ABSTRACT
The Caribbean is an area of abundant variety: there is diversity in economic styles, political institutions, religious preferences, language and ethnic traditions, racial and emigrant origins, and cultural and artistic manifestations. Within a half century after the Spanish arrived in the Caribbean, the area became a battleground for outside powers. Leadership in the Caribbean has been for the most part talented and democratic. The initial stages of modernization have demanded that the new leaders play the combined roles of educator, culture promoter, and political coordinator. As the British have been giving up their colonial role, as US dominance has been challenged in the Hispanic Caribbean, the area is once again in flux. The US government under Carter had made overtures toward Cuba concerning a rapprochement between the United States and Cuba. Before such overtures became crystallized, the Americans once again became worried. Jimmy Carter claimed the discovery of a Soviet brigade in Cuba.
