Saint Lucia - Tips
Saint Lucia
Bureau of Western Hemisphere
Affairs
June
2007
Background Note: Saint
Lucia
The flag of St. Lucia is blue, with a gold isosceles triangle below a
black
arrowhead; the upper edges of the arrowhead have a white
border.
PROFILE
OFFICIAL
NAME:
Saint
Lucia
Geography
Area: 619 sq. km. (238 sq.
mi.).
Cities: Capital--Castries (pop. est. 67,000); Micoud; Gros-Islet;
Vieux Fort;
Soufriere.
Terrain:
Mountainous.
Climate:
Tropical.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--St.
Lucian(s).
Population (2005):
165,500.
Annual growth rate (2005):
1.5%.
Ethnic groups: African descent 90%, mixed 6%, East Indian 3%,
European 1%.
Religions: Roman Catholic, Seventh Day
Adventist, various Protestant
denominations.
Languages: English (official); a French patois is common throughout
the
country.
Education (2004): Adult
literacy--94.8%.
Health (2005): Infant mortality rate--12/1,000. Life expectancy--men
70.3
years; women 77.7
years.
Unemployment (2006):
15.7%.
Government
Type: Westminster-style parliamentary
democracy.
Independence: February 22,
1979.
Constitution:
1979.
Branches: Executive--governor general (representing Queen Elizabeth
II, head
of state), prime minister (head of government),
cabinet.
Legislative--bicameral parliament. Judicial--district courts,
Eastern
Caribbean Supreme
Court (High Court and Court of Appeals), final appeal to
Privy Council in
London.
Administrative subdivisions: 11
parishes.
Political parties: United Workers Party (incumbent); St. Lucia Labour
Party.
Suffrage: Universal at
18.
Economy
GDP (2005): $825.2
million.
GDP growth rate (2005):
5.1%.
Per capita GDP (2005):
$4,986.
Inflation (2005):
5.2%.
Natural resources: Forests, minerals (pumice), mineral
springs.
Agriculture: Bananas, cocoa, coconut, citrus fruits, and
livestock.
Manufacturing: Garments, electronic components, beverages, corrugated boxes.
Services: Tourism and offshore
banking.
Trade (2005): Exports--$64 million (merchandise) and $389 million
(commercial
services). Major markets--European Union (28.2%), Trinidad
and Tobago
(22.5%), United
States (14.0%), Barbados (10.1%), and Grenada
(5.2%).
Imports--$475
million (merchandise) and $159 million (commercial services).
Major suppliers--United States (43.9%), Trinidad and Tobago (14.2%),
European
Union (14.2%), Japan (4.6%), and Barbados
(3.0%).
Official exchange rate: EC$2.70 = U.S.
$1.
PEOPLE
St. Lucia's population is predominantly of African and mixed
African-European
descent, with small East Indian and European
minorities. English is the
official
language, although many St. Lucians speak a French patois. Ninety
percent of the population is Roman Catholic, a further reflection of
early
French influence on the island. The population of
just over 165,000 is evenly
divided between urban and rural areas,
although the capital, Castries,
contains more than one-third of the
population.
HISTORY
St. Lucia's first known inhabitants were the Arawaks, believed to
have come
from northern South America in 200-400 A.D. Numerous
archaeological sites on
the island have produced specimens of the
Arawaks' well-developed pottery.
Caribs gradually
replaced Arawaks during the period from 800-1000
A.D.
Europeans first landed on the island in either 1492 or 1502 during
Spain's
early exploration of the Caribbean. The Dutch,
English, and French all tried
to establish trading outposts on St.
Lucia in the 17th century but faced
opposition from the
Caribs.
The English, with their headquarters in Barbados, and the French,
based in
Martinique, found St. Lucia attractive after the
sugar industry developed in
the 18th century. Britain eventually
triumphed, with France permanently
ceding St. Lucia in 1815. In 1838, St. Lucia was incorporated into
the
British Windward Islands
administration, headquartered in Barbados. This
lasted until 1885, when the capital was moved to
Grenada.
Increasing self-governance has marked St. Lucia's 20th-century
history. A
1924 constitution gave the island its
first form of
representative
government, with a minority of elected members in the
previously
all-nominated legislative council. Universal adult suffrage was
introduced in
1951, and elected members became a majority of the
council. Ministerial
government was
introduced in 1956, and in 1958 St. Lucia joined
the
short-lived
West Indies Federation, a semi-autonomous dependency of
the
United Kingdom. When the federation
collapsed in 1962, following Jamaica's
withdrawal, a
smaller federation was briefly attempted. After the
second
failure, the United Kingdom and the
six windward and
leeward
islands--Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica, Antigua, St.
Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla,
and St. Lucia--developed a novel form of
cooperation called associated
statehood.
As an associated state of the United Kingdom from 1967 to 1979, St.
Lucia had
full responsibility for internal self-government but left
its external
affairs and defense
responsibilities to the United Kingdom. This interim
arrangement ended on February 22, 1979, when St. Lucia achieved
full
independence.
St. Lucia continues to recognize Queen Elizabeth II as titular
head
of state and is an active member of the Commonwealth. The
island
continues to
cooperate with its neighbors through the Caribbean Community and
Common Market (CARICOM), the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME),
the
East Caribbean Common Market (ECCM), the Organization
of Eastern Caribbean
States (OECS), and the Regional
Security System
(RSS).
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL
CONDITIONS
St. Lucia is a parliamentary democracy modeled on the Westminster
system. The
head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a
governor general,
appointed by the
Queen as her representative. The governor general exercises
ceremonial functions, but residual powers, under the constitution, can
be
used at the governor general's discretion. The
actual power in St. Lucia lies
with the prime minister and the
cabinet, usually representing the majority
party in
parliament.
The bicameral parliament consists of a 17-member House of Assembly
whose
members are elected by universal adult
suffrage for 5-year terms and an
11-member senate appointed by the governor general. The parliament may
be
dissolved by the governor general at any point
during its 5-year term, either
at the request of the prime
minister--in order to take the nation into early
elections--or at the
governor general's own discretion, if the house passes a
vote of
no-confidence in the
government.
St. Lucia has an independent judiciary composed of district courts
and a high
court. Cases may be appealed to the Eastern Caribbean Court
of Appeals and,
ultimately, to the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council in London. The
island is divided into
10 administrative divisions, including the capital,
Castries. Popularly elected local governments in most towns and
villages
perform such tasks as regulation of
sanitation and markets and maintenance of
cemeteries and secondary
roads. St. Lucia has no army but maintains a coast
guard and a
paramilitary Special Services Unit within its police
force.
The United Workers Party (UWP) was once the dominant force in the
politics of
St. Lucia. Until 1997, the UWP governed the country for
all but three years
since independence. John Compton was
premier of St. Lucia from 1964 until
independence
in February 1979 and remained prime minister until elections
later that
year.
The St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) won the first post-independence
elections in
July 1979, taking 12 of 17 seats in parliament. A period
of turbulence
ensued, in which
squabbling within the party led to several changes of prime
minister.
Pressure from the private sector and the unions forced
the
government to
resign in 1982. New elections were then called and were won
resoundingly by Compton's UWP, which took 14 of 17
seats.
The UWP was re-elected on April 16, 1987, but with only nine of 17
seats.
Seeking to increase his slim margin, Prime
Minister Compton suspended
parliament and called new elections on April 30. This unprecedented
snap
election, however, gave Compton the same
results as before--the UWP retained
nine seats and the SLP eight. In
April 1992, Prime Minister Compton's
government again defeated the SLP. In this election, however, the
government
increased its majority in parliament to 11
seats.
In 1996, Compton announced his resignation as prime minister in favor
of his
chosen successor Dr. Vaughan Lewis, former director-general of
the
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Dr. Lewis became
Prime
Minister and Minister of Finance,
Planning and Development on April 2, 1996.
The SLP also had a change
of leadership with former CARICOM official Dr.
Kenny Anthony succeeding businessman Julian
Hunte.
In elections held May 23, 1997, the St. Lucia Labour Party won all
but one of
the 17 seats in parliament, and Dr. Kenny Anthony became
Prime Minister and
Minister of Finance, Planning and
Development on May 24,
1997.
In elections of December 3, 2001, the SLP won 14 of the 17 available
seats.
The leader of the UWP, Dr. Morella Joseph, failed to win
a seat. Marcus
Nicholas served as
leader of the parliamentary opposition. Former
Prime
Minister Sir John Compton came
out of retirement to become leader of the
opposition UWP in
2005.
The United Workers Party won an upset victory in elections held
December 11,
2006, taking 11 seats against 6 won by the St. Lucia
Labour Party. Sir John
Compton once again returned to the
position of Prime Minister, as well as
Minister of
Finance.
