BARBUDA script
Once upon a time there was an island. An island called Barbuda..
It was so un spoilt, a little jewel in Caribbean
UPSOT
(Barbudan man in cap)
barbuda,,.,Its the most beautiful island in the Caribbean
The sand was white, the sea was turquoise
UPSOT
Daphe
( Barbudan lady)
It was so beautiful ————the sun was so white
But what made it unique was the land - and how it was shared.
When slavery ended in 1832 slaves in other Islands in the
Caribbean reverted to being subjects of the crown...
Barbuda was different. The island had been leased by one family, the
Codringtons; and unusually, the land was then granted to the people there...
For nearly 200 years every descendant of the former slaves have owned
the island as common land. This unique system goes to the heart of our story
about an island so serene, so beautiful - that a British princess once said it
was one of her favourite places on earth
But This was not to last …
(visit ....).
ASTON
Robert De Niro...
As far as barbuda is concerned I went there on a day trip and never
forgot it
Hollywood legend turned businessman Robert De Niro also fell under
Barbuda’s spell..
SOT
RDN
…It’s special
Mr De Niro is a Democrat fundraiser and a vocal opponent of Donald Trump
USPOT
He talks about how he wants to punch people in the
face.....want to
In 2004 Princess Diana’s favourite hideway, the K club hotel, went out
of business, a blow on an island barely touched by tourism..
Ten years went by - it was left abandoned
ASTON
DEVON WARNER
Nothing is happening here.
...Inigo - All cottages abandoned ?
Yes they’ve been abandoned for years now
NOBU website
ASTON
Nobu Website
In 2014, Mr De Niro and his Nobu hotel group expressed interest in taking
over the K Club. New name: Paradise Found...
At first the islanders were happy - and under their unique land system a
vote was held to decide if De Niro could take on the lease.
The result is contested to this day - but at the time was declared in De
Niro’s favor.
(UPSOT MUSIC)——
Faraway Leicester England... home to one the biggest Barbudan
communities in the diaspoara.
SOT
LAURA TOWNSEND
We alway grow up know Barbuda for Barbudans. It was handed down from
slavery….
Many of those in this room were born on the Barbuda and here came in
1960s…they still have a share in island communal land arrangement- as do their
children.
From here they keep a watchful eye on events - and they are worried
about De Niro
SOT
Aston
Rosanna Harris
it's all about him and his conglomerates....
SOT
Daphne THOMAS
Robert de Nero don’t know what he is taking on - Because we We stick
together, Because we unite and be strong when you come on the land rights. You
dont know what you taking on Robert de Niro…
The reason that people like Daphne are worried, is that beyond hotel
land, Mr De Niro also paid to lease an extra 300 acres of this precious LAND-
in total that's equivalent of 50 Wembley stadiums..
Many islanders were incensed and brought a legal challenge
They blame the influence of Prime Minister Gaston browne.
XXX (DO we mention court case this week?) xx
Barbudans say were not properly consulted and their communal land, a
legacy from slavery, could not be traded between the Prime Minister and Mr De
Niro.
SOT
Presenter
In this global village, Robert De Niro needs no introduction.
he is the star of 90 films....(dips)
In an interview conducted for the government's tourism website Mr
De Niro explained why investing in Antigua and Barbuda made good business
sense...
SOT
Robert De Niro
We have been treated very well,. I have been treated very well here by
the present government.
It’s a new government , they're young. Enthusiastic...More willing to...
Presenter: More development orientated…?
Sot
RDN
yes exactly...
Now Prime Minister has introduced new legislation that Barbudans say
will rip up their historic land agreement, their precious reparations for
slavery…
They say Mr Brown wants to open the way for developers --- ---- and make
Barbuda more like its sister island Antigua- where virtually every beach has a
hotel - and cruise ships bring in thousands of tourists - and dollars every
week.
(PROTEST)))
UPSOT
Oh MY WORD !!! xxxx
..Its mid afternoon in the Antigua capital, St John's. Outside
Parliament, a small group of Barbudans are protesting
at government's new law/ PM brown’s new law - that THEY SAY will take away
their land rights.
UPSOT
(woman with baby)
We came to fight for my land. I am asking all barbudans to come
out and support us. So come out. Our Land matters…
Protestor (Man with banner)
Robert de Niro, the Paradise Found. We rejected that. We have a case in
court. Its a big land grab - to please who? The foreign investors. Not to
please the local people...
The government rejects such claims
SOT
Arthur Nibbs
Minister for Barbuda
The government is making an offer. And its an offer that can be accepted
or refused. If there are 50 barbudans feel they want to exercise their rights,
they have the power so to do. if the others want to remain in the communal
common ownership situation, they too are free to keep that.
BACK In Leicester they remain unconvinced..
SOT
ASTON
Laura TOWNSEND
XXXX (((((((De Niro and those.. they never come to village. They just
want the land to build hotel and build roads and everything,. And the poor
people and they don’t have no say
SOT
AL HARRIS
he will tell Barbudans, you can’t go here and you can’t go there -
and that is not on------
NOT in Barbuda !!!
(Channel 4 news music….)
The main town on barbuda…of what is left of it.....
In September 2017 mother nature intervened.… hurricane Irma devastates
Barbuda.…
Over 90 % of the structures destroyed or damaged, and all the islanders,
…..evacuated.
Over Four months after the hurricane, when we visited, the mood is
disconsolate..
Just 350 of 1800 islanders had returned. They’re suspicious about
the slow pace of repair. No Houses rebuilt, power and running water not
restored..
UPSOT
Almost everything has been lost.
