St. Barths Breaks Away from Guadeloupe
St. Barths and a neighboring Caribbean island St. Martin officially gained partial political and financial autonomy from Guadeloupe. The French government now will allow these two islands to create and modify laws regarding issues such as local taxes, tourism, and transportation.
St. Barths gained additional power over housing, construction, and environmental & energy affairs, whereas St. Martin will have to wait until 2012 for jurisdiction over these matters.
This new status was approved by the 35,000 people living on St. Martin and the 7,000 people on St. Barth’s in a 2003 referendum. Both of these islands are still French territories, but they are no longer dependent upon the overseas French department Guadeloupe.