Principal Government
Officials
Head of State--Queen Elizabeth
II
Governor General--Dr. Pearlette
Louisy
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance--Sir John
Compton
Minister for External Affairs, International Financial Services,
Information
and Broadcasting--Rufus
Bousquet
Ambassador to the UN--Chargé Olaf
Fontenelle
Ambassador to the United States and the OAS--Sonia Merlyn
Johnny
St. Lucia maintains an embassy at 3216 New Mexico Ave., NW,
Washington, DC
20016 (tel. 202-364-6792). St. Lucia also
maintains consulates general in New
York and
Miami.
ECONOMY
St. Lucia's economy depends primarily on revenue from tourism and
banana
production, with some contribution
from small-scale manufacturing. All
sectors of the economy have benefited from infrastructure
improvements in
roads, communications, water
supply, sewerage, and port facilities. These
improvements, combined with a stable political environment and educated work
force, have attracted foreign investors in several different
sectors.
Although St. Lucia
enjoys a steady flow of investment in tourism, the single
most
significant foreign investment is Hess Oil's large petroleum storage
and
transshipment terminal. In addition, the Caribbean Development
Bank funded an
extensive airport expansion
project.
Although banana revenues have helped fund the country's development
since the
1960s, the industry is now in a terminal decline, due to
competition from
lower-cost Latin American banana
producers and soon-to-be reduced European
Union trade
preferences. The country is encouraging farmers to plant crops
such as cocoa, mangos, and avocados to diversify its agricultural
production
and provide jobs for displaced banana
workers.
Tourism recovered in 2004, following the post-September 11, 2001
recession,
and continued to grow in 2005, making up more than
48% of St. Lucia's GDP.
The hotel and restaurant industry
grew by 6.3% during 2005. Stay-over
arrivals increased by 6.5%, and the United States remained the most
important
market, accounting for 35.4% of these arrivals. Yacht
passengers rose by
21.9%. Redeployment of
cruise ships, remedial berth construction, and high
fuel
costs prevented higher growth rates. However, several investors
have
planned new tourism projects for the island,
including a large hotel and
resort in the
southern part of the
island.
St. Lucia's currency is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar (EC$), a
regional
currency shared among
members of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
The Eastern
Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) issues the EC$, manages monetary
policy, and regulates and supervises commercial banking activities in
its
member countries. The ECCB has kept the EC$
pegged at EC$2.7=U.S. $1.
St. Lucia is a beneficiary of the U.S. Caribbean Basin Initiative and
is a
member of the Caribbean Community and Common Market
(CARICOM). The country
hosts the headquarters of the
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
(OECS).
FOREIGN
RELATIONS
Historically, the major thrust of foreign affairs for St. Lucia has
been
economic development. The government is
seeking balanced international
relations with emphasis on mutual economic cooperation and trade
and
investment. It
seeks to conduct its foreign policy chiefly through
its
membership in the OECS. St.
Lucia participated in the 1983 Grenada mission,
sending members
of its Special Services Unit into active duty. St. Lucia is a
member
of the Commonwealth, the Organization of American States (OAS), and
the United Nations. It maintains friendly relations with the major
powers
active in the Caribbean, including the
United States, the United Kingdom,
Canada, and
France. St. Lucia has been active in eastern Caribbean regional
affairs through the OECS and
CARICOM.
U.S.-ST. LUCIAN
RELATIONS
The United States and St. Lucia have a cooperative relationship. The
United
States supports the St. Lucian Government's efforts to
expand its economic
base and improve the lives of its
citizens. The Government of St. Lucia has
cooperated with the
United States on security concerns. U.S. assistance is
primarily channeled through multilateral agencies, such as the World
Bank,
and the USAID office in Bridgetown, Barbados. The
Peace Corps, whose Eastern
Caribbean regional headquarters is located
in St. Lucia, has 22 volunteers in
St. Lucia, working primarily in
business development, education, and health.
U.S. security assistance
programs provide limited training to
the
paramilitary Special Services Unit and the coast guard. In addition,
St.
Lucia receives U.S. counternarcotics
assistance and benefits from U.S.
military exercises and humanitarian civic action construction
projects.
St. Lucia and the United States share interest in combating
international
crime and narcotics trafficking.
Because of St. Lucia's
geographical
location, it is an appealing transit point for traffickers. In response
to
this threat, the Government of St. Lucia has concluded
various bilateral
treaties with the United
States, including a Maritime Law
Enforcement
Agreement
(subsequently amended to include overflight and
order-to-land
provisions), a Mutual
Legal Assistance Treaty, and an Extradition Treaty.
