The opposition St Lucia Labor Party has taken issue with claims by Minister for National Security, Hermangild Francis about the IMPACS report led to sanctions by the US. The SLP says implying that it was the IMPACS Report that triggered sanctions by the United States is misleading, false and wrong. The United States State Department in its Country Report on Saint Lucia in 2011, reported among other things what it described as “reports of unlawful police killings.” It cited suggestions that there were “12 potentially unlawful fatal police shootings during the year.” The SLP notes, it is as a direct result of that Country Report that the “Leahy Law” was applied to Saint Lucia. The party clarifies that it was because of the imposition of the sanctions that the former SLP Government commissioned the IMPACS Report as a first step in addressing the concerns of the United States. The party says there can be no excuse for Francis’ comments except they were designed to remove blame from the then United Workers Party Government.
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