|
Caribbean Islands Relations with Latin American and Caribbean Countries
Jamaica joined the OAS in 1969 in an effort to overcome the
tradition of mutual indifference between the English-speaking
Caribbean and the Hispanic countries. It and Mexico were the only
countries to speak out in OAS meetings in the early 1970s in favor
of normalization of relations with Cuba. In addition, Jamaica made
a number of exchanges and agreements with Hispanic countries in the
1970s, particularly with Mexico and Venezuela; it also established
a shipping line with seven Latin American countries. Jamaica was
one of the signatories to the treaty establishing the Latin
American Economic System (Sistema Economica Latino Americana--SELA)
in 1975 and has been an active member of the IDB. Jamaica supported
Panama in the Panama Canal dispute with the United States in the
1970s, and in 1986 the Seaga government sought and received
assistance from Puerto Rico, with which it signed a trade
agreement. Jamaica's closest non-English-speaking neighbors in the
Greater Antilles--Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic--were not
a significant factor in its foreign policy, with the exception of
Cuba during the Manley administrations (1972-80). Jamaica did,
however, play a key role in negotiating the exit of President-for-
Life Jean-Claude Duvalier from Haiti in late 1986.
The Seaga government's position on the Central American crisis
has been that it can best be resolved on the basis of peace
initiatives introduced by the Contadora Group, which initially
consisted of Panama, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela, whose
representatives first met on the Panamanian island of Contadora in
January 1983 to address the problems of Central America. The
Contadora negotiating process later expanded to include five
Central American countries. Jamaican relations with Nicaragua were
not nearly as controversial as those with Cuba. Jamaica's deputy
prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade
received the first ambassador of Nicaragua to Jamaica on September
19, 1984. Seaga's government has been concerned, however, about the
authoritarian nature of the Sandinista regime.
Jamaica has been an active member of the Commonwealth of
Nations. It hosted a conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association in 1964 and became the first Caribbean country to host
a Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in 1975. Jamaica's
relations with other Commonwealth Caribbean members have been
determined more by the nation's incorporation in the British West
Indies than by geography. Jamaica has preferred to cooperate more
with these members than with its closer Hispanic neighbors; the
Manley government's close relations with Cuba in the 1970s were an
exception. An advocate of regional economic integration with the
other English-speaking Caribbean countries, Jamaica in 1968 joined
the Caribbean Free Trade Association (Carifta). On July 4, 1973,
Carifta merged with Caricom, formed by Jamaica, Trinidad and
Tobago, Barbados, and Guyana. Jamaica also joined several
institutions associated with Caricom, including the Caribbean
Development Bank, Caribbean Examinations Council, Caribbean
Investment Corporation, Caribbean Meteorological Council, Council
of Legal Education, and the Regional Shipping Council.
Jamaica's diplomatic ties with the Commonwealth Caribbean
increased during Seaga's administration. For example, having
supported the right of the Belizean people to self-determination
and independence, Jamaica welcomed Belize's independence, which was
granted on September 21, 1981. The Seaga government declared its
solidarity with Belize in the event of an armed attack against it
and opened diplomatic relations with Belize in late October 1984.
Jamaica also developed closer ties to the Eastern Caribbean
microstates. Jamaican-Trinidadian ties, which had long been
relatively close, increased. In return for a visit to Jamaica by
Prime Minister George Chambers in November 1985, Seaga visited
Trinidad and Tobago on March 1-4, 1986.
Jamaica was not close to all of the Commonwealth Caribbean
members, however. Jamaica's relations with the Cayman Islands were
poor. The islands were close when they were ruled, along with the
Turks and Caicos Islands, under the same protectorate from the midnineteenth century to 1962. They drifted apart, however, after
Jamaica received independence. As Jamaica suffered financial
hardships as an independent state, the Cayman Islands prospered as
a tax haven and banking center. In 1985 Jamaica reportedly had a
negative image in the Cayman Islands because of Jamaican higglers
(street vendors), marijiana, and marriages of convenience entered
into by Jamaicans seeking residency status in the Cayman Islands.
Although Jamaica avoided any formal political or military
integration with the other Commonwealth Caribbean islands, it
actively sought regional cooperation in these areas in the 1980s.
At a meeting of regional prime ministers and other high government
officials held in Kingston in January 1986, Seaga fulfilled a longheld dream by forming a conservative regional organization called
the Caribbean Democratic Union (CDU) to provide a forum for
exchange of views on political matters of a regional and
international nature. A regional affiliate of the International
Democratic Union (IDU), the CDU included the ruling centrist
parties of seven other Caribbean countries: Belize, Dominica,
Grenada, St. Christopher (St. Kitts)-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, and Montserrat. The prime minister of Bermuda
attended the inaugural meeting as an observer. Seaga, who was
elected CDU chairman, described the organization as an attempt to
revive a regional political alliance similar to the West Indies
Federation (1958-62).
Data as of November 1987
|
