A LOVELY PIECE OF REAL ESTATE Conflict and Change in the Caribbean
THE REPUTATION OF SECRETARY OF State George Shultz is hardly based on his ability to turn a snappy phrase. But on the question of Grenada, the stolid Shultz touched new heights of eloquence....
...The New Jewel Movement suffered diplomatic ostracism, while the United States rehearsed invasion and put pressure on the IMF and the World Bank to withhold funds...
...And it was he who best articulated the administration's new vision of itself as custodian of the Caribbean Basin in the post-colonial era...
...actions-such as the refusal to grant Grenada hurricane relief aid...
...Their capacity to resist is critically limited: the Caribbean microstates are divided by a "dog-eat-dog" mentality and are at the mercy of the transnational corporations that control their economies...
...In the end, the NJM collapsed under the weight of its own internal problems, a cautionary tale of the dangers of narrowly based revolutionary rule, but also a reminder of the limited national sovereignty of any small state in the U.S...
...In this issue, Tom Barry paints a vivid picture of their anarchic dependency...
...When British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced her opposition to the October 1983 invasion, Shultz brusquely informed her that, "[T]he states in the area . . . are no longer British colonies...
...The Caribbean is in our neighborhood...
...The prime casualty of Washington's hostility has been the Grenadian revolution...
...Indeed, given the region's cultural and socioeconomic diversity, one can almost argue that it is only the Pentagon's geopolitical concerns that define the Caribbean as a coherent unity...
...This new attitude has taken root since the revolutions in Nicaragua and Grenada in 1979...
...Unrest will continue to plague the Caribbean, even though its source is more likely to be Washington than Cuba...
...If the region should become prey to social and economic upheaval, and dominated by re- gimes hostile to us, the consequences for our security would be immediate and far-reaching...
...the obsession with Cuban contamination is at its heart...
...There was a real ideological vindictiveness in some of the U.S...
...For three years the Reagan Administration did everything possible to make its short life a miserable one...
...The Caribbean is an unfenced neighborhood that we share with 27 island and coastal nations...
...Security assistance for islands who do not want it, and bilateralism for a region that needs unity, are the recipe for future instability, which fu- ture issues of the Report will study in greater detail...
...As Fred Halliday points out in his essay in this Report, Washington's new high profile in the Carib- bean may not yet constitute a master plan, but it is a definite declaration of intent...
...That intent is based on a clear new perception of the Caribbean as a security zone...
...Now it applies to the small Caribbean islands as well...
...AGAIN, IT IS Shultz who has defined the stakes most sharp- ly...
...It was he who declared the conquered Caribbean island "a lovely piece of real estate...
...backyard...
...Grenada, however, is not the end of the story...
...Since the invasion, the United States has increased economic aid to the region, upgraded its diplomatic presence and sought new security arrangements for the small Eastern Caribbean states...
...The recitation of oil routes and sea lanes is a familiar strategic rationale for involvement in Central America...
...W HY THE OBSESSION...
...a vital strategic and commercial artery for the United States...
Vol. 18 • November 1984 • No. 6
