Gail Alexan­der

Gov­ern­ment, Op­po­si­tion PNM and In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tors yes­ter­day paid trib­ute to for­mer en­er­gy min­is­ter and Sen­a­tor Bar­ry Barnes who died re­cent­ly. In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor Bashar­rat Ali, who said he had been a friend of Barnes for 66 years, said he died of can­cer. He laud­ed Barnes' achieve­ments as an en­er­gy sec­tor ex­pert and and re­called his love of plants.

Ali said Barnes, who held the Cha­co­nia Medal, was al­so the own­er of a splen­did Cha­co­nia tree spec­i­men. Gov­ern­ment Sen­ate leader, Em­manuel George, and PNM Sen­a­tor Fitzger­ald Hinds al­so re­count­ed Barnes' work in en­er­gy, in­clud­ing his stint as as en­er­gy min­is­ter from 1992 to 1995. PP Sen­a­tor Fazal Karin laud­ed Barnes as an icon in the en­er­gy sec­tor. Sen­a­tors ob­served a minute si­lence to mark Barnes' death.