MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Caribbean Islands
Index
The 1961 election victory of the DLP under the leadership of
Leblanc ushered in a period in Dominica's history when workers and
farmers united in one political movement. This alliance of town and
country challenged the descendants of landowners and businessmen
residing in the capital and began the vigorous involvement in
politics of large numbers of poor, uneducated persons.
At the community level, those who had exercised authority
through control of land, shops, credit, and transportation and were
associated with the defeated Dominica United People's Party were
challenged by small farmers and laborers. At the national level, it
was made abundantly clear that the "little people" had acquired
political power guaranteed by universal adult suffrage and the
presence of a political institution (the DLP) through which to act.
Wealth, which was traditionally viewed as coming from banks,
business houses, and estates, was now seen as emanating from the
labor of thousands of small banana farmers, the main engine of
growth in the 1960s.
In 1968 the Leblanc government responded to incipient signs of
social unrest by attempting to pass a bill in the House of Assembly
that would
curb press freedoms. With this act, the moral imperative of the new
social order was badly shaken. Promulgation of this unpopular bill
was followed soon after by signs that the economic policies of the
government were floundering. The combined pressures of high
unemployment among the island's youth and increasingly aggressive
activity by trade unions and opposition political parties led to
the resignation of Leblanc as premier and DLP leader and his
replacement by Patrick John.
Fresh from his first election victory in 1975, John resorted to
a high-handed use of the security forces, and he also proposed
punitive legislation aimed again at curbing press freedoms.
Following a successful strike by the public service union in 1977
for increased wages, John attempted to solve the increasing
economic problems by signing investment deals with persons later
discovered to have very questionable business records. One such
deal with an American businessman involved the creation of a freetrade zone comprising about one-quarter of the island's most
productive agricultural land. The deal was scuttled after street
demonstrations throughout the island in 1978.
In that same year, the backbone of the economy, the banana
industry, was hit by a severe disease that wiped out 30 percent of
the cultivated acreage. An inquiry laid the blame on poor
management, industry officials known to have very strong ties with
the government, and the DLP. This led to vigorous demonstrations
against the government, inspired this time by the farmers who
traditionally had comprised the bulk of the party's supporters.
This threat to the power base of the party apparently pushed the
John administration to take drastic measures. Bills designed to
muzzle trade unions and the press were introduced in the House
early in 1979.
Following weeks of public meetings all over the island by
opposition
forces, some 10,000 demonstrators, including rural and urban
dwellers, gathered outside the House on May 29, 1979, the day on
which the bills were due to be debated and passed. What began as a
peaceful demonstration was soon thrown into tragic confusion by the
arrival of Defence Force personnel, who in the ensuing shooting
killed one youth and injured several other persons. This set the
stage for Dominica's first recorded removal of an elected
government from office by other than electoral means.
The country was shut down by an alliance of farmers, workers,
private businesses, opposition political parties, and churches,
grouped under the banner of the Committee for National Salvation.
This situation prevailed for twenty-eight days until the
resignation of members of government one by one eroded the
constitutional majority required for the prime minister to stay in
office. On June 21, a new president and prime minister were sworn
into office, and an interim government was constituted from among
the representatives of the organizations that had led the uprising.
The interim government, although constitutional, was seen by
the major
opposition party, the Dominican Freedom Party (DFP), as
transitional. Within weeks of the inauguration of the government,
the DFP was calling for general elections. Many contenders emerged
in the long and bitter electoral campaign that ensued. They
included two factions of the DLP, the DFP, the Dominican Liberation
Movement Alliance (a leftwing
party led by young activists and academics), and several
independent
candidates. In July 1980, the DFP, polling 52 percent of the votes,
won 17 of the 21 parliamentary seats. DFP leader Mary Eugenia
Charles became the Caribbean's first woman prime minister. The
party soon began to make in-roads into the traditional rural and
working-class base of the DLP. This was accomplished in part by the
active mobilization of youth into the party in the late 1970s and
the formation of the Young Freedom Movement, which by the late
1980s was an aggressive, well-organized, and evidently well-funded
organ of the party.
The DFP also benefitted from its control over all electronic
media and favorable support from the only newspaper published in
the country, the weekly New Chronicle. Control over the
radio station was particularly crucial because the station reached
practically the entire population. Although it had criticized the
John government for exercising control over a publicly-owned medium
such as the radio, the DFP exercised much the same type of control.
The party, for example, strictly controlled the news and granted
the political opposition only limited access to the radio.
