Word: grenada
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Ironically, Bouterse was initially so suspicious of the left that he expelled a Cuban diplomat suspected of subversive plotting and imprisoned a radical activist for meeting Cuban leaders in Nicaragua. But with the encouragement of Grenada's Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, who had led a Marxist coup on his nearby Caribbean island in 1979, Bouterse drifted gradually leftward. Soon he was visiting Fidel Castro, singing his praises and allowing the Soviets and Cubans to open well-staffed embassies in the riverfront capital of Paramaribo. Nevertheless, Bouterse's revolutionary fervor remained relatively lackadaisical: he never bothered to nationalize private...
...first three years in office, the former national marathon champion survived four civilian governments and an estimated six attempted coups. Last October a coalition of lawyers, workers, students and clergy men opposed to Bouterse's increasingly autocratic rule embarrassingly incapacitated the nation during a state visit by Grenada's Bishop. Only 1,500 people showed up for a public appearance by Bishop, while a demonstration organized by Labor Leader Daal at the same hour drew 15,000. "Your government is too friendly to its enemies," Bishop publicly counseled Bouterse. "You must eliminate them or they will eliminate...
While everyone in Washington is worried about Grenada's exporting revolution, the island is having enough problems trying to import it. English may still be the first language of the island, but it often comes off second best when it comes to translating socialist slogans. The revolution communicates by billboard in the way that Californians do by bumper sticker, posting its noble but often mind-numbing reminders at almost every road turning and intersection: THE LAND IS OUR WEALTH, EDUCATION IS OUR LIBERATION, WORK HARDER, GROW MORE FOOD, BUILD THE REVOLUTION. With equal alacrity, the Grenadians have adeptly copied...
...this, of course, should explain why Grenada's revolution has failed. In fact, the country's economy is growing, and a youthful leadership still in its late 30s has proved to be what some neighboring Caribbean governments are not: competent, noncorrupt and capable of actually working harder than its own citizenry. The achievements have often been on a human scale as miniaturized as the island itself: 45 miles of sorely needed new roads, a tripling of fruit and vegetable exports in the past three years, canning, asphalt and concrete-block plants, a 12% drop in dependence on food...
...government of Prime Minister Bishop would win hands down on just this issue. It may be a matter of national image and prestige: Caribbean islands want their own airports just like some larger countries want their own airlines. The difference is that there is more than vanity at stake. Grenada is a major source of migrant workers in the Caribbean, with maybe three to four times its population outside the country. They still leave and they still come home to the island, each time having to spend a day in Trinidad or Barbados waiting for an air shuttle. Their food...