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The Caribbean Basin Initiative Is a Failure
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12946 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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5 / 1987 |
2,840 Words |
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Timothy Ashby
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The Reagan administration came to office with a deep appreciation of the geo-strategic importance of the Caribbean. The U.S. government - in partnership with the private sector - devoted enormous resources to resolving the region's economic, political, social, and security problems. Young Americans died for the freedom of Grenada in a rescue mission exemplifying the resurgence of the United States' courage and resolve. The new U.S. relationship with the nations of the Caribbean promised a bright future for the region.
Today, however, the Caribbean's future seems tarnished. Economic problems have not been alleviated despite $1 billion in U.S. aid annually since 1982. The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) - centerpiece of President Reagan's policy for the region - is being called a failure by even the most ardent supporters of the administration's Caribbean policy.
Since 1960, 13 new nations have emerged in the Caribbean. These fledgling Caribbean democracies were vulnerable to communist destabilization due to economic and social weaknesses; coups d'etat brought Soviet-allied regimes to power in Grenada and Nicaragua, while leftist governments emerged in Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname, and other countries. The relative power vacuum created by Britain's Caribbean decolonization awakened U.S. policymakers to their new responsibilities in the region.
Like its predecessors in the White House, the Reagan administration recognized that stable democracies and unrestricted economic growth represented the best obstacle to communist expansion. U.S. policy was therefore based on actively promoting the transition from dictatorship or colonial rule to democracy in Central America and the Caribbean. Under the Reagan administration, economic support and developmental assistance to the region reached unprecedented levels, while security assistance was provided to defeat Soviet-subsidized revolutionaries. The United States joined with six Caribbean democracies to restore order and pluralism to Grenada and eradicate a strategically important Soviet-Cuban base.
The cornerstone of Reagan's policy of transforming the region was the CBI. Conceived as a means of coupling increased economic aid with one-way free trade for most Caribbean exports, the CBI had the potential of being one of the most important measures in U.S. economic policy of the twentieth century, comparable to the 1934 Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act and the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Within the context of the CBI, the Reagan administration sought to stimulate private investment in the Caribbean via tax breaks and risk insurance provided by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
Despite the fact that the CBI has been in effect for more than three years (a quarter of its mandated time limit), the economic and security situation has improved very little for the majority of Caribbean nations. The CBI has not sparked growth in the Anglophone islands, and foreign direct investment has been slight. Pro-U.S. governments are in serious political trouble, largely because of economic decline, and the Far Left remains a potent force.
Poor performance
Between 1983 and 1985, the value of exports from CBI-designated nations declined significantly; overall exports to the
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