LatinNews Daily - 25 August 2023

* Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has stepped up his call for slavery reparations ahead of a formal apology which is due to be given today (25 August) in Georgetown by the descendants of the Scottish 19^th century plantation owner John Gladstone. Ali said that “the heinousness of this crime against humanity demands that we seek to right these wrongs”, arguing that “the descendants of John Gladstone must now also outline their plan of action in line with the Caricom [Caribbean Community] plan for reparatory justice for slavery and indentureship”. Caricom is seeking billions of dollars in investment in education, health, infrastructure and culture from former slaving countries and families. Earlier this week, a leading judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Patrick Robinson, said that the UK “will not be able to resist this movement towards the payment of reparations”. Robinson co-wrote a report published in June by the Brattle Group, a US-headquartered economic consultancy, which concluded that the UK alone should pay US$24trn in slavery reparations to 14 countries.