SOT
DEVON Warner
No moves made and no moves have been made to put essential services
back.
I think it’s just the first step in plan to divide the people of
Barbuda.
Their fury has been directed at Prime Minister Gaston Brown…
SOT
Inigo - what do you think of PM Brown? what person....
SOT
OLD MAN
He’s a big time trickster - trying to fool all he can fool. Make
promises, big promises and so forth...
Islanders are not impressed by seeing picture after picture of Mr Brown
clocking up his air miles —- ostensibly to raise money to rebuild Barbuda.
—- Here he is in November- with Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn and
some of his shadow Cabinet…Here with the chinese officials; at the United
Nations.
And with the Cuban leader Raul Castro…Barbudans told me they saw this as
a publicity stunt that does little to benefit them, as they wait for the rooves
to be put back their homes.
With recovery operations strangely slow islanders told us they
see PM like a badland lord who declines to renovate a damaged property in
the hope residents won’t return.
UPSOT
RDN..."I am here to speak...up..."
For his part Mr De Niro, spoke up at the United Nations after the
hurricane, making an appeal for help for Barbuda...
UPSOT
De Niro..
We have a humanitarian crisis, an entire island destroyed, we must
act together to help the most vulnerable, the ones affected by
disasters, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change
BUT So broken is the trust now, some islanders ASKING WHY SOLD K Club
lease IN THE FIRST PLACE.
In November 2014 the Government of Antigua and Barbuda appointed Mr Dr
Niro as a special economic envoy —— a role that came with diplomatic passport
for the actor.
They said he would help to attract investment and American celebrities
to the twin islands.
What raised eyebrows was that when Mr De Niro completed negotiations and
signed off his agreement on Barbuda’s K-club, he did so as AN Antigua and
Barbuda’s economic envoy….
Why did Mr De Niro Did he sign this way, I asked the government...
SOT
Inigo- When he signed the MOA
ASTON
ARTHUR NIBBS
MP and Minister for Barbuda
He’s an envoy for us…
We appointed him..Our PM appointed him to that post.
Inigo - so that is a political appointment?
SOT
Nobbs
Its an appointment by the PM
Inigo. - so that is a political appointment
SOT Nibbs
Its an appointment by the PM.
Inigo - When he signed the MOA he signed it as the economic envoy for
Antigua and Barbuda…
SOT
Nibbs
why would he do that?
Inigo - it says in the document
Nibbs
THE MOA is not something for the ambassador, its something for
PARADISE FOUND….
SOT
De Niro
It just happens that everything is aligned, properly....We have Mr Boustany
and the Prime Minister very much for it and that is a big help
SOT
Presenter
And there is the privacy …big thing
DE Niro
Nods
Ah ha..
GFX - GRAPHIC
Certainly everything seem to align in Memorandum of Agreement between
the government and Mr De Niro’s company for his new hotel Paradise Found...
GFX - GRAPHIC
(SHOW PAGE 1 – GOVT OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA LOGO / PARADISE
FOUND)
Certainly everything seems to align in the Memorandum of Agreement between
the Government and Mr De Niro’s company, Paradise Found
THE terms show....
(GO TO POINT 1.2.1)
That to secure the lease on 555 ACRES OF LAND ..
(GO TO POINT 1.2.2)
that will last for 198 years
(GO TO POINT 1.2.5 + 1.2.6)
Mr DeNiro will pay $5.2 million plus an additional 1 million
dollars ...
ADD.....
According to the contract this $1 million dollars represents the
complete cost of converting the existing leasehold to freehold title upon its future
availibility
END OF GRAPHIC
BRITISH based lawyers acting for barbudans in challenging the new land
act, say this clause raises questions about their (original )intentions.
SOT--
Leslie Thomas QC
Garden Court Chambers
Its an amazing piece of foresight that the drafters of that contract, 3
years ago, include a clause that should the... ability to have freehold land
that this can be converted into freehold. wow..Amazing..
INIGO ----Is that what the new land act says?
The new act actually has a clause that says existing leases - there are
two and De Niro is one of them- can be converted into freehold...
The implications of this, Barbudans say, are huge..
Mackenzie Frank...
Former Senator...
That beach up there at K club, now called Princess Diana beach, was
voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world….
It’s at least 3 to 10 million dollars per acre
Inigo -So they are sitting on a fortune…
SOT
Mackenzie Frank
You are sitting on a possible fortune if it becomes freehold.
(CHANGE)
SCRIPT CHANGE- ADD PICS???
ROBERT De Niro declined to comment on the allegations. Prime
Minster Gaston Brown refused to address the substance of the allegations,
saying only that our report is “salacious fake news [and] fabrications”.
(SCRIPT CHANGE)
XXX…..And so...Once again, as it was in the time of slavery, the
little island of barbuda is the scene of a battle…
Rosanna HARRIS
She used go to into the villages, she would sit in the village, she
would go on the verandas of the people. I am crying out for her to be
alive…
when it hit I thought you know If Princess Diana was alive, if she was
alive Princess Diana she would never let let this happen
De Niro
I am very optimistic about this whole project…I hope it really
works, going to take a lot of work. its easy to talk about it- but you have to
get it done
Devon WARNER
It’s just disappointing to see all this natural beauty is going to
waste…
ARTHUR Nibbs
From all I know everything that has been done with Mr De Nero and his
group…is above board.,
MAN protestor
We will go to the court. And challenge any act in parliament that is not
in sync with the people of Barbuda
Paradise may well exist on this island, but as everyone kjnows, inside
the garden of Eden were the seeds of temptation - and the fall of man..
END>>>>