EXCERPTED FROM

Understanding the
Contemporary Caribbean
SECOND EDITION

edited by
Richard S. Hillman
and Thomas J. D’Agostino

Copyright © 2009
ISBN: 978-1-58826-663-7 pb

1800 30th Street, Ste. 314

Boulder, CO 80301
USA
telephone 303.444.6684
fax 303.444.0824

This excerpt was downloaded from the

Lynne Rienner Publishers website
www.rienner.com
Hillman_FM.qxd 6/25/09 11:54 AM Page v

Contents

List of Illustrations ix
Preface xiii

1 Introduction Richard S. Hillman 1

2 The Caribbean: A Geographic Preface

Thomas D. Boswell 19
Climate and Weather Patterns 23
A Diversity of Landforms 26
The Caribbean Amerindian Population 30
Patterns of European Settlement After Conquest 32
The Rise and Fall of Sugarcane in the West Indies 34
Population Problems 37
Emigration 38
Urbanization 41
Economic Geography 44
Conclusion 48

3 The Historical Context Stephen J. Randall 51

Conquest and Colonization, 1492–1800 52
Nation Building and Socioeconomic Transition
in the Nineteenth Century 60
The Non-Spanish Caribbean in the Early Twentieth Century 67
The Emergence of US Hegemony, 1898–1930s 70
The Emergence of Labor Organizations 74

v
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vi Contents

War and Cold War, 1939–1959 75

The Cuban Revolution 78
The Post–Cold War Years 80
Conclusion 82

4 Caribbean Politics Thomas J. D’Agostino 87

The Past as Prelude 87
External Influences, Internal Dynamics, and New Forms 89
The Case of Puerto Rico 92
Socioeconomic Conditions and Political Consciousness 96
Postwar Transitions 97
The Case of Cuba 100
The Case of the Dominican Republic 105
The Anglo-Caribbean 106
The Case of Jamaica 107
Decades of Challenge and Change: The 1970s and 1980s 113
The Case of Grenada 115
The Resurgence of US Interventionism 118
The Case of Haiti 121
An Era of Uncertainty: The 1990s and 2000s 124

5 The Economies of the Caribbean

Dennis A. Pantin and Marlene Attzs 133
Common Economic History 133
Some Differences 135
An Overview of the Economic Structure of
Caribbean Economies 137
Tourism as a Major Economic Activity 138
Current Economic Performance 146
Current and Projected Economic Challenges 152
Conclusion 157

6 International Relations
Jacqueline Anne Braveboy-Wagner 161
The External Effects of Caribbean Culture and Identity 162
The Geopolitical Framing of Security 167
Economic Relations 176
Challenges for the Future 184

7 The Environment and Ecology Duncan McGregor 191

The Physical Setting 193
Historical and Recent Land Use Change 197
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Contents vii

Climate Change and Caribbean Environments 208

Sustainability and the Environment: Some Reflections 214

8 Ethnicity, Race, Class, and Nationality

David Baronov and Kevin A. Yelvington 225
The Mix of Ethnicity, Race, Class, and
Nationality Across the Caribbean 227
Historical Legacies 228
Ethnic, Racial, and National Minorities in Caribbean Society 236
Imagining the Caribbean Nation 239
Contemporary Realities and Caribbean Identities 247
The Growing Diaspora 249
Conclusion 252

9 Women and Development A. Lynn Bolles 257

The Sociocultural Context of Caribbean Women 257
Caribbean Women’s Early Struggles 261
Women in the Hispanic Caribbean 264
Caribbean Women’s Continuing Struggles 265
Gender, Class, and Familial Organization 271
The “Independent” Woman in the Contemporary Caribbean 275
Women in Regional and International Politics 278
Women in Electoral Politics 279
Conclusion 283

10 Religion in the Caribbean Leslie G. Desmangles,

Stephen D. Glazier, and Joseph M. Murphy 289
Categories of Caribbean Religions 290
The Colonial Setting and Religious Diversity 292
African-Derived Traditions 295
The Revivalists: Pentecostals 310
The Religio-Political Movements:
The Redemptionists, the Rastafari, and the Dread 312
Other Imports from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia 319
Caribbean Religions as Global Religions 332
Conclusion 334

11 Literature and Popular Culture

Kevin Meehan and Paul B. Miller 339
Indigenous Cultural Patterns 339
The Early Colonial Era: Material Changes and Cultural Adaptation 343
The Nineteenth Century: Toward Cultural Autonomy 346
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viii Contents

The Early Twentieth Century: Literary Movements,

Vernacular Writing, and Cultural Unification 351
The Mid-Twentieth Century:
The Dialectic of Exile and Nationalism 354
The Late Twentieth Century and Beyond:
The Dialectic of Return and Disillusionment 358
Conclusion 362

12 The Caribbean Diaspora Dennis Conway 367

The Encounter with Europe: Domination of the Caribbean 369
Caribbean–North American Circulations, 1880–1970 373
Caribbean Diaspora Networks, 1970s to the Present 376
The Deepening of Transnational Networks and
Cross-Border Development 381
Conclusion 387

13 Trends and Prospects Richard S. Hillman and

Andrés Serbin 391
The Intergovernmental Dynamic 393
Transnational Civil Society 397
The Forum of Greater Caribbean Civil Society 398
The Future 400

List of Acronyms 407

Basic Political Data 409
The Contributors 415
Index 417
About the Book 429
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1
Introduction
Richard S. Hillman

