Caribbean Review

:APBBEAN IVIEW

JAN/FEB/MARCH Two Dollars Vol. VII No. 1
IN THIS ISSUE...
What's a Rasta?; Black & White on Green Turtle Cay; Susu; Central
America's Economic Family; The "M" Factor of Tourism; Caribbean
Literature: Dathorne, Naipaul, Walcott ...

COMMENTARY:
THE MIAMI CONNECTION
CARIBBEAN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES
THE CARIBBEAN UNDERWORLD
COMMENTARY ON THINGS TOURISMIC
THE NEW CARIBBEAN GUIDE

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In this issue...
FEATURES:
What's A Rasta? by Claudia Rogers. An introduction to the millenial Rastafarian
movement of Jamaica who worship Haile Selassie and who smoke the wisdom
weed ganja. Claudia Rogers teaches anthropology at the University of Miami. Page
Nine.

Black And White On Green Turtle Cay, by A. G. LaFlamme. An analysis of
changing race relations in one of the Bahamian out-island communities. A. G.
LaFlamme teaches anthropology at the State University of New York at
Fredonia. Page Thirteen.

Susu, by Daniel Levin. An examination of Trinidad's rotating credit system, susu.
The article is based on survey research done by the author in Trinidad. Daniel
Levin is studying International Development at the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy. Page Nineteen.

Central America's Economic Family, by Bernard Coard. An analysis of integration
and dependence resulting from the Central American Common Market. Bernard
Coard is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of the West Indies
in Trinidad. Page Twenty-Four.

The Future of Tomorrow, by O.R. Dathorne. A silken, sad, uncertain excerpt
from Grandman, a work in progress. O.R. Dathorne, the well-known Guyanese
author, is in the Department of English at Florida International University. Page
Twenty-Eight.

Another Life, by John J. Figueroa. A review of Derek Walcott's epic poem.
Jamaican John Figueroa is with the Caribbean Center for Advanced Studies in
Puerto Rico. Page Thirty.

Naipauliana, by John Thieme. An analysis of the work of Trinidad's V.S. Naipaul.
John Thieme is in the Department of English at the University of Guayana. Page
Thirty-Two.

Tomorrow's Child, by Jose R. Garcia. Theology and development in the writing
of Brazil's Rubem Alves. Jos6 Garcia is a theology student in Puerto Rico. Page
Thirty-Six.

The "M" Factor of Tourism, by Ramash Ramsaran. An analysis of the so-called
multiplier effect of tourism. Ramash Ramsaran, a Trinidadian, is a research fellow
in monetary studies, doing work in the Bahamas. Page Forty-One.
REGULARS:
The Miami Connection, by Frank Soler. Page Three.
Caribbean Economic Perspectives, by Dale Truett. Page Five.
The Caribbean Underworld, by M. John Thompson. Page Six.
Commentary on Things Tourismic, by Herbert L. Hiller. Page Seven.
Recent Books, by Neida Pagan. Page Forty-Four.
The New Caribbean Guide, by Herbert L. Hiller. Page Fifty-Two.

The cover photo is of a sculpture by the Jamaican sculptor, Kapo. Photo by Neil
Schwartz.

