[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 24, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1891]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CRITICIZING THE GOVERNMENT OF ANTIGUA FOR THE EXPROPRIATION OF HALF 
                            MOON BAY RESORT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. THOMAS G. TANCREDO

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 23, 2008

  Mr. TANCREDO. Madam Speaker, I would like to discuss a regrettable 
situation which we have been monitoring for some time now.
  I am talking about the expropriation of the Half Moon Bay Resort in 
Antigua, which belonged to a group of American citizens, who developed 
the property into an internationally recognized vacation destination 
and have owned it for over 35 years.
  The Hurricanes that hit the Caribbean in 1995 severely damaged the 
resort, making it necessary to negotiate a financial package to rebuild 
the property. Instead of assisting the owners in that regard, the 
Government of Antigua saw this as an opportunity to force the owners to 
sell it--at what would be its lowest value--to certain ``friends of the 
Government''. When the owners refused to sell and expressed a 
determination to rebuild instead, the Government of Antigua responded 
by repeatedly blocking their efforts to do so.
  The Government of Antigua made its first overt attempt to expropriate 
the property in December 2000. At that time, some twenty Congressmen 
and Senators intervened by writing directly to the Prime Minister of 
Antigua and the Antiguan Ambassador in Washington, expressing their 
concern at such a move. That caused the Government of Antigua to back 
off for a few months.
  However, after a short time, the Government of Antigua returned to 
its original plan and proceeded to a parliamentary declaration allowing 
the Government to exercise eminent domain over the property. The owners 
defended their rights and spent the next six years in litigation--with 
our State Department doing little more than placing an occasional 
inquiry with the Government of Antigua as to how they were getting 
along.
  In June of 2007--a year ago--the Privy Council in London reviewed the 
case brought by the U.S. owners and, taking the lines of our own Kelo 
Supreme Court Decision one step further, decided that the Government of 
Antigua had the right of eminent domain to forcibly acquire the 
property, even when ``public purpose'' is applied to competing 
commercial interests. However, the Privy Council also confirmed the 
owner's right to fair and adequate compensation to be paid within a 
reasonable time. Now, a year later, the owners have once again had to 
return to the Courts, for an order compelling the Government to provide 
that compensation.
  By expropriating property belonging to American Citizens and by 
ignoring the rights of the owners to prompt and fair compensation, the 
Government of Antigua and Barbuda has breached the WTO International 
Trade and Investment Rules, as well as the Caribbean Basin Initiative 
and can no longer claim any rights accorded to preferred trading 
partners.
  I hope the government of Antigua and Barbuda understands the impact 
this may have on their treatment under the Caribbean Basin Initiative, 
and how this totalitarian seizure of private property will affect the 
future of foreign investment there.

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