T he first edition of Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean offered

cautious optimism regarding the potential for political, economic, and so-
cial progress within the region. Even as this second edition explores many rea-
sons for continued hope that such progress will occur, the global setting and
internal dynamics of the Caribbean have presented unpredictable challenges
that have exacerbated previous complications.
The post–September 11 world has shifted attention to the Middle East and
shaped trade, economic assistance, travel, migration, and human rights in the
Caribbean and elsewhere. A full-blown global economic and financial crisis has
affected developing countries perhaps even more profoundly than the developed
nations. Yet, despite these dramatic and unprecedented events, there are certain
constants that were identified in the first edition and continue to characterize the
region. For example, the Caribbean is still considerably more important and cer-
tainly more complex than is commonly thought.1 That has not changed.
The popular image of this region suggests an attractive string of under-
developed island nations in close proximity to the United States, with a pleasant
climate and natural attributes that attract large numbers of tourists. Short visits
to beautiful beaches and resorts, however, have contributed to a superficial vi-
sion of the Caribbean region. It is an interesting, significant, and exciting place
for much more profound reasons.
Although there is some truth to the stereotype of the Caribbean as a trop-
ical paradise, the region’s historical, cultural, socioeconomic, and political in-
fluences far exceed its small size and low status in global affairs. Indeed, political
and ideological movements and developments in the Caribbean have provoked
international reactions. Moreover, throughout history the people of the Caribbean
have been engaged in heroic struggles to liberate themselves from the strictures

1
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2 Richard S. Hillman

and exploitation of colonialism, slavery, imperialism, neocolonialism, and de-

pendency.
Historically, the perception of the region has varied, ranging from interest
in an extremely valuable asset to one that has elicited benign neglect. Its role
as provider of sun, sand, and surf to Americans and Europeans, for example,
has obscured the fact that great power rivalries repeatedly have been played
out in the Caribbean. In fact, the United States has intervened in the Caribbean
more than in any other geographical area of the world. The impacts of migra-
tion patterns, investment, and commerce, as well as illicit narcotics trafficking,
have been significant not only in the Western Hemisphere but also in Europe
and throughout the world. Similarly, Caribbean literature, art, and popular cul-
ture have influenced countries around the world.
The Caribbean peoples have made outstanding contributions in many fields,
both in their home countries and in those countries to which they have migrated.
Their presence is apparent in professions such as health care and education, as

A beach along
undeveloped shoreline,
Runaway Bay, Jamaica.
United Nations
Hillman_1.qxd 6/24/09 4:34 PM Page 3

Introduction 3

well as in commerce, construction, music, cuisine, sports, and government. For-

mer US secretary of state Colin Powell, who first rose to the position of chair-
man of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, is a first-generation US citizen of
Jamaican origin. Baseball legend Roberto Clemente was born in Puerto Rico,
and many of the players currently on Major League Baseball rosters come
from the Caribbean. Actors like Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, singers
like Bob Marley, Wyclef Jean, and the Mighty Sparrow, academics like Or-
lando Patterson, and writers like Derek Wolcott, V. S. Naipaul, John Hearne,
Jamaica Kincaid, Aimé Césaire, and Gabriel García Márquez represent the
wealth of talent emanating from the Caribbean.
Ironically, as North Americans and Europeans flock to the Caribbean va-
cationland, the people of the region seek to leave their homelands. Their quest
for upward socioeconomic mobility has resulted in large population concen-
trations abroad. New York City, for example, contains the largest urban con-
centration of Dominicans outside Santo Domingo. Similarly, New York is the
second largest Puerto Rican city next to San Juan. And Miami has become so
influenced by Cubans, Jamaicans, and Haitians, among others, it is commonly
referred to as “the capital of the Caribbean.”
The Caribbean has always been considered a geopolitical and strategic
crossroads (see Maps 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3). From the fifteenth century to the end
of the twentieth century—from Christopher Columbus to Fidel Castro—the
Caribbean has been the focus of external influences (Williams 1979). First,
European colonial powers imposed their systems and control. Later the Mon-
roe Doctrine of 1823 conceived of the region as falling within the sphere of in-
fluence of the United States. As a consequence, the Caribbean was thought of
as the backyard of the United States—a “US lake,” so to speak.
The Cold War impinged upon emergent pressures within the Caribbean to
define itself autonomously, creating confusion as to the origins and intent of na-
tional movements. In the post–Cold War era the potential for continued democ-
ratization, expanded free trade, and pragmatic regional integration loomed large
on the horizon. The Caribbean was increasingly perceived as a vital link in the
realization of the now severely weakened Free Trade Area of the Americas.
In the advent of the twenty-first century, countries across the region are
feeling the effects of the global financial crisis as credit contracts, demand for
exports declines, and commodity prices fall, resulting in a deterioration of
terms of trade. Impending global recession has raised questions about the most
effective economic strategies, not only for the industrialized countries but es-
pecially for small states such as those in the Caribbean.
Thus, Caribbean leaders are divided in their perspectives on the future.
Some see the transfer of power from Fidel to Raúl Castro in Cuba as an op-
portunity for normalizing relations. Others are hopeful that an emerging coali-
tion of the left led by Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez offers a viable alternative to
dependence on the United States.
 Hillman_1.qxd

UNITED
STATES

T
H
Miami

a
•

rid
Gulf of Mexico

lo
A
F ★ H
of Nassau A
its M Atlantic Ocean
6/24/09

Stra ANDROS A
ISLAND S
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★

Yucatan W TURKS &

CUBA
Channel
E S
T CAICOS ISLANDS
Cancún •
I N D I E
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4:34 PM

G Guantánamo ssa
Pa DOMINICAN
LEEW
RE • • rd AR
CAYMAN Santiago wa REPUBLIC VIRGIN D
MEXICO A

age
indGonaîves •
ISLANDS T de Cuba W Santo Ponce ISLANDS ANGUILLA
E Port-au-Prince San Juan
IS
R Domingo ST. MAARTEN/ST. MARTIN

a Pass
Montego Bay ★ ★ ★
• • ST. EUSTATIUS

Mon
LA
★
• • SABA BARBUDA
• Belize City San Pedro de Macoris PUERTO
JAMAICA Kingston A N HAITI ST. KITTS ★ ANTIGUA
★ Belmopan RICO
ND

