Title: Barbudans Resist Foreign Encroachment on Coastal Lands

For over two decades, the Pink Sands Beach Bar served as a social hub in Barbuda, a small Caribbean island. It attracted locals and occasional visitors alike. "It was a very warm place," recalls Miranda Beazer, the bar’s former proprietor. She describes a community gathering spot where residents played dominoes or unwound after Sunday church services. The establishment, named for its rose-hued sands, was integral to local life until Hurricane Irma struck in 2017. The storm forced the evacuation of all approximately 2,000 Barbudans to the neighboring island of Antigua. In the aftermath, both Miranda’s bar and her home were destroyed. "There's nobody that was unscathed... it was devastating. I cried for two weeks," she recalls.

Before she could reconstruct her business, her husband passed away. During this period, foreign investors offered substantial sums for her property, but she declined every offer. "It's not the money that I'm after," Miranda explains. "I actually want to retain my land." Subsequently, bulldozers arrived. Miranda alleges that foreign developers demolished the remnants of her bar. Since then, she has engaged in legal proceedings to reclaim access to the land she believes is hers. However, the situation is complicated by the property laws of Antigua and Barbuda.

Land tenure in Barbuda is collective. Individual citizens hold the right to occupy plots via lease applications but do not possess private ownership. Instead, land is communally held, granting citizens the right to be consulted and to vote on significant developments. This system originated after the abolition of slavery in 1834 and was formally recognized by the Antigua and Barbuda government in 2007 with the passage of the Barbuda Land Act.

Miranda asserts she holds a lease for 30 acres of coastline but currently accesses only eight acres. The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), a group of attorneys supporting her, claims the remaining land is being illegally occupied by foreign developers Murbee Resorts and Peace Love and Happiness (PLH). Murbee stated in a release that it is a legal leaseholder and "has not carried out construction activity on any land for which it does not have legal authority to do so, or at all." PLH maintained that it "does not and has never" occupied the land, asserting it has "strictly followed" all agreements since leasing land in February 2017.

Despite these claims, Miranda, alongside other Barbudan activists, remains determined to secure access. "If you were to ever come here and experience it yourself, you would really understand why we're so committed to this little piece of rock that we have," she says.

Miranda’s property represents the final stretch of Barbuda’s southern coast still open to residents. Like many beaches across the Caribbean where local populations lack property protections, it faces pressure from wealthy developers aiming to transform it into an exclusive tourist retreat. Just a few miles from Miranda’s plot, Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro and Australian billionaire James Packer are developing The Beach Club Barbuda under the brand Paradise Found. This 400-acre resort, expected to finish later this year, features the Nobu Beach Inn, a luxury hotel with 17 villas, and 25 beachfront residences.

Locals report they can no longer visit or even view the beach due to a recently constructed bypass road that isolates the complex. Plot prices at The Beach Club reportedly start at $7 million (£5.2 million). The resort’s website markets it as a "rare Island community on one of the Caribbean's last untouched shores." However, John Mussington, chair of the Barbuda Council, contends that this "community" exists only by violating the 2007 Land Act.

Source: BBC News Generated at: 2026-05-20 23:19:14 UTC