The group buys the Caribbean island and makes it their country with the ‘secret police’ – World News

Coffee Caye is a 1.2-acre uninhabited tropical paradise off the coast of Belize and is better known today as the Principality of Islandia.

A group that bought a Caribbean island have now established their own country, complete with a national flag, anthem, government and a “secret police force”.

Coffee Caye is a 1.2-acre uninhabited tropical paradise off the coast of Belize and is better known today as the Principality of Islandia.

The island is shaped a bit like a coffee bean and can be reached on foot in just a few minutes. But its small size did not prevent the micronation from declaring independence.

In 2018, the Let’s Buy an Island project was started with the aim of crowdfunding an island and by December 2019 the project had raised more than £190,000.

The team chose Coffee Caye, just a 15-minute boat ride from Belize City, and collected £137,000 plus tax.

Lets Buy an Island co-founder Marshall Mayer told CNN : “Who wouldn’t want to buy an island?

“The feeling of being on an island that you’ve invested in and owned, it’s a great feeling.”

The idea of ​​Islandia was actually born 15 years ago when co-founder and CEO Gareth Johnson bought the domain letbuyanisland.com, thinking the idea sounded funny. Daily Star newspaper reported.

After researching it for many years, the team realized that buying an island was much more realistic than they initially imagined.

Investors can currently buy shares in Islandia for £2,480, with each shareholder entitled to one vote in the state’s democracy.

249 people also bought citizenship for just £15 without actually becoming an investor.

Johnson said CNN : “Who hasn’t dreamed of making their own country?”

“Especially in a post-Trump, post-Brexit, Covid world. If a bunch of ordinary people can make this work, maybe it can be a good motivator.”

Islandia now has its own flag, new passport, national anthem, and investor-elected government.

Johnson even joked that he had a special role as “Chief of the Secret Police”.

This year marks the island’s first cruise, with Mayer taking a group of investors and tourists on a camping trip.

Those in the future will have to abide by some special rules such as ‘no single use plastic’, although in reality it is still under Belize’s jurisdiction.

Simply put, a micronation is an entity whose members claim to be a sovereign state but are not recognized by world governments or major international organizations.

The claims were so trivial that they were mostly ignored by the surrounding nations.

One of the most notable examples is the Principality of Sealand, a North Sea air defense platform built during World War II and captured by a pirate radio group in 1967.

Sealand continued to assert its status as a nation by issuing its own coins and stamps.

The Free Republic of Liberland was established in 2015, located between Croatia and Serbia. Border disputes between countries means that some land there is disputed by both or both parties.

Liberland has even established official relations with Somaliland, a de facto country in the Horn of Africa.