Mayagüez NEVIS St. John's

Page 4

T I L L
S

BELIZE E S MONTSERRAT GUADELOUPE

★
Basse-Terre
GUATEMALA DOMINICA ★ Roseau

LES
★ HONDURAS ★ MARTINIQUE
Fort-de-France
Guatemala Tegucigalpa
Caribbean Sea Castries ★ ST. LUCIA
★
NDS

TIL
★ BARBADOS
San Salvador NETHERLANDS ST. VINCENT & THE ★
★

AN
EL SALVADOR ANTILLES GRENADINES Bridgetown
ND

NICARAGUA ARUBA Kingstown

I S L AW A R D

CURAÇAO

ER
★ Managua ★ GRENADA
WI

★ BONAIRE
• Bluefields St. George's

SS
Willemstad
ISLA DE MARGARITA

LE
Port-of-Spain TRINIDAD
★ AND TOBAGO
COSTA ★
RICA Limón
Cartagena •
Choroní
• Caracas •
★ • Panama Canal Barlovento
San José
Colón •
★
Panama
PANAMA
Gulf of VENEZUELA
N Panama Georgetown
★

Paramaribo
GUYANA ★
W E
Pa c i f i c COLOMBIA
★
Cayenne
Bogotá
★ SURINAME FRENCH
S
Ocean GUIANA

Map 1.1 The Caribbean Region

Map 1.1 The Caribbean Region
 Hillman_1.qxd

Tampa
St. Petersburg ••
UNITED N
STATES

T
6/24/09

•
Freeport W E

H
Gulf

E
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•

B
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4:34 PM

of ANDROS
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s S Atlantic Ocean
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Havana Matanzas
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Page 5

Santa Clara
• • TURKS &
Pinar
Cienfuegos
• Sancti Spiritus W CAICOS ISLANDS
del Rio • CUBA E S
• T ★
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ISLANDS E de Cuba •
sag

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•
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Town ISLANDS
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a Pas

Montego Bay REPUBLIC

Ocho Rios ★ ★ •• ★
Negril •• • • Ponce
Mon

•Barahona • U.S. VIRGIN

JAMAICA ★ • Port Morant
• La Romana PUERTO
Caribbean Sea Kingston Santo ISLANDS
A N Mayagüez RICO
Old Harbour T Domingo
I L L E
S

Map 1.2 The Northern Caribbean

Map 1.2 The Northern Caribbean
 Hillman_1.qxd

DOMINICAN
BRITISH VIRGIN
REPUBLIC
Mayagüez ISLANDS ANGUILLA N

ge
Santo

ge
San Juan Road Town ST. MAARTEN / ST. MARTIN

a
Domingo ★ The
★ • ★

Passa
★ Valley ST. BARTHÉLEMY
6/24/09

• W E

Pass
San Pedro Ponce Charlotte ST. EUSTATIUS

a
de Macoris
• • Amalie
SABA BARBUDA

ada
PUERTO Basseterre

Mon
U.S. VIRGIN ★ ANTIGUA S
RICO ST. KITTS St. John's
ISLANDS ★ MONTSERRAT

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4:34 PM

Plymouth ★ oupe Pas LA DÉSIRADE

adel
Gu GUADELOUPE
Basse-Terre ★ MARIE-GALANTE
ILES DES SAINTES
Dominica Passage
•
Portsmouth ★ DOMINICA Atlantic
Page 6

Roseau assage Ocean

ique P
Caribbean Sea Martin ★
MARTINIQUE
Fort-de-France
Castries ★ ST. LUCIA
BARBADOS
ST. VINCENT & THE ★
NETHERLANDS GRENADINES ★ Bridgetown
Kingstown
ANTILLES
Oranjestad
★ ARUBA CURAÇAO
GRENADA
★
★ BONAIRE St. George's
Willemstad
ISLA DE MARGARITA
ISLA LA TORTUGA Port-of-Spain TRINIDAD
★ AND TOBAGO

•San Fernando
VENEZUELA

Map 1.3 The Southern Caribbean

Map 1.3 The Southern Caribbean
Hillman_1.qxd 6/24/09 4:34 PM Page 7

Introduction 7

Similarly, when asked who would be a better president of the United States
for developing countries, Barack Obama or John McCain, former Jamaican
prime minister Edward Seaga replied that “there is not much commitment to
this region anymore from Washington by either party. The Cold War is over”
(Sunday Gleaner, October 26, 2008). However, Richard Crawford, lecturer in
political science at the University of the West Indies, stated that if Barack
Obama were elected, “We would be seeing the end of an era of hostile military-
type politics from the United States” (Sunday Gleaner, October 26, 2008).
The global crisis, of course, has posed many serious challenges to the re-
gion as a whole, as well as individual countries. The Caribbean comprises min-
istates endowed with widely dispersed and, in some cases, sparse resources.
Thus, economic development has been problematic. Political evolution has also
been complicated. In countries that have experienced long periods of colonial-
ism, with the attendant institutions of the plantation and slavery, it is difficult
to overcome deeply ingrained authoritarian legacies in order to promote the
consolidation of democracy. This does not mean, however, that historical lega-
cies will determine the future. Moreover, disparate developments such as the
Cuban revolution, the transition toward democracy in the Dominican Repub-
lic, and the invasion of Grenada further complicate the absence of a singular
paradigm or model that would fit the entire region. Thus, generalizations about
Caribbean political and economic development must of necessity be multifac-
eted and intricate if they are to be meaningful.
Yet the different countries of the Caribbean have much in common. Among
the most problematic common features are financial weakness and lack of in-
vestment capital. The latter is exacerbated by the global crisis in credit markets.
Most production in the Caribbean has involved food processing, the mak-
ing of clothing, and the manufacturing of sugar and rum. Efforts to expand
these activities to earn additional income and provide new jobs through pro-
grams of import substitution and industrialization by invitation have been rel-
atively unsuccessful.2 Also, West Indian governments have sought to protect
local industries by imposing tariffs on the importation of foreign goods, but
that drove up the prices of domestically manufactured products, which were
often inferior in quality to imported goods.
Among the incentives used to attract investment capital are low-cost labor,
factories constructed by governments, reduction in taxes or complete tax abate-
ments for a number of years (free trade zones), government-sponsored training
programs, political stability, and proximity to the large North American market.
Companies assembling goods for export to the United States benefit from
special US tariffs that either reduce or waive import duties for these products.
When duties are imposed, they usually are assessed only on the value added to
the products by the Caribbean operations. US firms, seeking to escape high-cost
unionized labor, have established assembly maquiladoras (factories) in the Do-
minican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Barbados. Predominantly female workers
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8 Richard S. Hillman

