Neville Cenac

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Neville Cenac is a politician in Saint Lucia. He is best known for serving as the country's foreign minister from 1987 to 1992.

Family

Cenac was the brother of the late Winston Cenac, who served as prime minister of Saint Lucia for eight months from 1981 to 1982.[1]

Opposition parliamentarian

Cenac was the leader of the opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party in December 1982, during a constitutional dispute over the status of Governor-General Boswell Williams. John Compton, the serving prime minister and a member of the governing United Workers Party, had taken steps to have Williams unseated. In response, Cenac wrote a letter to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the monarch of Saint Lucia, asking her to disregard Compton's actions.[2] The dispute ended when Williams resigned on December 13, 1982.

Cenac was returned as a Labour Party member of the Saint Lucian parliament during the country's two successive elections in April 1987.[3]

The website of the Saint Lucia Labour Party indicates that Cenac was elected for the Laborie constituency in two elections as well as representing the party at the municipal level in Castries.[4]

Cabinet minister

Cenac changed his political affiliation on June 2, 1987, joining the United Workers Party group in parliament and becoming the country's foreign minister. When asked why he changed sides, Cenac simply responded, "broken promises." The change increased the Workers Party's legislative majority from one vote (9-8) to three votes (10-7).[5]

Cenac spoke before the United Nations General Assembly in October 1987, saying that Saint Lucia was considering political union with other small Caribbean nations. He argued that quality of life issues could be improved if the region no longer had to support "seven governors-general, seven prime ministers, [and] 60 ministers for a total population for about 500,000." Cenac also accused Guatemala of threatening the sovereignty of Belize.[6]

In August 1989, Cenac and other Caribbean foreign ministers met with Haitian general Prosper Avril on the subject of future elections in the country.[7]

Cenac served as foreign minister until 1992. He was later president of the Senate of Saint Lucia.

References

  1. ↑ Guy Ellis, "Winston Cenac, former prime minister of St. Lucia, dies," Associated Press Newswires, 23 September 2004, 20:50.
  2. ↑ "The Financial Times reports that a constitutional crisis is likely to develop in St Lucia following the St Lucian Government's attempt to have the current governor-general, Mr Boswell Williams, removed," Financial Times, 8 December 1982, p. 4.
  3. ↑ "OPPOSITION PARLIAMENTARIAN BECOMES NEW FOREIGN MINISTER," Reuters News, 2 June 1987.
  4. ↑ Leaders: Neville Cenac, Saint Lucia Labour Party, accessed 24 June 2011. A letter written by Cenac to the Saint Lucia Star, entitled "History refutes Owen Arthur’s comments" and published on 24 January 2011, indicates that he was the only member of the Labour Party elected to the nine-member Castries city council in 1972.
  5. ↑ "OPPOSITION PARLIAMENTARIAN BECOMES NEW FOREIGN MINISTER," Reuters News, 2 June 1987; "Defecting opposition member made Foreign Minister," BBC News, 3 June 1987; "Mr Neville Cenac, an opposition Labour member of parliament in St Lucia, has defected to the government benches at the opening of the new session of parliament," Financial Times, 9 June 1987, p. 24; "Men and Matters: Serendipity," Financial Times, 9 June 1987, p. 24.
  6. ↑ "SAINT LUCIA TELLS U.N. OF MOVES TOWARD CARIBBEAN UNION," Reuters News, 8 October 1987.
  7. ↑ Edwige Balutansky, "CARIBBEAN MINISTERS SEE POSSIBLE HAITI ELECTIONS IN 1990," Reuters News, 18 August 1999.
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