Boggy Peak, Antigua's highest point has a new name.The 1,300-foot mountain has been officially renamed Mount Obama in honour of the America's first Black President.
U.S. officials joined Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, other officials and American celebrities, including actress Angela Basset, Tuesday for the event to mark Obama's 48th birthday.
Not everybody in Antigua is happy with the change.
But Spencer defended his position saying it is appropriate to do it to mark Obama's accomplishment.
"This great political achievement by Barack Obama resonated with me in a way that I felt compelled to do something symbolic and inspiring... As an emancipated people linked through our common ancestral heritage and history of dehumanising enslavement, we need to at all times celebrate our heroes and leaders who triumph," Spencer told the small crowd attending the event.
Charge d'Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Barbados, Brent Hardt, expressed appreciation on behalf of the president.
"An American president receives many gifts, awards and honours in the course of his or her presidency, but I can say with no exaggeration that it is not every day that a president has a mountain named after him," he said.
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