Robert Milton Cato

Who is Robert Milton Cato?

Robert Milton Cato was a Vincentian lawyer and politician who became the first Premier and later the first Prime Minister of an independent Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Born on the island, he trained as a barrister in Britain before returning home to practice law and enter politics, founding the St. Vincent Labour Party in 1955. He served as Chief Minister and then Premier of the colony through the 1960s and 1970s, leading negotiations with the United Kingdom that culminated in full independence on 27 October 1979, when he became the nation's first Prime Minister. His government oversaw the founding institutions of the new state, including its constitution, judiciary, and public services, while navigating the economic challenges facing a small island nation dependent on agriculture and, increasingly, tourism. He was voted out of office in 1984 after roughly fifteen years leading the government, and he continued to be regarded as a founding statesman of the nation until his death in 1997. He was posthumously declared the country's second National Hero in recognition of his role in leading Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to nationhood.

Sources: Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, official independence history (1979) · Caribbean Elections, biography of Robert Milton Cato · Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: History"