'I only shook my trigger finger to warn Conch Charters'- Edmund G. Maduro
![“We regret that Conch Charters wanting to do its own laundry in house, instead of using your services, has escalated to the point it reached today [November 18 when the employees were allegedly threatened],” Conch Charters wrote to Mr Maduro. Photo: VINO](https://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/cache/images/800x_c_conch.jpg)
“I am being discriminated against right now. I made certain statements at a certain place [on November 18, 2015] and someone interpreted them to be a threat and they took the threat to the police station,” he said.
“All I was saying to those people was stop discriminating against our people because you are creating a bad image in the BVI and it could lead to serious crimes,” said Maduro, speaking on Thursday evening December 10, 2015 on his EGM Show heard on ZROD 103.7 FM.
“They said I threatened them. But what is even worse is that the local press refused to carry my side of the story,” said Maduro. “None of them carried my side of the story. I am wondering whether it is because it was a black man’s story.”
Mr Maduro told Virgin Islands News Online that when he called the media houses to ask them why they didn’t carry the story “they started talking all sorts of nonsense.”
“I am being discriminated against in this country,” he said, adding that even local captains have alleged racial discrimination from working on some pleasure boats.
“I am not saying that Conch Charters is one of the companies that is doing it. But I am saying from what is happening in the British Virgin Islands, if it continues to happen we will be creating a South Africa here in the British Virgin Islands. And eventually these black skinned people in the [territory] would have to get up and fight for their rights,” he alleged.
The fallout
The disagreement between Maduro and Conch Charters stemmed from the fact that the company expressed to him that it would provide its own laundry services and as a result would no longer require the services that he provided.
“We regret that Conch Charters wanting to do its own laundry in house, instead of using your services, has escalated to the point it reached today [November 18 when the employees were allegedly threatened],” Conch Charters wrote to Mr Maduro.
He said that apart from being disappointed and hurt over his unwritten contract being terminated by Conch Charters, Mr Maduro said he was upset that the company is allegedly illegally trying to take more than one business under its umbrella, which he said would hurt local businesses.
The radio talk show host said he wrote to Governor John S. Duncan OBE, Premier Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith and Labour Minister Dr The Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering but said he had not even received a letter of acknowledgement from them.
Peter J. Twist of Conch Charters had told Virgin Islands News Online that all of the allegations made against the company by Mr Maduro were "not entirely true." He however acknowledged that Conch Charters Ltd had written to Mr Maduro.
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20 Responses to “'I only shook my trigger finger to warn Conch Charters'- Edmund G. Maduro”
Having studied south African history, the little things chipping away at one's freedom. I have to agree with Mr Maduro. BVIslanders are in trouble as it is so we better take heed. We are ostracizing our own while they look out for each other.