typically earn between US$50 and $100 per week in as many as 1,000 maqui-
ladoras throughout the Caribbean employing more than 25,000 workers. A sig-
nificant portion of the moderately priced clothing sold in the United States is
now made in these factories.
Neoliberal economic philosophy purports that it is more beneficial for
producers to export their products. Accordingly, the World Bank and the Inter-
national Monetary Fund (IMF) have required local governments seeking loans
to devalue their currencies to reduce the costs of their products overseas, to
lower their import tariffs to increase local competition and efficiency, and to re-
duce domestic spending so that larger financial reserves will be available to
pay off the loans. The main problem with this philosophy is that it creates aus-
terity in the home country. Currency devaluation raises local prices; competi-
tion from imported goods can drive local firms out of business, exacerbating
already high levels of unemployment; and decreased government spending re-
duces the amount of money circulating within the island’s economy, causing
political pressures. Recently, the World Bank and the IMF have begun to re-
think their overall approach and ease requirements for development loans.
One of the more successful economic mechanisms used by Caribbean na-
tions to fortify their economies has been offshore banking.3 Some nations pro-
vide advantages such as reduction or elimination of taxes on income, profits,
dividends, and capital gains in secret accounts.4 Moreover, legal fees and li-
censes are charged by the banks, adding valuable foreign currency to the re-
gion’s economy. Recently, the Netherlands Antilles, especially Curaçao, and
then the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Antigua, the Turks and Caicos Islands,
Montserrat, and St. Vincent became the leading centers in the Caribbean for
offshore banking. In the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands, offshore banking is
the second leading industry behind tourism, providing 15–20 percent of each
country’s gross national product.
In sum, although the Caribbean continues to struggle with political and
economic challenges, the global scope of the region’s impact is inconsistent
with its image and size: the Caribbean contains approximately 41 million peo-
ple—a small percentage of the Western Hemisphere and only a tiny fraction of
the world’s population. But their impact has been disproportionate to their
numbers, and there are many enclaves of Caribbean peoples living in other
areas of the world. London, Toronto, Miami, and New York, for example, have
a large West Indian presence.
The world continues to become more interdependent, and the Caribbean
must be integrated into this emerging global society. Therefore, it is very im-
portant to increase our understanding of the contemporary Caribbean. Unfor-
tunately, segregated analyses of the region according to superficial criteria
have caused confusion. It has been convenient to refer to linguistic divisions,
geographic distributions, and chronological dates of independence, for example.
These approaches have reaffirmed obvious differences while obscuring common
factors that could help to produce salutary solutions to pervasive problems.
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Introduction 9

Our earlier research has shown that the Hispanic countries within the Carib-
bean have been considered an integral part of Latin America, and the English-
speaking countries have been excluded based on the assumption that different
cultural heritages require a fundamentally different analytical framework.
Thus, scholars of Latin America focus on the Latin Caribbean “often to the al-
most total exclusion of other areas,” whereas scholars of the Commonwealth
Caribbean “have usually neglected the Latin Caribbean” (Millet and Will
1979:xxi). We have shown that the Caribbean region provides a microcosm of
a fragmented third world in which divisions “tenaciously obscure similarities
and impede the evolution of common interests and aspirations” and that the ab-
sence of a “single, holistic community” has resulted (Hillman and D’Agostino
1992:1–17).
Some authors have argued that there is a “clear dividing line” separating
the English-speaking Caribbean countries from their Hispanic, French, and
Dutch neighbors (Serbin 1989:146). Some conclude that conflicts in relations
between Caribbean countries are due to “misconceptions, misunderstanding,
and lack of communication . . . deriving from historical, cultural, racial, and
linguistic differences” (Bryan 1988:41). Others have attributed the absence of
a single community to the divisiveness of separate Caribbean societies “often
fatally hostile to each other” (Moya Pons 1974:33).
Our approach reveals that beneath obvious differences lie similarities in
common historical themes, geopolitical and sociocultural contexts, economic
experiences, and accommodation patterns that reflect the pressures of congru-
ent sociopolitical environments. Moreover, we believe that there has been sig-
nificant convergence of mutual economic and political interests to warrant the
promotion of improved relations between the diverse Caribbean states. Nicolás
Guillén summarizes this idea succinctly when he characterizes the Caribbean
archipelago as one “communal yard” due to its common heritage of slavery,
imperial domination, and struggle (Guillén 1976:26). And Pére Labat observed
in the eighteenth century that the Caribbean peoples are “all together, in the same
boat, sailing the same uncertain sea” (Knight 1990:307). We believe that aca-
demic and political navigation in this sea can be enhanced through understand-
ing and appreciating the forces that have shaped the contemporary Caribbean.
Therefore, there is a need for an interdisciplinary introduction to the Carib-
bean region. Academic, business, and policy interests require understanding
this complex and significant area, especially in the twenty-first century. But the
growing numbers of people who wish to learn about the Caribbean are not able
to use narrowly focused studies. Comprehending existing theoretical analyses
of the region’s socioeconomic and political conditions presupposes expertise
and experience.
Further, there is much misunderstanding about Caribbean attitudes, values,
and beliefs regarding the conduct of politics, business, and life. Sensationalized
media coverage of political instability, external debt, immigration, and narcotics
trafficking has overshadowed valiant Caribbean efforts to define uniquely
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10 Richard S. Hillman

