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Most independent Caribbean territories have a multiparty electoral system of government. Elections are fiercely contested events and can spill over into violence On small islands, personalities are often as important as policies, especially when most electors know the candidates personally! Problems have been greatest in Jamaica, where "political tribalism" caused around 8000 deaths in the 1980 election campaign. But political violence is not common, and most states am proud of their constitutional credentials. Of all the Caribbean territories, only two am generally agreed to have undemocratic government. Cuba has been dominated by Fidel Castro and the Communist Parry since the 1959 revolution and has ever since alienated the U.S.A. by refusing to hold free elections. Once the scene of a near-nuclear confrontation between the U.S.A. and the former U.S.S.R. in 1962, Cuba has become increasingly isolated. Economically strangled by the U.S. embargo, the island suffers intermittent shortages of basic goods, but has become a popular tourist destination for Europeans, Canadians, and Latin Americans, who bringing hard currency into the economy..
The U.S. invasion of Grenada in October 1983 was an indication of how seriously the White House viewed the rise of radicalism in its "backyard;" but with the end of the Cold War, the Caribbean has lost much of its geopolitical importance in the eyes of U.S. policy Since then, support for left-wing movements has dwindled, and conservatives hold power on most English-speaking islands. Current political controversy influences the region's position in the world economy. With the coming of the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico, the islands fear marginalization in trade and influence. More talk of integration and cooperation has resulted, in the hop that a united front will help them weather economic storms. |
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Haiti has had the most turbulent political history of all the Caribbean nations.
Wrecked by instability and dictatorship since a slave revolution won
independence from France in 1884, the country was ruled by the ruthless
Duvaliers until 1986. When "Baby Dot" was finally forced to flee the
country, a movement for democracy evolved, culminating in the overwhelming
election triumph of a radical Roman Catholic priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide in
1991. Aristide was soon ousted by the military, but U.N. imposed sanctions and a
U.S. military intervention led to his restoration as president. In the years
since, the U.S. presence has kept a lid on Haiti's bloody factionalism. At
present, a tenuous peace a in place, although who knows long it will last?