These Google translations are horrible and miss some points from the French version of the letter (not to mention the aggressive blue "copy & paste" from a smartphone which is rather unpleasant to read on a larger computer screen).
French version:
https://www.journaldesaintbarth.com...a-la-ministre-des-outre-mer-202006031457.html
The letter from Mr. Bruno Magras is excellent. I think it was a very good idea to shoot straight to the top! Writing to the Ministre des Outre-Mer was the best move, as, clearly the local Préfets are not acting quickly enough to reopen the borders. It also shows the position of the elected officials regarding the reopening of the borders, and the urgency to save the local economy.
The problem is: most likely the French Government will want to reopen the borders of all French Caribbean islands at the same time, with no special treatment for one specific island. The islands have strong ties with large movements of people between them. It would make little sense to have different entry rules for each island (and rather complicated to implement), especially considering the airports of entry. Guadeloupe has approximately 395,000 residents, Martinique 375,000 residents, St Martin (French side) 35,000 residents and St. Barth 10,000 residents. Even if St. Barth is ready for the reopening, unfortunately, its population only accounts for
1,2 % in the whole French Caribbean. Not sure if Macron's administration will want to grant special privileges to such a small representation of the population. But who knows?
What is for sure though, is that the current system is totally disproportionate compared to the mainland. Borders closed to visitors, mandatory quarantine and tests for all new arrivals (including residents returning home), complicated administrative forms (which change every week), etc.... It really is discriminatory. Many local students in France (and Canada) currently have major issues in returning home. And not only them. More than ever, being on an island means being isolated and unreachable.
Hopefully, the letter will have some impact and kick the French authorities in the bud a little (we've got to admit, Mr. Bruno Magras is very good at this).