Caribbean identities and create autonomous institutions, as well as consolidate

democracy and promote trade, development, tourism, and regional coopera-
tion. Relative to other “developing” areas of the world, the Caribbean’s long
experience with democracy has been highly valued by citizens—a condition
that underlies the legitimacy of any political system. According to Americas
Barometer 2006, for example, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Jamaica
have relatively high ratings for “satisfaction with the way democracy works”
(Seligson 2008:268).
Moreover, although the strategic geopolitical relevance of the region has
been recognized throughout history, the Caribbean has become critically im-
portant in the emerging global economy, within which the volume of trade will
significantly affect the entire Western Hemisphere. The Caribbean Basin Ini-
tiative of the early 1980s is testimony to this idea. Unfortunately, the persis-
tence of flawed policies such as the US embargo against Cuba has impeded,
rather than enhanced, regional integration. My visits throughout the region
over a number of years have convinced me that there is a great need to promote
mutual understanding throughout the hemisphere.5 The tendency to demonize
political leaders with whom there is disagreement has constituted a major ob-
stacle to progress in this area. The election of Barack Obama in the US presi-
dential election of 2008, however, may result in a reevaluation of the US
position regarding Cuba and other Caribbean neighbors. Precedents exist for
policies of engagement with Cuba, such as (1) improved relations with China
and Vietnam; (2) former president Jimmy Carter’s visit to Cuba in May 2002;
(3) an increasing number of US members of Congress interested in trade with
Cuba; and (4) repeated votes (seventeen years in a row) in the United Nations
to end the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United
States against Cuba. The October 29, 2008, vote was 185 in favor of the amend-
ment to end the embargo to 3 against (United States, Israel, Palau), with 2 na-
tions abstaining (Marshall Islands, Micronesia).
Attention has been drawn to the region by media accounts of current
events, Free Trade Area of the Americas discussions, and tourism, as well as in-
creasing business, commerce, and migration from the Caribbean, all of which
underscore the need for basic information. In this context, this book provides a
basis for comprehension by providing background information about countries
within the Caribbean region and introducing major issues, themes, and trends.
It is designed as a basic resource that will be useful to those studying the area.
The writing style is straightforward, with maps and graphics intended to enhance
clarity, comprehension, and appreciation of the traditions, influences, and com-
mon themes underlying differences within the Caribbean. Understanding the
Contemporary Caribbean is intended to contribute to the promotion of inter-
est and basic understanding in college and university classrooms, foreign serv-
ice seminars, corporate training programs, and the general public.
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Introduction 11

Because definitions of the Caribbean region vary widely, we provide an

integrated text by defining the Caribbean to include the circum-Caribbean,
with a focus on the insular Caribbean. In other words, each chapter is prima-
rily concerned with the Greater and the Lesser Antilles. Secondary reference
is made to typically Caribbean enclaves in the Atlantic Ocean and on the South
American and Central American coasts.
Specifically, the Greater Antilles consists of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola
(Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles con-
sists of the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands. The Leewards include
Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, St.
Martin, and Anguilla. (Notice that the French and Dutch halves of St. Martin
are spelled differently, St. Maarten [or Sint Maarten] for the Dutch part, and
St. Martin for the French part.) The Windwards include Guadeloupe, Dominica,
Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. The US
and British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Aruba, Bonaire,
and Curaçao complete the insular Caribbean. The Bahamas, Bermuda, and the
Turks and Caicos Islands, although not within the Caribbean Sea, have much
in common with the region. Similarly, Belize, Guyana, French Guiana, and
Suriname have more in common with the Caribbean than their neighboring
Central and South American countries. The same can be said for coastal en-
claves in Venezuela and Colombia on the Caribbean coast of South America,
as well as the Panamanian, Costa Rican, Nicaraguan, and Honduran coasts of
Central America. Finally, for reasons previously stated, it is not inappropriate
to include mention of Miami and South Florida in the context of our expanded
definition of the Caribbean.
The theme of unity in diversity, drawn from our previous work, provides
an organizing concept for this book. There have been many attempts to de-
scribe the Caribbean that reflect our basic thesis. The fused, or blended, cultures
are “distant neighbors” (Hillman and D’Agostino 1992), a diverse village, a
disparate community characterized by “fragmented nationalism” (Knight 1990).
The whole is certainly greater than the sum of its parts in a “continent of is-
lands” (Kurlansky 1992), a tropical paradise that exists “in the shadow of the
sun” (Deere 1990). Transcending the obvious differences, we explore similar-
ities in the legacies of the colonial experiences, slave trade, plantation life, the
imposition of Eurocentric institutions, the difficulties of transition to indepen-
dence, obstacles to socioeconomic and political development, and ethnographic
patterns.
The Caribbean is a unique and complex concatenation of virtually every
ethnic group in the world. There are those of African, European, American,
and Asian origins. Africans came to the Caribbean as slaves from tribes of the
Ibo, Coromantee, Hausa, Mandingo, Fulani, Minas, Yoruba, Congo, Moham-
medan, Calabar, Alampo, Whydah, and Dahomean. Europeans—tracing their
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12 Richard S. Hillman

