In Brief
- Damage control launched: The St. Vincent and the Grenadines government has initiated a marketing campaign to counter negative international press following a recent quadruple murder.
- Protecting tourism: Officials are working to reassure visitors and investors that the country remains open for business and is still a safe, prime destination.
- Gang links suspected: Police have noted specific markings at the crime scene associated with local groups, urging young people to turn away from violence, though no arrests have yet been made.
- Deadliest shooting in a year: The incident in Green Hill left four people dead and four wounded, marking the deadliest attack since July 2023.
- Opposition denies involvement: Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves rejected claims that his party contacted international media to generate negative coverage, calling the accusations absurd.
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, (CMC) – The St. Vincent and the Grenadines government and tourism officials have launched a damage control campaign to counter the reputational harm caused by last weekend’s quadruple murder.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, St. Clair Leacock, said marketing teams and overseas networks are being used to reassure visitors and investors that the country remains open for business. Leacock, speaking on a radio programme here, said that Tourism Minister Dr. Kishore Shallow had already put a “damage control team” in place, led by the chief executive officer of the Tourism Authority, Shafia London.
He said the task is to reach out to target audiences following what he described as damaging international coverage of the weekend violence.
“We have had some very bad press, very terrible international headlines,” Leacock said, citing coverage by international broadcasters CNN and the BBC, as well as regional and social media.
Leacock said that the government is concerned that negative attention could deter visitors from coming to the country, adding, “It’s still a wonderful place to be. It still is your choice destination. By all means, come to St. Vincent, the Grenadines.”
The minister said the economic effects of violence can spread beyond the immediate security response, noting that “when you do something to national security, it doesn’t end there.”
He said that the tourism industry is one sector vulnerable to “collateral damage” from the headlines and welcomed efforts by Invest SVG, foreign-service staff and trade representatives at embassies and high commissions, noting that they were working to protect the country’s investment profile and continue promoting the island to overseas businesses.
“We have to be careful in our messaging that we continue to promote our country,” he said, adding that the government faces a delicate task responding firmly to violence while avoiding messaging that could deepen harm to tourism and investment.
The police have so far made no arrests following the killings last Friday, even as they reported that they found markings on walls and buildings near the shooting scene associated with a group.
“St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been faced with this gun-related violence, and …we noted some graphics that were marked on the walls, the buildings in its immediate vicinity,” acting Commissioner of Police Trevor “Buju” Bailey told a weekend news conference.
“Whilst I will not be specific with the markings, we were able to identify the association with these markings, and I call upon the young people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to be model citizens, to desist from the path of crime and violence,” he added.
Four people were killed and four others wounded during the shooting incident in Green Hill, the deadliest such incident here since July 19, 2023, when five people were killed in a shooting in Kingstown, the capital.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves has rejected claims that his main opposition Unity Labour Party (ULP) operatives contacted international media to generate coverage of last weekend’s shooting incident.
He told listeners to his radio programme that some activists with the ruling New Democratic Party (NDP) have been spreading false information that his party is behind the international media coverage.
“I’ve never heard anything more absurd in all my life,” Gonsalves said, adding, “People are getting information from what the minister said and from the profile of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
“For heaven’s sake, we were on the Security Council in 2020 and 2021. We were head of CELAC. The current minister himself is telling the world that.”
“The leader, the person who occupies the office of prime minister, now elected to that office, has been putting up billboards, saying that they meet a failed state. They’re the ones who publicise this thing.”
Gonsalves said that international news organisations pick up reports from local outlets, correspondents and other sources, and make their own decisions about what to publish.