t

UCA??BBcAN rEviEw
Jan/Feb/March 1975
Two Dollars
Vol. VII No. 1
Editors:
Barry B. Levine
Joseph D. Olander
Associate Editors:
For the English Speaking Caribbean:
Basil Ince
For the French Speaking Caribbean:
Gerard Latortue
For the Spanish Speaking Caribbean:
Olga Jim6nez de Wagenheim
For Central Am6rica:
Ricardo Arias
Editors-at- Large:
Ken Boodhoo
Celia FernBndez de Cintr6n
Herbert Hiller
Anthony P. Maingot
Aaron Segal
Managing Editor:
Jose Keselman
Assistant Editor:
Susan Sheinman
Editorial Assistant:
Charles Keller
General Manager:
Neil Schwartz
Business Manager:
Joe Guzm6n
Advertising Manager:
Rolando A. Villanueva
Executive Administrator:
Denise Robicheau
Art Director:
Andrew R. Banks
Photo Editor:
Joel I. Kandel
Bibliographer:
Neida Pagan
Translators:
From the Dutch and Papiamentu:
Ligia Espinal de Hoetlnk
From the French and Creole:
Marlene Z6phirin
From the Spanish:
Adela G. L6pez
Caribbean Review, a quarterly journal dedicated to the Caribbean,
Latin America, and their emigrant groups, is published by
Caribbean Review, Inc., a corporation not for profit organized
under the laws of the State of Florida. Mailing address: Caribbean
Review; P.O. Box 650037; Miami, Florida 33165. Editorial Office:
Caribbean Review Editorial Office; College of Arts & Sciences;
Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33144. Unsolic-
ited manuscripts (articles, essays, reprints, excerpts, translations,
book reviews, poetry, etc.) are welcome but should be
accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Copyright
1975 by Caribbean Review, Inc. All rights reserved.
Subscription rates: 1 year: $8.00; 2 years: $15.00; 3 years:
$12.00. 25% less in the Caribbean and Latin America. Air Mail:
add $2.00 per year. Payment in Canadian currency or with checks
drawn from banks outside the U.S. add 10 percent. Invoicing
charge: $2.00. Subscription agencies please take 15 percent.
Back Issues: Vol. 1, No. 1, Vol. III, No. 1; Vol. VI, No. 1, out of
print. All other back numbers: $3.00 each. Microfilm and
microfiche copies of Caribbean Review are available from
University Microfilms, A Xerox Company, 300 North Zeeb Road,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106.
International Standard Serial number: PRISSN 0008-6525;
Library of Congress Number: AP6, C27; Dewey Decimal Number:
079.7295.

LETTERS

Dear Sirs:
I agree with reviewer Adalberto L6pez that the
clothbound version of The Puerto Ricans: a
Documentary history (Praeger, 1973, 332 pp.) is "too
expensive" for students. Which is why I'm pleased
that Doubleday will publish it in paperback (Anchor
Press edition) in early or mid-1975.
All writers have monstrous egos and resent negative
comments about their work. In some cases, when the
comments are plain wrong, this resentment is
justified. For example, L6pez wrongly states that the
anthology contains "more selections by North
Americans than by Puerto Ricans." Then he delivers
academe's equivalent of the quick knee to the groin
by gratuitously suggesting that "the average North
American" who studies Puerto Rico has a "feeling in
the back of his mind that, after all, North Americans
know best."
To begin with, the book is co-edited by Olga
Jim6nez de Wagenheim, a Puerto Rican who is a
doctoral candidate in Latin American history.
As for the ethnic sources of the selections, it's
clearly stated in the introduction that "I have given
preference to the writings of Puerto Ricans, who have
too often been spoken for by others" and that
"where I have used the writings of Americans, I have
done so because hey treat a vital topic in a unique
way, or illustrate the cultural bias of a foreigner (I
leave to the reader the fun of deciding which does
which)."
Of the book's 73 major selections, ten were written
by neither Puerto Ricans nor North Americans. These
include important early accounts by Fray Bartolom4
de las Casas, Fray Ram6n Pan6, Juan Ponce de Le6n
and Queen Isabella, and the brilliant Trinidad
historian Eric Williams. Reviewer L6pez might have
preferred an "indigenous" touch here, but unfor-
tunately Taino chieftain Agiieybana left neither
written diaries nor tape recordings.
Of the remaining 63 selections, 34 were written by
Puerto Ricans or were tape recorded interviews with
Puerto Ricans. Virtually every major political figure
during this century is quoted, some for the first time
in an English language book. Among these are Ram6n
E. Betances, Jos6 C. Barbosa, Eugenio Maria de
Hostos, Luis Mufioz Rivera, Luis Mufioz Marin, Pedro
Albizu Campos, Antonio R. Barcel6, Luis Ferr6 and
Rub6n Berrios. There are also works by writers Juan
Antonio Corretjer, Jaime Carrero, C6sar Andreu
Iglesias, Piri Thomas, Jests Col6n and Luis Llorens
Torres. And interviews with a member of the Young
Lords and several Puerto Rican students.
Of the 29 "North American" selections, Lopez
misses the obvious point that many were included to
show the prejudiced (sometimes hostile) views of the
U.S. towards Puerto Rico. For example, the N.Y.
Times story, in 1898, gloating that "our" flag has
been raised on the island. Or statements made by
Presidents Roosevelt (Teddy and FDR) and Coolidge,