The July 1985 parliamentary election was the first to take
place in Dominica since the United States military intervention in
Grenada (see Current Strategic Considerations, ch. 7). OECS
chairwoman, Charles, who had emerged as one of the most visible
defenders of the intervention, portrayed the election as a choice
between democracy and communism (see Foreign Relations, this
section). The prime minister charged that the DLP had become
communist and accused opposition leaders of receiving funds from
Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and
Libya. In an effort to create a new image, the DLP combined with
the United Dominica Labour Party to form the Labour Party of
Dominica (LPD). Nonetheless, the DFP captured 59 percent of the
vote and fifteen of the twenty-one elected House seats.
Despite a slightly reduced majority, DFP support remained
strong. Two years after the election, the LPD still suffered from
the effects of bitter leadership squabbles and a loss of
credibility following charges of mismanagement of public funds
brought against its leaders, particularly John, who was serving a
jail sentence. John was convicted of having been part of a plot to
attempt an armed overthrow of the Charles administration in 1981.
The plot involved elements of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi groups,
American and Canadian mercenaries, and underworld elements from the
United States. In December of that same year, a second coup was
attempted, this time aimed at releasing John, who was then still in
prison for his alleged part in the first coup attempt. After being
granted a new trial, John was again convicted in October 1985 and
sentenced to twelve years in prison.
Data as of November 1987
- Caribbean Islands-Historical Background
- Caribbean Islands-Prosperity and Government Centralization, 1974-81
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-Agriculture
- Caribbean Islands-Government and Politics
- Caribbean Islands-Tourism
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: Turks and Caicos Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Chapter 7 - Strategic and Regional Security Perspectives
- Caribbean Islands-Role of Government
- Caribbean Islands-Labor Force and Industrial Relations
- Caribbean Islands-Role of Government
- Caribbean Islands-Growth and Structure of the Economy
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-A Regional Security System
- Caribbean Islands-Tourism
- Caribbean Islands-Other Third World Relations
- Caribbean Islands-SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Relations
- Caribbean Islands-Balance of Payments and Debt
- Caribbean Islands-HEALTH AND WELFARE
- Caribbean Islands-ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Caribbean Islands-Role of Government
- Caribbean Islands-FOREIGN RELATIONS
- Caribbean Islands-Education
- Caribbean Islands-Manufacturing
- Caribbean Islands-Relations with the Commonwealth and Others
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Relations
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: St - Christopher and Nevis ST - CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS
- Caribbean Islands-The Penal System
- Caribbean Islands-The Soviet Presence
- Caribbean Islands-Colonial Heritage HISTORICAL SETTING
- Caribbean Islands-National Security
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: Antigua and Barbuda ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
- Caribbean Islands-The Public Security Forces
- Caribbean Islands-Political Systems
- Caribbean Islands-EDUCATION
- Caribbean Islands-Relations with Latin American and Caribbean Countries
- Caribbean Islands-Changes in the Social Base of Political Power POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE
- Caribbean Islands-POPULATION
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-Relations with the United States
- Caribbean Islands-Livestock, Fishing, and Forestry
- Caribbean Islands-National Security
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-Education
- Caribbean Islands-ECONOMY
- Caribbean Islands-Banking and Finance
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Relations
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-NATIONAL SECURITY
- Caribbean Islands-Agricultural Sector
- Caribbean Islands-The Barbados Defence Force
- Caribbean Islands-Government and Politics
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-The Police
- Caribbean Islands-The Robinson Government
- Caribbean Islands-United States Preeminence
- Caribbean Islands-External Sector
- Caribbean Islands-Energy
- Caribbean Islands-Education
- Caribbean Islands-POLITICAL TRADITIONS
- Caribbean Islands-THE STRATEGIC SETTING
- Caribbean Islands-Education
- Caribbean Islands-Role of Government
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Trade and Balance of Payments
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Trade and Balance of Payments
- Caribbean Islands-Government and Politics
- Caribbean Islands-Livestock, Fishing, and Forestry
- Caribbean Islands-Industrial Sector
- Caribbean Islands-Relations with the Commonwealth and Others
- Caribbean Islands-THE COLONIAL PERIOD
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-Relations with Communist Countries
- Caribbean Islands-Role of Government
- Caribbean Islands-GEOGRAPHIC SETTING
- Caribbean Islands-Government and Politics
- Caribbean Islands-Macroeconomic Overview
- Caribbean Islands-Sectoral Performance
- Caribbean Islands-National Security
- Caribbean Islands-Natural Gas
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
- Caribbean Islands-Incidence of Crime
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: Barbados BARBADOS
- Caribbean Islands-The Road to Independence
- Caribbean Islands-PREFACE
- Caribbean Islands -CHAPTER 3 - TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
- Caribbean Islands-Services
- Caribbean Islands-National Security
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Trade and Balance of Payments
- Caribbean Islands-World War II
- Caribbean Islands-External Sector
- Caribbean Islands-EDUCATION
- Caribbean Islands-Foreword
