ST. VINCENT-POLITICS-Foreign Minister renounces American citizenship

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC — Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Commerce and Information Technology, Camillo Gonsalves, has defended his right to be appointed as a legislator in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), insisting that he has always been a national of the country. The minister, the eldest son of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, was born in Philadelphia in 1972. In an “Open Letter” published here, Gonsalves citing the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Constitution, said that he automatically became a Vincentian at the moment of his birth and that while his birth in the United States does not disqualify him from holding his senatorial post, he had quietly renounced his American citizenship ahead of his appointment as a legislator on September 16, 2013.