ancestries to the Spanish, English, Irish, Scots, French, German, and Dutch—
came as conquerors. Indigenous to the region by virtue of early migrations
from Asia were North American tribes of Taínos, Arawaks, Caribs, Ciboney,
and Guanahuatebey. After the abolition of slavery, indentured servants (from
China, India, and Java) were brought to the Caribbean. Later, small waves of
immigrants arrived from Spain, Portugal, France, England, Germany, China,
the Jewish diaspora (Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews), Italy, the Middle East
(Syrians and Lebanese), Latin America, and North America (the United States
and Canada).
Each group brought particular traits to the Caribbean. The Africans brought
popular tales and legends, folklore, music, arts, and religious beliefs, as well
as qualities of perseverance and leadership (Herring 1967:109–113). The Eu-
ropeans brought their religions and culture, military technology, political and
social institutions, scientific discovery, and diseases unknown in the region.
The indigenous contributions are debated due to scant archaeological evidence
(Knight 1990:4–22). However, the Arawaks are reputed to have lived in a pacific
communal society, whereas the Caribs migrated and were more belligerent.
The aesthetic achievements and social structures of the indigenous peoples
were almost completely destroyed by conquest, despite the lasting imprint of
linguistic adaptations—such as words like bohío (shack or hut), guagua (bus),
cacique (Indian chief or political leader), and guajiro (peasant).
Far more interesting and significant than the individual contributions of
the various groups constituting the contemporary Caribbean is the process
whereby their sociopolitical traits have been amalgamated and Eurocentric
dominance has been mitigated. The region has truly been a crucible of various
cultures. This blending, not only of institutions but also of ethnicity, has pro-
duced the uniquely Caribbean Creoles.6 Thus, racial variation can be under-
stood in the context of a fluid continuum. As Gordon Lewis observed, “Columbus
and his followers came to the New World with a baggage of religious intoler-
ance rather than racial phobia” (Lewis 1987:10).
The most popular religious expressions resulted from a syncretizing process
that brought together the elaborate African belief systems with those of the Eu-
ropean religious traditions. Thus, elitist practice of Catholicism or mainstream
Protestantism is nominal compared to the dynamic integration into daily life
of Vodou, spiritualism, Obeah, Santería, or other fusions of European and Afri-
can or indigenous religions. Because the Caribbean was “a society founded on
the gross exploitation, in the name of Christianity, of both Antillean Indian and
African black” people (Lewis 1987:89), these combinations were crucial to a
vast majority of non-Europeans attempting to preserve their beliefs and them-
selves. Although many perceived that “Catholic proselytization was a lost cause
. . . the Catholic religion saw [its role] as a war against paganism and supersti-
tion” (Lewis 1987:195). Lately, evangelical religions have been making inroads
in the Caribbean. As one observer asks, “Who with the slightest missionary
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Introduction 13

spirit could resist a region of poor countries whose populations are always look-
ing for new religions?” (Kurlansky 1992:72).
Occasionally, when it had been impossible to integrate their cultures into
the dominant society, certain groups rejected that society and alienated them-
selves. The first of these groups were the maroons. The name “maroon” is de-
rived from cimarrón, which literally refers to a domesticated animal that
reverts to a wild state. The name was applied to runaway slaves who escaped
from plantations and formed their own enclave societies in the rugged terrain
of the Jamaican hinterland. Later on, the Rastafarians rejected Anglo values,
creating an Africanist belief system loosely based on allegiance to Haile Se-
lassie, the former emperor of Ethiopia.
Understanding the forces that tie Caribbean societies together, as well as
those that have challenged and transformed their institutions, requires exploration
of the impact of the plantation system, slavery, and the processes through which
independence (or pseudo-independence) was gained. Moreover, religion, gov-
ernment, society, and current challenges derive in large part from these origins.
Simply stated, the relationships between masters and slaves, the rebellions, the
heroic struggles, and the tortuous evolution from colonies to independent states
reveal inescapable realities that cannot be ignored in our study of the contem-
porary Caribbean. The resultant attitudes, values, and beliefs inform our under-
standing of this complex region.
Caribbean attitudes toward the United States are ambivalent, ranging from
disdain to infatuation. A version of dependency theory in which problems en-
demic to the region are attributed to Europe and the United States has become
popular in some academic circles. Virulent anti-US sentiment developed early in
Cuban history, was cultivated by independence leaders, and given ideological ex-
pression through fidelismo and Castro’s revolution. It was given expression by
US as well as Cuban manipulation of the Elián González dispute, in which the
question of a father’s legal custody over his son became an international incident.
On the one hand, Michael Manley, Maurice Bishop, and other West Indian
leaders have flirted with alternative ideologies such as democratic socialism
and Marxism as an antidote to dependence on the United States. On the other
hand, some Puerto Rican politicians have championed statehood for the island,
whereas others fiercely resist it. Some leaders have consistently supported US
international initiatives and have always voted accordingly in world forums
such as the United Nations. Also, there has been much envy and idolatry of US
culture and economic superiority, which has led to massive immigration—both
legal and illegal—into the United States. It has also led to “brain drain,”
whereby Caribbean professionals and the intelligentsia abandon their own
countries for US residency and citizenship. This loss of human resources has
been extremely problematic for Caribbean societies.
Also, there has been substantial movement within the Caribbean: Domini-
cans to Miami and St. Martin; Haitians and Cubans to Puerto Rico, Venezuela,
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14 Richard S. Hillman

Poster of Elián
González, Havana,
Cuba. The poster reads,
“Return our Child.”

