(WMR)—The secessionist-in-spirit Conch Republic of the Florida Keys bid a parade farewell to its 25-year veteran Secretary General Sir Peter Anderson, who died last month after a battle with cancer. Sir Peter was a well-known and beloved presence in the Florida Keys and was the central figure in the Keys’ mission to gain respect. The idea of the Conch Republic caught on after the Keys declared its independence in 1982 to protest U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints established north of Key Largo which subjected Keys residents to intrusive identification checks.
Sir Peter Anderson: Gone but not forgotten
Anderson and his fellow “Conchs” also upset the CIA at the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami when they showed up with a Conch Republic hospitality suite to explain the plight of the self-declared republic to visiting hemispheric leaders. Not only did Anderson’s charm succeed in making a lifelong ally out of Florida Governor Lawton Chiles but the CIA personnel who originally harassed the Conch Republic visitors as dangerous “subversives” came around later to the Conch hospitality suite to apply for the republic’s novelty passports.
Sir Peter conducted his special type of diplomacy almost to the end. In April, he received a guest of the Cuban government, who was given special permission to travel to Key West on the occasion of Anderson’s efforts, which ultimately led to the restoration of the Key West to Havans air link, broken for 50 years.
Anderson gave the Cuban official a republic passport and flag. At Anderson’s remembrance ceremony, a message was read from the Cuban official that the Conch Republic flag was flying from a Cuban government building on August 2, in memory of Anderson. Key West mayor Craig Cates, who also serves as the Conch Republic’s prime minister, announced that August 2 would annually be celebrated as “Sir Peter Anderson Day.”
Sir Peter was admired by a number of “micronations,” which, except for a few like the Hutt River Province in Australia and Sealand in the North Sea, exist only in the imaginations of their creators. However, the Conch Republic motto of “We Seceded where others failed,” was an inspiration to many micronations, including the Kingdom of Solaria in Australia, which invested Peter as a “Knight of Freedom,” hence the “Sir” title.
Judging from the comments made at his remembrance ceremony, Sir Peter was part Ernest Hemingway, a beloved resident of Key West, with a touch of the fierce non-conformity of Hunter S. Thompson. Truly, a “Renaissance Man.”
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2014 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
