Mark Antony is best remembered for the riveting speech he made to memorialize Caesar’s death.  (Julius Caesar Act III Scene II).  Antony noted that “He (Caesar) was my friend, faithful and just to me.”  

And yet some scholars, analyzing his role, have found him to be little more than an opportunist, perhaps even a vulture.  For he took what was Caesar’s for his own benefit including the Queen of the Nile.

We are being terrorized by our friends and there is no greater threat that one can face.  But what is worse is that we are being terrorized for the use of our own resources.  

Our neighbours may have recently discovered what we have known for decades; The BVI is, in part, its ‘breadbasket.’

By sheer compulsion, if not force, they strip us of all they can, including our name.

The Virgin Islands have been in friendship with the USVI for decades.  We alternate celebrating between the jurisdictions and with high pomp and circumstance.

In the earlies, the relationship was symbiotic. They needed coal and ground provisions and we had farmers.  They needed workers and we needed jobs.  

We needed accidental citizenship which we took, usually by stealth, for the period up to the early 80s was bleak for us.  And that broadened their tax and consumer base.

Subsequently, as our economy improved, we needed international travel and goods and they minted our money by the millions.

But much has changed.

We no longer go West in droves for medical and dental care.  On the contrary, they are trickling in and taking advantage of our medical specialists.

And they are in the shadows encouraging us to forget about lengthening our runway but we remember Irma, Maria and Covid and the national security issues we faced.

This is where we appeal to the kingdom but they appear to still want to punish the many for the sins of the few.  They can!  For the Constitution is on their side.  

And our theatrics are concerning.  A special session of the House about the lifting of an order in Council that we called down upon our own heads that left a Premier stranded on foreign soil with no Special session of the House to speak about that!

Regarding the ‘ship,’ (we will call it Friend-ship for now) shared between the USVI and BVI, a fork appeared in the road when their add-ons to our ferry fees make it uncompetitive to trek to the USVI for goods and services.

Then, Amazon entered our lexicon.

Of course, business rather than friendship allowed for the visa waiver we continue to enjoy but we hardly, consistently, go any longer.

And then, American announced a direct flight from Miami that was slated to be two to three times per week but is now four to six times per day including overnighting an aircraft for early, next day, departure.

That was a game changer for we are moving approximately 3,000 visitors per week without the aid of the Cyril E King Airport.  

Their concerns deepened. 

We were shocked when, during the 2023 BVI elections, the USVI Governor appeared on a political platform supporting a party that he wanted to win.  

“I asking you to endorse my people, my party, my friends.” (USVI Gov Albert Bryan Jr.)

The people returned the Party to power but his move was reckless.  It undermined diplomatic relations and exposed a lack of sophistication in international affairs.

We felt ashamed for him.

But the Virgins belong to us so, when we exercised our right to address our own marine environment and apply a new fee structure...

...The proverbial ‘s**it’ hit the fan.

But the USVI Governor did not reach for ‘lawyers, guns and money’ although, by his account, he received some $25B in federal funding for recovery and development compared to the sparse millions that the Virgin Islands (UK) received from the UK following the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

All the real Virgins can depend on is the revenue collected for goods and services since the Kingdom is not ‘…a nation as daring in economic matters as the USA.’ (The Mouse on the Moon.”)

Instead, our long-sworn friend, cognizant of his President’s foreign policy, complained us to Washington.  He mistook the year for 1917.

It was never expected that for control of our own marine resources, our once friendly, western neighbour wished to see us destroyed.  Since the lines of ownership of these Virgin Islands can no longer be blurred in advertising, they chose the force of hegemony over negotiations.

For his former friend (such treachery can never lay claim to so noble an institution as friendship) the look our Leader of Government Business should dispense in disappointment and disgust, must suffice to wither even a stone.

Of course, they will meet; In a conference room in the BVI;  Not on the battlefield of Philippi where Mark Antony’s army laid waste to Brutus’, although, in the end, karma took care of Anthony.

The stakes are high.  $100+ million per year, to be lost by the USVI according to its Governor.  But we will not tie the hands of our Premier in saying “stand your ground.”  

We do, nonetheless, advise our leader that the Territory must not exist for the pleasure and pockets of the USVI…

And she should definitely not exist;

For Fridays.

Happy Friday!