Cynthia Sutton

and Miami; Jamaicans to Central America and Miami; Trinidadians to Jamaica

and Venezuela; and so on. Movement out of the Caribbean has been a safety
valve for overpopulation, political oppression, and especially economic de-
pression. Recently, the European Union began financing border projects on
Hispaniola, such that the centuries of animosity between the Dominican Re-
public and Haiti might be overcome in order to achieve a modicum of eco-
nomic integration.7
Caribbeans nevertheless are proud of their countries, perceiving them-
selves as holding no candle to the United States or Europe. Michael Manley
once remarked to me that “Jamaica is no little dive, it is a sophisticated country”
(Hillman 1979:55). Similarly, Edward Seaga told me that “Americans have a
dim view” of the third world (Hillman 1979:53). I have known West Indians
who have worked their entire lives abroad in order to be able to retire in their
homelands. These perspectives ought to be appreciated if we are to develop mu-
tual understanding.
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Introduction 15

Therefore, Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean introduces readers

to the region by providing basic definitions, outlining major issues, discussing
relevant background, and illustrating the manifestation of these considerations
in representative countries. The text employs both thematic and case-study ap-
proaches. Each chapter contains a general discussion, key concepts, ongoing
questions, and reference to bibliographic resources (see Table 1.1).
Among the major issues discussed in the text, the most prominent are those
related to Caribbean identity, socioeconomic and political evolution, debt, im-
migration, integration, and international relations. Those are understood in the
context of a background strongly influenced by the legacies of colonialism and
the predominant impact of the United States.
In 2008, the region continues to suffer the consequences of a post-9/11 at-
mosphere. As one would expect, the scant attention paid to the Caribbean in
the past has shifted even further to international terrorism, wars waged in the
Middle East, and homeland security. Issues such as human rights, civil rights,
travel, economic assistance, trade, the global crisis in credit markets, and the
economic recession, have affected Caribbean nationals as much as, perhaps
even more, than US citizens.
The text is part of the series entitled Understanding: Introductions to the
States and Regions of the Contemporary World. It is designed to generate
knowledge and stimulate interest rather than bring these issues to closure. Each
chapter is written as if to teach a class on the subject. In “The Caribbean: A
Geographic Preface” (Chapter 2), Thomas Boswell discusses the impact of lo-
cation, population trends, resource availability, and the environment on eco-
nomic development and the people in the Caribbean. In “The Historical
Context” (Chapter 3), Stephen Randall shows how major themes such as colo-
nialism, plantation life, and slavery have created legacies that persist in influ-
encing contemporary realities. In “Caribbean Politics” (Chapter 4), Thomas
D’Agostino analyzes the impact of historical legacies on political develop-
ment. He shows how different institutions converge in similar patterns of pa-
tron-clientelism, elite dominance, and Creole fusion.
In “The Economies of the Caribbean” (Chapter 5), Dennis Pantin and Mar-
lene Attzs discuss various attempted solutions to the region’s endemic problems
and economic programs, the informal economies, tourism, and the emergent trend
toward integration. Jacqueline Braveboy-Wagner, in “International Relations”
(Chapter 6), employs a conceptual framework that includes cultural identity in
her discussion of strategic geopolitical issues, economic regional integration, and
external intervention in the region. “The Environment and Ecology” (Chapter 7)
by Duncan McGregor contains his treatment of crucial issues such as the ecology
of the region—the natural assets and liabilities inherent in essentially tourist
economies challenged by hurricanes, depletion of coral reefs, and pollution.
In “Ethnicity, Race, Class, and Nationality” (Chapter 8), David Baronov
and Kevin Yelvington elaborate on the significance of large arrays of peoples
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16

Table 1.1 Socioeconomic Indicators for Caribbean States

Population Urban Life Infant GDP

Growth Population Expectancy Mortality per Capita Literacy
Population (%) (%) (years) (per 1,000) (PPP $US)a (%)

Anguilla 14,108 2.33 100 80.53 3.54 8,800 95

Antigua and
Barbuda 84,522 1.3 31 74.25 17.49 18,300 85.8
Aruba 101,541 1.5 46.9 75.06 14.26 21,800 97.3
Bahamas 307,451 0.57 91.5 65.72 23.67 28,000 95.6
Barbados 281,968 0.36 55.7 73.21 11.05 18,900 99.7
Belize 301,270 2.2 49.4 68.19 23.65 7,900 76.9
British Virgin
Islands 24,041 1.88 63.6 77.07 15.2 38,500 97.8
Cayman Islands 47,862 2.45 100 80.32 7.1 43,800 98
Colombia 46,000,000 1.4 78.5 72.54 19.51 7,400 92.8
Costa Rica 4,000,000 1.38 66 77.4 9.01 11,100 94.9
Cuba 11,000,000 0.25 77.4 77.27 5.93 11,000 99.8
Dominica 72,514 0.2 74.6 75.33 14.12 9,000 94
Dominican
Republic 9,500,000 1.5 68.6 73.39 26.93 6,600 87
French Guiana 209,000 0.75 76 75 10.40 17,380 83
Grenada 90,343 0.4 31 65.6 13.58 10,500 96
Guadeloupe 452,776 0.88 100 79 8.41 21,780 90
Guatemala 12,902,500 2.5 50 70.29 27.84 5,200 69.1
Guyana 770,794 0.21 28.5 66.43 30.43 3,700 98.8
Haiti 9,000,000 2.49 45.3 57.56 62.33 1,300 52.9
Honduras 7,000,000 2.02 50.5 69.37 24.61 4,300 80
Jamaica 3,000,000 0.78 54.7 73.59 15.57 7,400 87.9
Martinique 381,427 0.30 98 80.5 6.0 23,931
Montserrat 5,079 0.31 14.3 72.6 16.46 3,400 97
Netherlands
Antilles 225,369 0.75 71.8 76.45 9.36 16,000 96.7
Nicaragua 6,000,000 1.82 58.3 71.21 25.91 2,800 67.5
Panama 3,000,000 1.54 68.7 76.88 13.4 10,700 91.9
Puerto Rico 4,000,000 0.37 98.8 78.58 8.65 18,400 94.1
St. Kitts and
Nevis 39,817 0.72 32.4 72.94 14.34 13,900 97.8
St. Lucia 159,585 0.44 28 76.25 13.8 10,700 90.1
St. Vincent and
the Grenadines 118,432 0.23 47.8 74.34 13.62 9,800 96
Suriname 475,996 1.09 75.5 73.48 19.45 8,700 89.6
Trinidad and
Tobago 1,000,000 -0.8 13.9 67 23.59 25,400 98.6
(continues)
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Introduction 17

