Strikes to hit French Guiana as tensions paralyze territory
PARIS — French Guiana faced a nationwide strike Monday over crime and economic difficulties, amid protests that have paralyzed the French territory in South America, halted flights and a rocket launch and prompted a U.S. travel warning.
As tensions mounted, Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced plans to send a high-level ministerial mission before week’s end aimed at signing a pact addressing anger over high crime, the cost of living and the quality of health care and other social services. Protests have already blocked roads to neighbouring Brazil and Suriname, and shuttered many businesses and schools.
The French government has already sent an emergency mission to try to quell tensions in the territory of a quarter-million people before Monday’s general strike by some 27 unions, expected to hit public services across Guiana. However, the Collective of 500 Brothers, the group largely behind the protests, has been demanding that the French government send a minister to negotiate with them.
The unrest is a reminder of the deep economic, social and racial divides between France’s mainland and former colonies from the Caribbean to the South Pacific that remain French today. Some territories use the euro currency, and they all depend heavily on imported goods and policy decisions made in Paris.