User talk:DiegoGus

This paragraph relates to the discussion on Diego Garcia, of the Chagos Archipelago. I'm not sure how to attach it to that ongoing discussion?? Help!

DiegoGus (talk) 19:36, 21 September 2013 (UTC) DiegoGus 14:30 {CT} 21 September 2013

"Indigenous"
I have a big problem with the term "indigenous, with respect to the inhabitants of Diego Garcia. I lived on Diego from November of 1968 until about March of 1970. What I learned about the island during that time is that a coconut plantation owner hired workers from Mauritius to come work on the plantation under contract. Over the years, these workers for the most part renewed their contracts about every two years. At some point the ownership of the plantation passed to Mr. Maurice Molinie(sp)of Seychelles. He found it easier to hire workers from Mombasa, Africa region than Mauritius, and did so. Eventually, Mauritius found it difficult to maintain administration of the iland, since it was "owned" by Mr. Molinie, and serviced through Seychelles. So Mauritius ceded the island to Seychelles. At that time, the workers who had originally came from Mauritius were given the option of free passage back to Mauritius. I don't know how many took that option. So at that point, the island contained adminstrative personnel from Seychelles, some workers such as mechanic, store keeper, and plantation laborers from Seychelles; some plantation workers from Mobasa by way of Seychelles, and some plantation laborers from Mauritius who had not taken the option to return to their native Maurtius. All of these inhabitants were under contract and were not "indigenous". Fast forward a few years and Mr. Molinie and the Seychelles Government agreed to sell the island to BIOT. There was an understanding that the plantation would eventually shut down and all personnel removed from the island. This did in fact take place and the personnel were returned to either Mauritius or Seychelles,0r Mombasa, Kenya, where I am sure they held legal citizenship. The whole drive to get "citizenship" for these folks on Diego Garcia is purely politically and financially driven, in my opinion. I think most of this discussion would also apply to all of the islands in the Chagos Archipelago, but I'm not sure. DiegoGus (talk) 19:36, 21 September 2013 (UTC) [{User:DiegoGus, yahugus@yahoo.com}]14:32, 21 September 2013 {CT}