ROSIE DOUGLAS
DOMINICA PM ROSIE DOUGLAS DIES AT 58
Trinidad Guardian
October 2, 2000
Page 1
ROSEAU - Dominica's flamboyant and at times controversial Prime Minister, Roosevelt (Rosie) Douglas, died at his home in the town of Portsmouth yesterday morning.
State radio said there had been unconfirmed reports the 58-year-old political scientist had complained about stomach pains on Saturday, but the cause of his death remained unclear yesterday.
Douglas, who took over as Prime Minister of this 750-square-kilometre mountainous Caribbean island after a January 31, 2000 general election, died at his two-storey house on Pembroke Street, in the island's second town.
Douglas' 81-year-old mother said her son jogged in the mornings and, as far as she was aware, was in good health.
Mrs. Douglas, who lived yards from her son's home, said she had to be given medical assistance after visiting his home and seeing the body on the floor.
People of Portsmouth, 30 miles north of capital Roseau, most of whom generally refer to their Prime Minister as "Rosie," gathered in the streets yesterday morning, in a sombre mood.
Douglas died hours after returning home from a series of visits to countries, including Australia (for the Olympic Games).
Pierre Charles, deputy political leader of Douglas' coalition government, said the Prime minister had telephoned him yesterday morning, but he was in the shower and unable to take the call.
He said that after returning from church he found out Douglas had died.
"It is a great shock for us, for myself, my family (and) the Labour Party," he told the Caribbean News Agency (Cana).
Douglas was the second son of 15 children (six boys and nine girls) of the late politician/agriculturalist, RBD Douglas, and Burnadette Douglas.
Douglas was a former militant Black Power advocate during the turbulent politics of the 1970s. He was one of the students jailed in Canada for some three years in connection with disturbances at Sir George Williams University.
He won his first seat in Parliament in 1985 and suffered his first elections defeat in 1990. However, he was re-elected n a 1992 by-election in Portsmouth, a seat previously held by his brother Michael, who died of cancer.
Douglas, who went on to become leader of the Dominica Labour Party a year later, lost the 1995 general election, and was Opposition Leader in Parliament.
He was sworn in as Prime Minister in February after he led his DLP to its first electoral victory since its loss of power in 1980 to the Dominica Freedom Party, under Prime Minister Dame Eugenia Charles.
The DLP won ten of the 21 parliamentary seats and had to enter into a coalition with the Freedom Party (which had secured only two seats) to oust the United Workers Party of ex-Prime Minister Edison James.
Douglas, the fifth prime Minister of Dominica, spent most of his time since coming to power trying to raise development finance for Dominica and attract new investments.
His quest for such aid took him to countries such as France, Canada and Britain and traditional allies such as Libya.
- (Cana)
CARIBBEAN SHOCKED BY DOUGLAS' DEATH
Trinidad Guardian
October 2, 2000
Page 9
BRIDGETOWN - The sudden death at home early yesterday morning of Prime Minister Rosie Douglas has left Dominicans and the governments and people of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in a state of shock.
The 58-year-old political scientist, who became Prime Minister of Dominica in February this year after labouring in the wilderness of Opposition politics for the past two decades, is reported to have died from a massive heart attack.
Confirmation of his death first came from his Public Relations Officer, Cecil Joseph, and subsequently from the governing Dominica Labour Party's Deputy Leader, Pierre Charles, who normally acts as Prime Minister when Douglas is out of the country.
The flamboyant and often controversial Douglas, who has been traveling widely abroad ever since becoming Prime Minister, had returned to Dominica from overseas on Saturday.
Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Edwin Carrington, in reacting to the news of Douglas' death, told Cana:
"This is shocking news. It is very sad indeed. Prime Minister Douglas always appeared to be in such good health and joyful, even at times of disagreements," he said.
Carrington said he did not see Douglas among the Caricom Heads of Government who had gathered in Montego Bay for a meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien that had to be cancelled because of the death of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
"This is all so sudden, reminding us, irrespective of who we are, of our mortality."
"We hardly had time to assess his contributions to Caricom since becoming Prime Minister."
