ABSTRACT
The policies of the Reagan administration—designed to aggressively promote the interests of capital regardless of the costs to labor, and to exploit the inherently unequal regional power relationship wherever possible—have worsened the economic crisis of the Caribbean and heightened social tensions. Caribbean history provides substantial evidence to show that externally imposed models have not worked. This chapter deals with a discussion of US-Cuba relations and those between Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, countries whose participation is crucial if the region is to achieve prosperity as well as stability in the long run. The extent to which Caribbean countries will potentially benefit from these new initiatives depends largely on which countries are to be included among the poorest or most debt-distressed. The Caribbean economies have suffered a severe jolt from the changes in US sugar policy that were instituted by the Reagan administration.
