Word: seaga
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DIED. MICHAEL MANLEY, 72, charismatic former Prime Minister of Jamaica; after a long battle with cancer; in Kingston. A fiery leftist when he became Prime Minister in 1972, Manley nationalized farms and companies, railed against U.S. imperialism and flirted with Castro. Ousted in 1980 by conservative Edward Seaga, Manley recast himself as a capitalist and returned to office in 1989, only to step down in 1992, citing poor health...
...early 1980s B.C.C.I. had become a potent geopolitical force. B.C.C.I. was especially adept at using offshore branches to help Third World countries frustrate attempts by international monetary authorities to force changes in their economies. The technique was perfected in Jamaica, where B.C.C.I. came to then Prime Minister Edward Seaga's aid when the International Monetary Fund refused to release $60 million of aid because of unpaid debts. B.C.C.I. stepped in with $48 million to straighten out Seaga's accounts after brokering the deal with the IMF, and passed the remainder of the IMF funds to the Jamaican government. In return...
Manley's return was a resounding rejection of the conservative, free- enterprise philosophy that had kept Seaga in power for eight years and made him Ronald Reagan's closest ally in the Caribbean. Seaga, who consistently trailed Manley in the polls, had hoped to win back voters by promising to expand social welfare programs and build upon Jamaica's economic stability. He warned that a Manley victory would plunge the country back into socialist chaos...
...Seaga's heavy cuts in health and education spending had angered the poor. There was a growing consensus among Jamaicans that the recovery had benefited mainly businessmen and the wealthy. Under the party slogan of "We put people first," Manley succeeded in portraying Seaga as a callous, autocratic Prime Minister obsessed with computer figures and uninterested in his constituents...
That attitude is echoed by many Jamaicans. Says a prominent pro-Seaga business leader: "We are realists. This is a pluralistic society, and change after two terms is healthy...