“The nation owes a debt to French Polynesia. This debt is the fact that it hosted nuclear tests, particularly those between 1966 and 1974”. This was announced by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, addressing Polynesian officials on the last day of his state visit to the Pacific archipelago. Although he did not utter words of apology as requested by the victims’ associations and the independence leader Oscar Temaru, that on 17 July they organized a demonstration in Papeete to ask France to take responsibility for the disasters caused by nuclear tests, Macron called for “truth and transparency” and better compensation for the families of the victims.
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