West Indies

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Cuba

Despite violent revolutionary movements, Cuba remained a Spanish colony until 1898, when a U.S. invasion ended Spain’s control (see Spanish-American War). Independence did not come immediately, and when it came, it was not complete. The U.S. military occupied and governed Cuba until 1902, when the United States granted it independence. Until 1930 the United States retained the right to intervene militarily and to establish military installations on the island. The United States continues to maintain a naval base on Guantánamo Bay. Economically, the United States played a defining role in Cuba, and in many ways the island functioned much like an economic appendage of the United States until the late 1950s.

Fidel Castro’s successful revolution in 1959 effectively ended the U.S. role in Cuba. Castro established a Communist government and aligned his nation with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the world’s leading Communist nation. In 1960 the United States imposed a heavy embargo on imports of Cuban products. For decades the USSR provided Cuba with vital economic support. When the USSR began to dissolve in the late 1980s, Cuba lost critical economic support, but it has tenaciously maintained its Communist regime.

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The Netherlands Antilles

The Spanish took possession of what is now the Netherlands Antilles in 1527. The Dutch took control of the area in 1634 and have ruled it without interruption since the early 19th century. Once known as the Dutch West Indies, these islands were a colony of The Netherlands until 1954, when they were made an integral part of the kingdom of The Netherlands.

Until 1986 the Netherlands Antilles consisted of two groups of islands. Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire made up one group, and Saba, Saint Eustatius, and part of Saint Martin made up the other group. In 1986 Aruba withdrew from the Netherlands Antilles and became an internally self-governing region of The Netherlands. Both the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba have resisted full independence and have chosen instead to be internally self-governing states that depend on the Dutch government for foreign affairs and defense.

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Until the 1980s oil-refining industries were the economic mainstay of Aruba and Curaçao, the two most important Dutch possessions in the Caribbean. In 1985 the Royal Dutch Shell petroleum company pulled out of Curaçao, and the government purchased the refining facilities and leased them to the Venezuelan government. Also in 1985 the Exxon petroleum company closed its refinery in Aruba. The refinery employed about 8,000 people. In 1989 Coastal Oil of Texas signed an agreement with the government, reopening part of the refinery. In the meantime, both islands began to emphasize the tourism industry. Tourism replaced oil-refining in Aruba as the cornerstone of the economy.

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The French West Indies

During the 17th century the French, in competition with the Spanish, English, Dutch, and Danes, colonized several of the West Indian islands, including Saint Kitts, Saint Eustatius, Grenada, Dominica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint Martin, and Hispaniola. Only Martinique, Guadeloupe, and nearby small islands, settled in 1635, survived as the French West Indies. In 1775 they were established as separate colonies. In 1946 Guadeloupe plus its dependencies and Martinique were established as separate overseas departments of the Fourth French Republic. The two departments retained this status following the establishment of the Fifth French Republic late in 1958.

As departments, they possess full political rights within France, and each sends elected representatives to the French Senate and the National Assembly. The residents are citizens of France, and there are no legal barriers to migration from the islands to the French mainland. Local government is structured just as it is in the departments of mainland France.

Political integration into France has brought considerable financial benefits to the islands. The French government is the principal employer, and government spending is estimated to account for more than half of the money in the island’s economy. This has included substantial public expenditures on roads, schools, health-care infrastructure, and other public services. The standard of living is high by West Indian standards. Nonetheless unemployment is high, and many islanders have moved to France. While a majority of the populations of Martinique and Guadeloupe support their departmental status as part of France, a vocal and active minority favors independence.

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Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico found a formula that allowed it a measure of self-government, while at the same time preserving its relationship with the colonial power, in this case the United States. With the leadership of the charismatic and visionary politician, Luis Muñoz Marín, of the Popular Democratic Party, Puerto Rico became a commonwealth in association with the United States in 1952.

This arrangement permitted the popular election of the executive and legislative branches of government and removed Puerto Rico from direct administration by the U.S. federal government. It also permitted Puerto Rico to fashion its own laws and administrative systems as long as they comply with the Constitution of the United States and the U.S. legal codes. The island, however, has only observer status in the U.S. Congress and cannot participate in U.S. presidential elections.

In the 1950s an aggressive program to encourage industrial development in Puerto Rico was launched. It was coupled with favorable tax laws in Puerto Rico and the United States and transformed the island’s economy. Employment in manufacturing rose from about 9 percent of the labor force in the 1940s to 20 percent in the 1980s. During the same period, agricultural employment fell from over 33 percent of the labor force to just 5 percent. Living standards improved. The total amount of money in the Puerto Rican economy increased substantially, rising from barely $150 per person in 1940 to almost $5,000 at the end of the 1980s. Land reform in the agricultural sector and the aggressive promotion of tourism also contributed to this transformation.

Even though their legislature has wide powers over internal matters, many Puerto Ricans question the continuance of what is in fact a colonial relationship. As the main supporter of commonwealth status, the Popular Democratic Party dominated politics in Puerto Rico during the 1950s and early 1960s, but since 1968 it has lost a number of elections to the New Progressive Party, a proponent of statehood for Puerto Rico. Public opinion on this issue remains almost evenly divided. In a 1993 referendum on the status question, 48.4 percent of the voters favored the commonwealth, 46.2 percent supported statehood, and the remainder chose independence. Another referendum was held in 1998, and the voters again rejected statehood.

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The Former British Colonies

The British colonies in the West Indies chose either internal self-government or independence. After riots in several islands in the 1930s, a British royal commission recommended major political changes, including extension of the vote, more self-government, and the federation of the islands into larger units. After World War II (1939-1945), the British government implemented the recommendations, with notable success, except in the matter of federation. The extension of the vote to all adults and self-government in local affairs came gradually to island after island during the 1940s and 1950s.

Between 1962 and 1966 Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados became independent states. The Bahamas became internally self-governing in 1964 and independent in 1973. In 1967 and 1969, six other islands or groups, each with fewer than 100,000 people, became states associated with Britain, self-governing in all matters except foreign affairs and defense. In 1974 the associated state of Grenada chose full independence. Dominica followed suit in 1978, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 1979, Antigua and Barbuda in 1981, and Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1983. Smaller islands, such as Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Anguilla have remained dependencies.

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