"Perhaps in tribute to him the Governments may wish to expedite the arrangements for free movement of skilled personnel in the Community for which he had been assigned lead responsibility when we met last March in St Kitts and Nevis," Carrington said.
Douglas, the fifth Prime Minister of Dominica, the banana and tourism country of the chain of Windward islands since independence in November 1978, first entered parliament in 1985 as representative for the home-based Portsmouth constituency that was formerly held by his late elder brother, Michael Douglas.
A former militant Black Power advocate during the turbulent politics of the 1970s, "Rosie," as he was popularly known in and out of his native Dominica, was among students jailed in Canada for some three years in connection with disturbances at Sir George Williams University.
His close links with left wing and communist parties and with Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, helped to fuel the controversy that so often surrounded his politics at home and his journeys and activities across the region.
On January 31 this year, he led his Dominica Labour Party into its first electoral victory since its loss of power in 1980 to the Freedom Party, then led by now former Prime Minister Eugenia Charles.
The DLP won 10 of the 21 parliamentary seats and had to enter into a coalition with the Freedom Party, which had secured only two seats, while the former governing United Workers party of ex-Prime Minister Edison James was left to be the new parliamentary opposition with the remaining nine seats.
But Douglas, anxious to have a more direct control of his Government, recently successfully manoeuvered a first-time parliamentarian of the UWP, Loreen Bannis-Roberts, to defect to his DLP-led administration, resulting in a 13-8 parliamentary majority.
The DLP's Deputy Leader and current Minister of Communications will act as Prime Minister while arrangements proceed for a state funeral for Douglas, undoubtedly the most charismatic political figure in Dominica politics over the past 20 years.
-(Cana)
CONDOLENCES POUR INTO DOMINICA
Trinidad Guardian
October 2, 2000
Page 9
ROSEAU - Condolences poured into Dominica yesterday following the death of Prime Minister Rosie Douglas, who was found dead at his home in the town of Portsmouth.
State radio said there had been unconfirmed reports the 58-year-old political scientist had complained about stomach pains on Saturday.
Douglas died hours after returning home from a series of visits to countries, including Australia for the Olympic Games.
Chairman of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Sir James Mitchell, said yesterday it was "a real pity that the sudden death of Prime Minister Rosie Douglas of Dominica has robbed us of an opportunity to know of the contributions he could have made to the region."
Prime Minister Mitchell said: "The whole Community will be shocked by Douglas' death.
"Regrettably, we have little by which to determine what his contributions would have been to the region's integration movement. He attended a few of our meetings. St Vincent and the Grenadines' acting Prime Minister, Arnhim Eustace, who attended university in Canada with Douglas said it was only on Saturday night he was speaking about Douglas while discussing the death of the former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau.
"During the mid-60s, Pierre Trudeau used to come to the campus. He and Rosie were quite good friends, that is before he joined the Liberal party and had his meteoric rise to Prime Minister of Canada; and hearing that Trudeau had died a few days before, that is what triggered the discussion about Rosie, just yesterday," Eustace said.
He found it ironic their deaths were just days apart.
"Rosie was someone who I have known for about 36 years and we have maintained contact with one another over those years. I spoke with him several times since he became Prime Minister and I've also attended a number of meetings with him during that period and we have continued the relationship we have had all these years," Eustace added.
Leader of the Opposition Unity Labour Party (ULP), Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, a good friend of Douglas, said he struggled on behalf of Caribbean people "to defend our sovereignty and independence, to promote African liberation and to advance solidarity between all oppressed peoples of the world, including, and more particularly, those in the Third World."
- (Cana)
PATTERSON MOURNS 'A BROTHER'
Trinidad Guardian
October 2, 2000
Page 9
KINGSTON - Jamaica's Prime Minister, Percival Patterson, said yesterday news of the death of Dominican leader Rosie Douglas "was received with a sense of shock and virtual total disbelief."
"Jamaica certainly mourns his passing," Patterson told Cana. "He was very well known to us, to me personally. In fact, I first met Rosie Douglas when he was a student activist in Montreal at the Sir George University."
"And we developed a contact thereafter which was not confined to political office."
"We really mourn the passing of a brother who was cut down at the start of a period when so much was expected of him, as he tried to spearhead the social and economic development of the people of Dominica."
-(Cana)