Island of Nevis’ Itch to Secede Shocks Region of Ministates

Nevis’ union with the larger, neighboring island of St. Kitts has been acrimonious ever since their governments were consolidated when the British colonial administration shrank more than a century ago.

Now, 14 years after independence, Nevis wants out. It has begun the process of seceding from what is already the smallest country in the Americas, population 42,000.

“I’m hoping that between now and the year 2000, we will have independence,” said Ken Evelyn, owner of Superfood, Nevis’ largest grocery store, voicing the feeling found across this 36-square-mile tropical island of 9,000 people.

Such predictions have sent shock waves throughout the eastern Caribbean, where smaller partners in other multi-island countries share many of Nevis’ complaints that federal governments alternately neglect them and interfere in their affairs.

The possible breakup of St. Kitts and Nevis is seen by those who do not live under the Nevis Peak volcano as further fragmentation of an already dispersed region.

Concerns about the proposed secession run so deep that Caricom, the association of former British Caribbean colonies, has formed a three-member mediating group to try to help St. Kitts and Nevis resolve their differences.

“The real world is coming closer together, getting together in mega-blocs because of the challenges being faced by states today with the globalization of the world economy and trade liberalization,” said Denzil Douglas, prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis. “It is unfortunate that the Caribbean region, as marginalized as it is at present, is now finding itself with the possibility of fragmentation, thus further marginalizing this area and making it appear to be unstable.”

But Nevis remains as firmly committed to independence as its most famous son, Alexander Hamilton, a leader of the American Revolution.

“Fragmentation is not an issue,” said Collin Tyrell, the parliamentary secretary of the Nevis local government. “Nevis will continue to be part of the region. The island is not going anywhere. In fact, we can make a better contribution to regional matters if Nevis is separate from St. Kitts.”

Nevisians complain that they have no voice in the federal government. They gripe that the administration puts stumbling blocks in the way of their attempts to develop activities such as tourism and offshore financial services.

Residents of both islands recognize that Nevis has tonier tourism and has been more successful at attracting international bankers. That has worsened the long-standing rivalry.

Nevisians protested when the British united the islands’ administration in 1883 because Nevis’ sugar-based economy had faltered after emancipation.

Nevis then diversified into cotton, while St. Kitts continued producing sugar. By the 1960s, Nevisians demanded to secede from the colony, which then also included Anguilla, about 50 miles to the north. Instead, the British began the process of independence for all three islands together.

By 1983, Anguilla preferred to remain a British colony rather than become independent along with this country. Nevis accepted united independence, on condition that the island have a local government and that its right to secede be part of the federal constitution.