The U.S. and Britain forcibly deported Diego Garcia’s entire population with no resettlement aid

Evidence

Between 1968 and 1973, the two governments forcibly removed Diego Garcia’s entire indigenous population, deporting them to the western Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and the Seychelles, twelve hundred miles from their homeland. … The exiled Chagossians received no resettlement assistance. Decades after their expulsion, they generally remain the poorest of the poor in Mauritius and the Seychelles, struggling to survive in places that outsiders know as exotic tourist and honeymoon destinations. The U.S. military, having claimed the Chagossians’ former home, has nicknamed Diego Garcia “the Footprint of Freedom.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 161

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Connects to history of coerced base-land acquisition elsewhere, e.g., Okinawa and other Pacific displacement discussed in earlier chapters.

Related

• The U.S. forcibly deported an entire indigenous population to build a military base (similarity 0.92)
• U.S. and British forces deported Chagossians under conditions compared to slave ships. (similarity 0.82)
• Deported Chagossians were left destitute on Mauritius docks (similarity 0.81)
• A key U.S. official called the Chagossian expulsion inexcusably inhuman. (similarity 0.80)
• U.S. Navy Seabees assisted in deporting the Chagossians under slave-ship conditions (similarity 0.80)
• The Chagossian eviction was never militarily necessary and cheap to remedy. (similarity 0.80)
• The official who orchestrated the Chagossian eviction later admitted it was militarily unnecessary (similarity 0.80)
• Chagossians formed a distinct society with their own culture and language. (similarity 0.80)
• U.S. Seabees helped deport Chagossians in shipboard conditions compared to slave ships. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• U.S. officials planned Diego Garcia as a base with no local population #corroborates (0.75) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 160