US saw Barbados bid to save sugar industry as wasteful – cable

(Barbados Nation) Barbados’ efforts to keep the sugar industry alive were viewed by a former United States ambassador as a waste of money.

In fact, Ambassador Mary Kramer believed that the industry should have long been allowed to “die a peaceful death”.

Her position is contained in one of the purported diplomatic cables released by whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, which reveal Kramer’s strong criticism of the direction former Prime Minister Owen Arthur was taking the industry.

In a 2006 unclassified cable that reported on Arthur’s January 16 Budget, the ambassador said the only major imprudent expenditure in that presentation was a planned US$150 million investment into the island’s “unprofitable” sugar industry.