Word: santo
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...gentlest military strike in modern history. In three Puma helicopters and two Hercules C-130 transports, a combined force of 230 British marines and French paratroopers swooped down on the sleepy New Hebrides island of Espiritu Santo. They were armed and ready for combat. But the invading force was greeted with garlands of roses and the curious gaze of 1,000 of the island's anything-but-hostile inhabitants...
...moment anyway, a bow-and-arrow rebellion that had nettled London and Paris during eight weeks of fruitless negotiations with Rebel Leader Jimmy Stevens,* a Eurasian and former bulldozer driver who declared the island independent of the New Hebrides central government of Chief Minister Walter Lini and renamed Espiritu Santo "Vemarana." The revolt embarrassed Britain and France, which have governed the New Hebrides as a joint colonial condominium for 74 years, particularly since the island chain was due to gain full independence this week...
...revolutions go, it has been a gentle affair. On May 28, 800 Melanesians, some toting clubs and bows and arrows, took over the island of Espiritu Santo, the largest in the chain. Accompanied by 50 colons, mostly French, the islanders captured Santo's police and radio stations, seized an armory, and proclaimed "the provisional government of Vemarana." The rebels, who are French speaking, reject the New Hebrides independence plan because they fear the new regime, dominated by the English-speaking populace in the capital of Vila, on the island of Efate 170 miles to the south, is insensitive...
...secessionist movement is headed by Jimmy Stevens, 58, who drove bulldozers before emerging as a separatist leader of Espiritu Santo. "Moli" (chief), as his supporters call Stevens, was elected Chief Minister of Vemarana after the takeover. Holding court in a former dance school that now bears the pidgin-English sign VEMARANA OFIS, he told TIME Correspondent John Dunn: "Time is not important here. We will be open for business in a few days. We want to be free to make our own decisions, to run our own economy and have a picnic when we feel like having...
Last week at his home in Carson City, Nev., Oliver welcomed the minicoup. Eventually he hopes to move to Santo, where he plans to operate a 2,000-acre sugar plantation. "The islanders want development," he says. "They want electricity and roads and jobs. They don't want to live in the bush with the mosquitoes. There's no such thing as the noble savage...