More Americans visit St. Lucia than any other national group. In
2005,
tourist visitors totaled
over 700,000, mainly from the United States, the
United Kingdom, and CARICOM. Cruise ship arrivals in 2005 were down by
18%
over 2004, while the number of stay-over visitors
increased slightly in the
same
period.
Principal U.S. Embassy
Officials
Ambassador--Mary M.
Ourisman
Deputy Chief of Mission--Mary Ellen T.
Gilroy
Political/Economic Counselor--Martina Strong
(Acting)
Consul General--Clyde Howard
Jr.
Regional Labor Attaché--Martina
Strong
Economic/Commercial Affairs--Anthony
Eterno
Public Affairs Officer--Julie
O'Reagan
Peace Corps Director--Kate
Raftery
The United States maintains no diplomatic presence in St. Lucia.
The
Ambassador and
Embassy officers are resident in Barbados and
frequently
travel to St.
Lucia.
The U.S. Embassy in Barbados is located in the Wildey Business Park,
Wildey,
St. Michael (tel: 246-436-4950; fax:
246-429-5246).
Other Contact
Information
U.S. Department of
Commerce
International Trade
Administration
Trade Information
Center
14th and Constitution,
NW
Washington, DC
20230
Tel:
1-800-USA-TRADE
Caribbean/Latin American
Action
1818 N Street, NW, Suite
310
Washington, DC
20036
Tel: (202)
466-7464
Fax: (202)
822-0075
TRAVEL AND BUSINESS
INFORMATION
The U.S. Department of State's Consular Information Program advises
Americans
traveling and residing abroad through Consular Information
Sheets, Public
Announcements, and Travel Warnings.
Consular Information Sheets exist for all
countries and include
information on entry and exit requirements, currency
regulations, health conditions, safety and security, crime,
political
disturbances, and
the addresses of the U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.
Public
Announcements are issued to disseminate information quickly
about
terrorist threats and other relatively
short-term conditions overseas that
pose significant
risks to the security of American travelers. Travel Warnings
are
issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel
to a certain country because the situation is dangerous or
unstable.
For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling
abroad
should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau
of Consular Affairs Internet
web site at
http://www.travel.state.gov, where the
current Worldwide Caution,
Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings
can be found. Consular Affairs
Publications,
which contain information on obtaining passports and planning a
safe
trip abroad, are also available at
http://www.travel.state.gov.
For
additional information on international
travel, see
http://www.usa.gov/
Citizen/Topics/Travel/International.shtml.
The Department of State encourages all U.S citizens who traveling or
residing
abroad to register via the State Department's travel
registration website or
at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate
abroad. Registration will make your
presence and whereabouts known in
case it is necessary to contact you in an
emergency and will
enable you to receive up-to-date information on security
conditions.
Emergency information concerning Americans traveling abroad may be
obtained
by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and
Canada or the regular
toll line 1-202-501-4444 for
callers outside the U.S. and
Canada.
The National Passport Information Center (NPIC) is the U.S.
Department of
State's single, centralized public
contact center for U.S.
passport
information. Telephone: 1-877-4USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778). Customer
service
representatives and operators for TDD/TTY
are available Monday-Friday, 7:00
a.m. to 12:00 midnight,
Eastern Time, excluding federal
holidays.
Travelers can check the latest health information with the U.S.
Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
A hotline at 877-FYI-TRIP
(877-394-8747) and a web site at
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm
give the
most recent health advisories, immunization recommendations
or requirements,
and advice on food and drinking water safety for
regions and countries. A
booklet entitled "Health
Information for International Travel"
(HHS
publication number CDC-95-8280) is available from the U.S.
Government
Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402, tel. (202)
512-1800.
Further Electronic
Information
Department of State Web Site. Available on the Internet at
http://
www.state.gov, the Department of State web
site provides timely, global
access to
official U.S. foreign policy information, including
Background
Notes and daily press briefings
along with the directory of key officers of
Foreign Service
posts and more. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC)
provides
security information and regional news that impact U.S. companies
working abroad through its website
http://www.osac.gov
Export.gov provides a portal to all export-related assistance and
market
information offered by the federal
government and provides trade leads, free
export counseling, help
with the export process, and
more.
STAT-USA/Internet, a service of the U.S. Department of Commerce,
provides
authoritative economic, business, and
international trade information from
the Federal
government. The site includes current and
historical
trade-related releases, international market research, trade
opportunities,
and country analysis and provides access to the
National Trade Data Bank.
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Background
notes
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Saint Lucia