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands-The Postwar Strategic Vacuum
- Caribbean Islands-Education
- Caribbean Islands-Regional Security Threats, 1970-81
- Caribbean Islands-Controversial Security Issues
- Caribbean Islands-HEALTH AND WELFARE
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Assistance
- Caribbean Islands-Chapter 4 - The Windward Islands and Barbados
- Caribbean Islands-ECONOMY
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Relations
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Relations
- Caribbean Islands-Banking, Financial Services, and Currency
- Caribbean Islands-HISTORICAL SETTING
- Caribbean Islands-Education SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS, 1800-1960
- Caribbean Islands-The Post-Williams Era, 1981-86
- Caribbean Islands-The Armed Forces
- Caribbean Islands-Chapter 6 - The Northern Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Relations with the United States
- Caribbean Islands-Sectoral Performance
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-Finance and Banking
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: CAYMAN ISLANDS BRITISH DEPENDENCIES: THE CAYMAN ISLANDS AND THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-Services
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-Education
- Caribbean Islands-Land Tenure and Use
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: MONTSERRAT
- Caribbean Islands-Growth and Structure of the Economy
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-Transportation, Communications, and Electricity
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands-Government and Politics
- Caribbean Islands-Petroleum and Asphalt
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Relations
- Caribbean Islands-Macroeconomic Overview
- Caribbean Islands-The Pre-European Population HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SETTING
- Caribbean Islands-Macroeconomic Overview
- Caribbean Islands-National Security
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: The Bahamas THE BAHAMAS
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Crops
- Caribbean Islands-National Income and Public Finance
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: Dominica DOMINICA
- Caribbean Islands-National Security
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands-Trade and Finance
- Caribbean Islands-Chapter 1 - Regional Overview
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-Labor Organizations
- Caribbean Islands-Revenues
- Caribbean Islands-THE REGIONAL SECURITY SETTING
- Caribbean Islands-Construction
- Caribbean Islands-Manufacturing
- Caribbean Islands-Agriculture
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-ISLANDS OF THE COMMONWEALTH CARIBBEAN
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
- Caribbean Islands-Political Dynamics
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Relations with Latin American and Caribbean Countries
- Caribbean Islands-National Security
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-COUNTRY PROFILE: ANGUILLA
- Caribbean Islands-NATIONAL SECURITY
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS
- Caribbean Islands-Balance of Payments and Debt
- Caribbean Islands-INTRODUCTION
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Relations
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Banking and Finance
- Caribbean Islands-Current Strategic Considerations
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Narcotics Crime
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-Petrochemicals
- Caribbean Islands-Sectoral Performance
- Caribbean Islands-POPULATION
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-The Post-Emancipation Societies
- Caribbean Islands-The West Indies Federation, 1957-62
- Caribbean Islands-Relations with the United States, Britain, and Canada FOREIGN RELATIONS
- Caribbean Islands-Sectoral Performance
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
- Caribbean Islands-Crops
- Caribbean Islands-National Income and Public Finance
- Caribbean Islands-Sectoral Performance
- Caribbean Islands-Precursors of Independence
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Education
- Caribbean Islands-The Criminal Justice System
- Caribbean Islands-GEOGRAPHY
- Caribbean Islands-Role of Government
- Caribbean Islands-Banking and Finance
- Caribbean Islands-Economic Policy and Management
- Caribbean Islands-Foreign Trade and Balance of Payments
- Caribbean Islands-Political Unrest and Economic Troubles, 1970-73
- Caribbean Islands-Education
- Caribbean Islands-Labor Force and Industrial Relations
- Caribbean Islands-Chapter 5 - The Leeward Islands
- Caribbean Islands -Chapter 2 - Jamaica
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands-The Governmental System GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
- Caribbean Islands-The Sugar Revolutions and Slavery
- Caribbean Islands-Macroeconomic Overview
- Caribbean Islands-The Cuban Presence
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-Land Tenure and Use
- Caribbean Islands-Macroeconomic Overview
- Caribbean Islands-Role of Government
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Government and Politics
- Caribbean Islands-The Governmental System GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
- Caribbean Islands-Economy
- Caribbean Islands-Industry
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-The Increased Role of the United States
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands-Transportation and Communications
- Caribbean Islands-Country profile: Grenada GRENADA
- Caribbean Islands-Iron and Steel
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Banking and Finance
- Caribbean Islands-Postwar Federation Efforts
- Caribbean Islands-Health and Welfare
- Caribbean Islands-Government and Politics
- Caribbean Islands
- Caribbean Islands-Population
- Caribbean Islands-GEOGRAPHY
- Caribbean Islands-Industry
- Caribbean Islands-Consolidation and Economic Hardship, 1962-69
- Caribbean Islands-Patterns of Development
- Caribbean Islands-Geography
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
|