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Caribbean Islands
Foreign Relations
Strong economic and political bonds largely determined the country's foreign
relations in the late 1980s. Antigua and Barbuda's primary diplomatic relations
were with other Caribbean countries, the United States, Britain, and Canada;
embassies were maintained in each of these countries. In other countries with
which Antigua and Barbuda had diplomatic relations, no Antiguan and Barbudan
ambassador was in residence, but ambassadors residing in the aforementioned
countries were accredited to them as well. Firmly anticommunist, Antigua and
Barbuda in 1987 was considered to be one of the most ardent supporters of the
United States in the Caribbean area. Various forms of United States aid were
important to Antigua and Barbuda, as was North American tourism. Of importance
to the United States was the fact that Antigua occupied a strategic position and
hosted a United States military presence, including air force and naval
facilities. After Antigua and Barbuda gained independence, the United States
consulate that had been established in 1980 was upgraded to an embassy in 1982,
with a staff of eighteen.
Despite Antigua and Barbuda's bonds with both the United States and Britain,
relations were tense in late 1986 as the ALP government formed the impression
that the United States and Britain might favor the UNDP in the upcoming 1989
election. Realizing that the Western powers might regard Deputy Prime Minister
Lester Bird, the presumed successor to his father, as too leftist, the ALP
leadership accused the United States and Britain of courting Heath and promoting
his party in the next elections in the hope that the UNDP would institute a more
conservative government. When Heath received an official invitation to visit
London, the Herald, the newspaper generally regarded as affiliated with
Deputy Prime Minister Bird and his supporters, cited this as evidence of
Britain's support of the UNDP candidate and described as inappropriate a
diplomatic meeting with the leader of a party with no elected seats in the
Antiguan Parliament. The Workers' Voice, the ATLU-supported newspaper,
joined in accusing the United States of interfering in Antigua and Barbuda's
internal affairs.
For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Bird criticized United States policy in
the region as not sharing the national priorities held by governments in the
Caribbean region. Bird also expressed reservations about the pervasive presence
of United States advisers in the region, increased arms shipments from the
United States to the Caribbean, and the establishment of paramilitary Special
Service Units (SSUs). Although some in his party feared a leftward turn should
he gain power, Lester Bird and those with similar nationalistic views remained
strongly anticommunist.
Antigua and Barbuda was a member of, among other international organizations,
the Commonwealth of Nations (see Appendix B), the International Monetary Fund
(IMF--see Glossary), the World Bank (see Glossary), the United Nations (UN) and
several UN agencies (including the United Nations Education, Science, and
Culture Organization), the OECS, the Regional Security System (RSS), Caricom,
and the Organization of American States. As a member of Caricom and the
Commonwealth of Nations, Antigua and Barbuda supported Eastern Caribbean
integration efforts (see Postwar Federation Efforts, ch. 7).
Data as of November 1987
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