Table 1.1 continued

Population Urban Life Infant GDP

Growth Population Expectancy Mortality per Capita Literacy
Population (%) (%) (years) (per 1,000) (PPP $US)a (%)

Turks and Caicos 22,352 2.64 45.2 75.19 14.35 11,500 98

US Virgin Islands 109,840 0.002 95.3 78.92 7.72 14,500 95
Venezuela 26,000,000 1.5 93.6 73.45 22.02 12,800 93

Sources: Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook 2008, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/

The-World-Factbook/ (accessed March 2009); Economic Commission for Latin America and the Carib-
bean (ECLAC), Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2008, http://websie.eclac.cl/
anuario_estadistico/anuario_2008/ (accessed March 2009); World Bank, 2008 World Development Indi-
cators (Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 2008); United Nations Statistics Division, UNDATA,
http://data.un.org/Default.aspx.
Note: a. Gross domestic product per capita purchasing power capacity in US$.

and groups living in the same small area. They also touch on the impact of Eu-
rocentricity and the contribution of the different ethnic groups, as well as the
creolization pattern. The contribution of women is the focus of “Women and
Development” (Chapter 9), by A. Lynn Bolles. In “Religion in the Caribbean”
(Chapter 10), Leslie Desmangles, Stephen Glazier, and Joseph Murphy show
how imposed European religions have been embellished by syncretic belief
systems such as Rastafarianism, Obeah, Vodou, and Santería.
“Literature and Popular Culture” (Chapter 11), by Kevin Meehan and
Paul Miller, discusses the most notable writers and the politicized nature of
their work. It also mentions the widespread impact of folklore and music—like
reggae, salsa, merengue, rumba, son, cumbia, tambores, and calypso. In “The
Caribbean Diaspora” (Chapter 12), Dennis Conway shows the geographical
diversity and impact of the various groups who leave the region and contribute
to brain drain, the safety-valve effect, capital flight, and financial remissions.
Finally, in “Trends and Prospects” (Chapter 13), Richard Hillman and Andrés
Serbin analyze where the region has been as well as the direction in which it
appears to be headed.

■ Notes

1. The terms Caribbean and West Indies are used interchangeably throughout this
book.
2. The phrase import substitution refers to a policy of trying to produce goods lo-
cally that were formerly imported. Industrialization by invitation is a strategy aimed at
attracting foreign capital for investment in local industry.
3. Offshore banking includes financial operations conducted by foreign banks that
have branches in countries like those in the Caribbean.
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18 Richard S. Hillman

4. This has caused speculation that such operations have become money-laundering
facilities for illegal activities such as drug trafficking.
5. Among my travels, I visited Cuba as a professor on the faculty of the Univer-
sity of Pittsburgh Semester at Sea Program and presented a copy of my book, Richard
S. Hillman, ed., Understanding Contemporary Latin America (Boulder: Lynne Rienner
Publishers, 2001), to Fidel Castro during his four-and-a-half hour meeting with Semes-
ter at Sea students and faculty in Havana, January 25, 2002.
6. Creole is a term used in the Caribbean in reference to the unique admixtures of
peoples and cultures.
7. Mireya Navarro, “At Last on Hispaniola: Hands Across the Border,” New York
Times, July 11, 1999, p. 3.

■ Bibliography

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Wine in Old Bottles?” Caribbean Affairs 1 (January–March 1988): 29–44.
Deere, Carmen Diana (coordinator). In the Shadows of the Sun: Caribbean Develop-
ment Alternatives and US Policy. Boulder: Westview, 1990.
Guillén, Nicolás. Jamaica Journal 9 (1976): 26.
Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967.
Hillman, Richard S. “Interviewing Jamaica’s Political Leaders: Michael Manley and
Edward Seaga.” Caribbean Review 8 (Summer 1979): 28–31, 53–55.
Hillman, Richard S., and Thomas J. D’Agostino. Distant Neighbors in the Caribbean:
The Dominican Republic and Jamaica in Comparative Perspective. New York:
Praeger, 1992.
Knight, Franklin W. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism. 2nd
ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Kurlansky, Mark. A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny. New
York: Addison-Wesley, 1992.
Lewis, Gordon K. Main Currents in Caribbean Thought: The Historical Evolution of
Caribbean Society in Its Ideological Aspects, 1492–1900. Baltimore: Johns Hop-
kins University Press, 1987.
Luton, Daraine. “Jamaica Not High on Obama or McCain’s Agenda.” Sunday Gleaner,
October 26, 2008, www.JamaicaGleaner.com.
Millet, Richard, and W. Marvin Will, eds. The Restless Caribbean: Changing Patterns
of International Relations. New York: Praeger, 1979.
Moya Pons, Frank. Historia colonial de Santo Domingo. Santiago, Dominican Repub-
lic: Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, 1974.
Seligson, Mitchel A., ed. Challenges to Democracy in Latin America and the Carib-
bean: Evidence from the Americas Barometer 2006-07. Nashville: Vanderbilt Uni-
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Serbin, Andrés. “Race and Politics: Relations Between the English-Speaking Carib-
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Williams, Eric. From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492–1969.
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