Talk:Saint Kitts and Nevis

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Surely we need to differentiate between St Kitts, the island and St Kitts and Nevis a political entity brought into existence in 1967 - 1971. Harry Potter

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[edit] Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board

I would like to announce the establishment of the Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board. Anyone with an interest in the Caribbean is welcome to join in. Guettarda 1 July 2005 04:10 (UTC)

[edit] Effects of Hurricane Georges

The article currently states: "In late September 1998, Hurricane Georges caused approximately $445 million in damages and limited GDP growth for the year." $445 million in damages to a nation of 40,000 people, and the only effect was "limited GDP growth"? (The article on Economy of Saint Kitts and Nevis describes it as a "sharp slowdown.") Isn't this something of an understatement? Could someone who knows more about the hurricane's effects rephrase and expand this part of the article? --LostLeviathan 04:34, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Constitution

The introductory paragraph makes no sense. Initially it describes the country as a "unitary island nation", and then it goes on to describe it as a "federated state". It can't be both!

Can someone who actually knows something about the politics of this country please sort this out.

Silverhelm 01:33, 25 May 2006 (UTC).

The Federation is governed by a constitution that is unique. Wikipedia has St. Kitts Nevis listed under unitary states, but if, by definition, unitary state means that subnational units are not constitutionally-embedded, then this may be a questionable categorization. Multiple levels of government do exist in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, and they are constitutionally embedded. The constitutionally-embedded subnational government of Nevis possesses formal and informal access in the decision making process of the national government. In addition, the administrative autonomy and fiscal discretion of the subunit of Nevis is constitutionally protected. The island of Nevis has a constitutionally protected right to seceed under section 113. A referendum on independence is held in Nevis only.(In 1997, Nevis legislators authorized a referendum on the issue of secession from St Kitts, but the referendum on Nevis independence failed to achieve the two-thirds majority required for the island to secede). However, the other subnational unit, the island of St. Kitts, does not have a constitutionally protected right to secede from the federation and has no subnational government separate from the national government. I'd suggest sticking with whatever label the federation has chosen for itself. Do they actually say "unitary nation" on the official website for the country? If not, then it should be changed here.

[edit] Internet

I've notice many web sites are based out of SK&N (especially gambling), it this purely nominal or does it have a positive effect on the local economy FancyPants 08:44, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

  • Historically Barbados was supposed to remain the lead country for the OECS (or "small islands" of the UK -- e.g. outside of the two giants Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago0.) As such- much of the British infrastructure was placed in Barbados on behalf of those small countries, leaving many of the surrounding countries as economies that mainly depended on agriculture, in the mid '90s the United States along with their agriculture companies in Central America sued at the WTO that it was a monopoly for the Caribbean to be granted special access to the EU market. The WTO ruled in favour of the USA and Central America and the 'Bannana and sugar trade" from the soo-called small islands collapsed. As retaliation the EU sued the Unitied States for using the Caribbean as it's exclusive offshore sector and likewise won.

All of the Caribbean islands then started to employ the Bermuda and Cayman Islands business model of lowering the taxation on companies being based there. This has led to many soo called gambling companies chosing Antigua and Barbuda (which is currently suing the USA) and even Saint Kitts and Nevis. The islands are only ~ 4-5 hours outside of the United States and the banks of the Caribbean region are all mostly subsidaries of Canada(Which under various NAFTA rules) means US authorities can rather easily get banking information from the Caribbean. This means that Caribbean banks have some features (in banking) and better regulation then many other places overseas. So for this reason Casinos which pull in a lot of money and have to pay out money (lots of money turnover) pick the Caribbean. They need somewhere that's easy to operate and has special banking services rooted in North America. The level of taxation in the USA is higher on companies than in the Caribbean where they usually only charge something like 1-2% in direct tax. But usually charge you almost all tax in (VAT)-tax which is pretty much a sales-tax on everything. Since these islands are mostly small e.g. under 100,000 total people the 2% tax off a few million can easily pay for most government services. So in other words yes these offshore companies do contribute a lot to these economies. This offshore sector thing was created on the fly because of the dismantaling of all trade agreements these islands had with then developed countries. CaribDigita 20:49, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nationality

What is the term for someone from Saint Kitts and Nevis?FreshFruitsRule 14:06, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

The correct is Kittitians ("Kit-tish-an"), or Nevisians("Nee-vee-sion"), so say my friends from both isles and also as corroborated on ( http://www.gov.kn/default.asp?PageIdentifier=59#message )
3rd-paragraph under the header "Message from the St Kitts-Nevis Returning Nationals Association". CaribDigita 20:28, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] large prison population?

"The U.S. incarceration rate of 737 per 100,000 people in the highest, followed by 611 in Russia and 547 for St. Kitts and Nevis. In contrast, the incarceration rates in many Western industrial nations range around 100 per 100,000 people." http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061209/ts_nm/usa_prisoners_dc Why would it be so high? Шизомби 18:16, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed WikiProject

There is now a proposed WikiProject for the Caribbean area, including Saint Kitts and Nevis, at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Caribbean. Interested parties should add their names there so we can determine if there is enough interest to start such a project in earnest. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 17:03, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Does anyone know the act/amendment in 1987-1988 that had officially changed "St. Christopher" to "St. Kitts"?

Does anyone remember the exact act or amendment number that supposedly officially changed the name "St. Christopher" to "St. Kitts" in 1988 I think it was ?

I think this same act or amendment was the instrument that officially changed the country's name from "St. Christopher and Nevis" at the UN[] and the Commonwealth of Nations etc. instead to being listed as "St. Kitts and Nevis". Supposedly it superceded the 1983 constitution of independence. From what I researched so far, the United Nations gives the date of December 28th, 1986 when the official name listed with that organisation was changed from Saint Christopher and Nevis to Saint Kitts and Nevis. CaribDigita 22:08, 12 August 2007 (UTC)