Ann Peters
{{Short description|Grenadian politician}}
{{about|the Grenadian politician|the German-Swiss jurist|Anne Peters}}
Ann Peters is a Grenadian politician who previously served as health minister. A nurse by training, Peters has also served as a senator for the National Democratic Congress party and as president of the Grenada Nurses Association.
Biography
Born in Grenada, Peters trained as a nurse at the University of Guyana. She worked as a nursing teacher, eventually becoming president of the Grenada Nurses Association.{{Cite web|date=2016-10-12|title=Final Hours at Fort Rupert|url=https://grenadarevo.com/interview-ann-peters/|access-date=2020-09-25|website=The Grenada Revo|language=en-US}}
She was in this role during the 1983 coup and subsequent U.S. invasion of Grenada. Peters and her fellow nurses joined other protesters in storming the military barracks to free the leftist prime minister Maurice Bishop, and she was shot and badly injured during his opponents' attack on the fort.{{Cite web|last=Miami Herald|date=2013-10-26|title=Healing still hard to come by 30 years after Grenada invasion|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/nation-world/world/article/Healing-still-hard-to-come-by-30-years-after-4927335.php|access-date=2020-09-25|website=Houston Chronicle|language=en-US}} She was with Bishop during his final hours before he was killed on Oct. 19, though she survived the executions herself.{{Cite web|date=2013-10-19|title=The Death of Grenada's Revolution|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03fh1zg|access-date=2020-09-25|website=BBC Radio 4}}
After 1983, Peters continued to work in health care, running the Legal Aid and Counseling Clinic{{Cite web|last=Fineman|first=Mark|date=2001-04-17|title=A Man of the Cloth in the Dock|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-17-mn-51948-story.html|access-date=2020-09-25|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} and serving as chair of Grenada's National AIDS Council.{{Cite web|last=Straker|first=Linda|date=2009-04-26|title=Jamaican rapper denied permit for Grenada concert|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/sdut-cb-grenada-rapper-barred-042609-2009apr26-story.html|access-date=2020-09-25|website=New York Daily News}}
She was appointed to Grenada's Senate by Prime Minister Nicholas Brathwaite in the 1990s, serving several terms as a member of the National Democratic Congress party.{{Cite web|date=2012-11-09|title=Grenada registered nurses want appointment, more money|url=https://www.dominicavibes.dm/news-75083/|access-date=2020-09-25|website=Dominica Vibes News|language=en-US}} She served as the party's public relations officer from 2009 until 2010, when she stepped down amid party infighting.{{Cite news|date=2010-04-24|title=Minister of health in Grenada Ann Peters|work=The New Today|url=http://marianna-ivanova.com/ref-country-grd.php}}
Peters became health minister in 2009 amid a cabinet reshuffle under Prime Minister Tillman Thomas.{{Cite web|date=2009-07-30|title=Grenada PM announces Cabinet Changes|url=https://spiceislander.com/?p=1150|access-date=2020-09-25|website=Spice Islander|language=en-US}} She oversaw the provision of health services in Grenada and represented the country in international bodies until the end of her term in 2013.{{Cite web|date=2012-09-17|title=Statement by Senator the Honourable Ann Peters, Minister of Health of Grenada, on the Occasion of the Inauguration of the 28th Pan American Sanitary Conference, 64th Session of the Regional Committee of WHO for the Americas|url=https://iris.paho.org/bitstream/handle/10665.2/34224/CSP28-DIV-6-e.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|website=Pan American Health Organization}}{{Cite book |title=Worldwide government directory, with inter-governmental organizations : nations, intergovernmental organizations.|isbn=978-1-4522-9937-2|year=2013 |location=Los Angeles|oclc=868376655|last1=Press |first1=C. Q. }}{{Cite book|title=The Statesman's Yearbook : The politics, cultures and economies of the world. 2013|last=Turner |first= Barry |year=2013|isbn=978-1-349-59541-9|location=Basingstoke|oclc=968705787}}
Since leaving the Senate, Peters has run La Boucan Creative Center, an education center.{{Cite web|date=2019-12-10|title=Cuban nurses to temporarily fill vacancies|url=https://www.nowgrenada.com/2019/12/cuban-nurses-to-temporarily-fill-vacancies/|access-date=2020-09-25|website=NOW Grenada|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|date=2019-12-13|title=Minister Steele holds his ground|url=https://www.thenewtodaygrenada.com/local-news/minister-steele-holds-his-ground/|access-date=2020-09-25|website=The New Today|language=en-US}}
Peters is also a singer and dancer, serving as choreographer for the National Performing Arts Company of Grenada from 1979 to 1983. She and her husband, the playwright Francis Urias Peters, produced a play about the country's revolution for its 30th anniversary in 2013.{{Cite web|last=Miami Herald|date=2013-10-25|title=Grenada: 30 Years After US Invasion, Wounds Remain|url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/10/25/grenada-30-years-after-us-invasion-wounds-remain.html|access-date=2020-09-25|website=Military.com|language=en}}
External links
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b03fh1zg Interview with Ann Peters on BBC Radio 4]