S. federal grand jury indicted Bull and he pleaded guilty to selling more than $30 million worth of arms to South Africa. According to a number of press reports at the time, evidence presented to the grand jury showed that Space Research passed at least $200,000 to high-level government officials in Antigua and Barbuda. However, despite opposition demands, there was no official inquiry and no one in Antigua was charged with any crime. In 1979 V.C. Bird praised Space Research in parliament for helping to strengthen the defense force and said that the government’s relationship with the company was not a mistake, that he’d do it again.

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