MARIGOT, Saint-Martin: --- Saint-Martin’s Territorial Council will reconvene at 11 a.m. Saturday, with opposition and independent councilors pressing to replace Valérie Damaseau as president of the Tourism Office. The push comes as the sixth Festival de la Gastronomie, a signature initiative of her tenure, holds its second day of events on the Marigot waterfront.
Friday’s session was suspended after councilors elected six members of the Executive Council serving alongside President Louis Mussington. In an interview with Le Pélican, Senator Daniel Gibbs said Mussington asked to resume Saturday after feeling unwell. Gibbs said his group would return to committee and external appointments, arguing that the executive reshuffle gave the council grounds to revisit who represents the Collectivité.
The Tourism Office presidency is one of four issues opposition and independent councilors had sought to put on Friday’s agenda. The others concern the Collectivité’s representation at SEMSAMAR, powers delegated to the Executive Council and the Beauperthuy land matter. Gibbs said the proposals had been submitted in advance and that a request to add them during Friday’s meeting was refused. No vote removing Damaseau had been confirmed ahead of Saturday’s session.
From Gibbs’s first vice president to Senate rival
Damaseau became First Vice President of the Collectivité when Team Gibbs took office in 2017. She later broke with Gibbs and led her own Alternative slate in the 2022 territorial elections. After the first round, Alternative joined Louis Mussington’s list. This September, Damaseau faced her former political ally in the Senate election and lost to Gibbs 13–11 in the second round.
The Senate race also exposed a split within Damaseau’s former slate. Bernadette Venthou-Dumaine, who ran with Alternative in 2022, entered the Senate race herself and announced her departure from Mussington’s RSMA group. She is now among the councilors outside that group. That history makes the effort to remove Damaseau look like political payback. Whether a private dispute over Senate backing influenced the push to replace her remains unverified.
A signature tourism project is underway
Damaseau has helped shape tourism promotion on the French side for much of the past decade. The Festival de la Gastronomie, launched in 2021 during her tenure, has grown into a 12-day program that puts local chefs, restaurants and Saint-Martin’s culinary traditions in front of residents and visitors. This year’s festival runs through November 22. Saturday’s program includes the Gastronomy Village and a cooking workshop on the Marigot waterfront.
The proposed change concerns Damaseau’s role as president of the Tourism Office. Aïda Weinum directs the office and opened this year’s festivities in Grand Case. With the festival underway, councilors seeking to replace Damaseau face a question that goes beyond who has the votes. What would a leadership change deliver for Saint-Martin’s tourism sector, and why should it happen now?
