Martinique, Caribbean Sea Island, although legally a region of France, in these times the coronavirus is showing the traditional colonial relationship between the metropolis and the remote territories. “There is no shortage of reasons to criminally denounce the public authorities, the lack of foresight, the lack of interest and the slowness of Paris not to spread the coronavirus in Martinique,” they say.

The first to seek punishment has been the MIR group, which is in an unknown location. Its mission is to denounce the “racist and colonial attitude” of the French State towards its overseas territories. On 21 March, she filed a complaint in court against the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzy, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Emmanuel Macron himself.

The environmental group Assaupamar, for its part, has also prepared one of its complaints. In this case, the Director-General for Health in France and his replacement in Martinique have been called into question. To this end, they have organized a group of lawyers and have pointed out that the family of the first person killed by the coronavirus is also considering the possibility of taking legal action.

Tourism virus

It's a couple that goes hand in hand on this Caribbean island. In February, when they entered the first phase of the epidemic on the island, they reported that the arrival of aircraft and vessels loaded with tourists was so common.

The newspaper Liberation has spoken with the protagonists of this article, which has a large team. Movement President Garcin Malsa told the newspaper that "as soon as we realized the seriousness of the virus, we did our best to ensure that tourist cruises moved elsewhere. But until March 15, the authorities have not interrupted the links.”

Rosalie Gaschette, Deputy President of Assaupamar, has been outraged about this: "The citizens tried to force the public authorities to take precautions against the arrival of cruise passengers, even in the case of Italian tourists. The day before the ban, a boat continued to disembark passengers, with infected people on board the ship. This issue has been presented as a political debate, but it appears to be a serious crime," he added.

First victim

The first victim of the virus, an 84-year-old woman, died on 20 March. He was infected by his daughter when he came to Martinique on a cruise to visit her. The groups that have filed the complaint say that the cases of pollution, mainly by cruise passengers, appeared in early March of this year.

Stanislas Cazelles is the newly appointed prefect of Martinique. He took office on 24 February and came directly to the island from Paris, where he was Emmanuel Macron’s foreign advisor. "The previous prefect was sent to Corsica, where his first decision was to ban the arrival of cruises," ironically says Garcin Malsa.