Road Town, British Virgin Islands
Two hundred Rastafarians gathered this week on the island of Tortola to thank the new government for letting them set foot in the British Virgin Islands. It was the first time the Caribbean Rastafari Organization had been allowed to hold its annual conference in the British Caribbean territory. For 23 years, immigration authorities refused to let in any Rastafarians or “hippies.” Rastafarians wear their hair in unruly dreadlocks, and regard smoking marijuana as a holy sacrament. Communications Minister Paul Wattley said many islanders viewed them as “untidy drug smokers” and criminals, and he urged them to dispel the image during their one-week stay.
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