Vere Bird

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Sir Vere Cornwall Bird (December 7, 1910, St John's, Antigua–June 28, 1999, St John's) was the first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. His son, Lester Bird, succeeded him as Prime Minister. In 1994 he was declared a national hero.

Bird was unique from other West Indian politicians, lacking in any formal education except primary schooling. He worked in the Salvation Army for 2 years interspersing his interests in trade unionism and politics. In 1943, he became the president of the Antigua Trades and Labour Union. He achieved national acclaim politically for the first time when he was elected to the colonial legislature in 1945. He formed the Antigua Labour Party and became the first and only chief minister, first and last premier, and first prime minister from 1981 to 1994. His resignation was due to failing health and internal issues within the government.

In 1985 Antigua's international airport was renamed VC Bird International Airport in his honour.

[edit] Criticism and praise

The biggest criticism from the public of Antigua is the corruption and cronyism within the Labour Party and many claim the government is essentially a "family business" with the continuance of the Bird dynasty in control of political power as unquestioned.^{[citation needed]} Bird's supporters reject these accusations and say that his actions were justified in order to throw off the institution of colonial sugar planters and the British colonial overlords. The Antiguan author Jamaica Kincaid compared the Bird government to the François Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti in her politically charged narrative A Small Place.