and members of Congress and the U.S. military.
Another "North American" selection is an on-the-
scene account, in the Washington Post, of the
Nationalist shoot-out in Congress in 1954. (Unfor-
tunately, no reporters from El Mundo or El Imparcial
were in Washington at the time.)
We did include a few excellent accounts of Puerto
Rican life by North American writers. Novelist Dan
Wakefield's story of a plane ride between San Juan
and New York is a gem. So are Jack Newfield's
account of political life in East Harlem and Richard
M. Elman's minute-by-minute chronicle of a day in a
grocery store in New York.
The book's "main fault," says L6pez, is "its failure
to delineate the multi-faceted impact of U.S.
imperialism on Puerto Rican society." I think that
Ruben Barrios and Pedro Albizu Campos speak
eloquently to that point. Since L6pez is a historian (at
the State University of New York) I invite him to
exercise his craft and write a book himself, offering
us, at last, the definitive, unbiased work on Puerto
Ricans that all students deserve. Perhaps we can use
an excerpt from it in our next anthology.

Dear Sirs:
My enjoyment of your July/August/September issue
was spoiled by an inaccuracy in the article on
National Dances of the Caribbean and Latin America.
The article's last paragraph under Jamaica, seems to
belong rightly under Haiti.
Voodoo is not Jamaican and the Goddess of Love,
Erzulie, is unknown in Jamaican lore. The shay-shay
as we know it, is a dance step. The term is sometimes
used to describe a gay lively section of the Quadrille,
which has six (6) sections Figures one to six (1 -
6). For different sections, they would sometimes play
a Waltz, a Mazurka, a Mento, a Polka, a Mazurka
Polka, or a Vaspiana. The latter could be a corruption
of a Spanish name and dance, but the Mento is
indigenous to Jamaica.
I offer the comments for what they are worth, as I
think the magazine is a welcome addition to the
Caribbean scene.
Looking forward to more publications.
Peace and Love. Walk good

Kal Wagenheim
Maplewood, N.J.

Easton Lee
Kingston, Jamaica.

South Florida has unquestionably
become the leading Latin melting
pot in the United States. Nowhere
else in this nation have so many
Latins of so many varied ethno-
logical backgrounds mingled so
freely.
Cubans, Colombians, Puerto
Ricans, Bolivians and Hondurans.
Jamaican, Chileans, Dominicans,
Haitians and Argentines. They've
all flocked to South Florida over
the years, some legally, some
illegally, all looking for a better
lot than they had back home.
And the influx continues, from
virtually every single Caribbean
and Latin American nation -day
after day, month after month, in a
virtually inobtrusive yet unending
stream.
Perhaps the best barometer of
the magnitude of the Latin influx

is provided by figures: barely four
years ago, only 27 per cent of the
area's million-plus residents was of
Latin extraction, but by 1980 that
percentage is expected to soar past
the 40 per cent mark.
Such menage has been highly
satisfactory for the international-
istic image the area's elders seek to
bestow upon South Florida (they
like to call Miami the U.S.
Gateway of the Americas, a boast
not without merit).
But it also has raised a number
of concerned eyebrows among the
cogniscenti of the drastic socio-
logical impact of close inter-rela-
tions between highly disparate
national groups.
For notwithstanding the com-
monality of language that most
Caribbean and Latin American
peoples in this area share, Miami's

Latin community is indeed com-
posed of highly-disparate group-
ings.
Cubans, for example, are vastly
different from Puerto Ricans. In
both the experiences of the past
and the hopes and dreams for the
future.
And Puerto Ricans are vastly
different from Colombians. And
Colombians are vastly different
from Argentines. And Argentines
are vastly different from everyone
else. And so on down the line.
Each Latin nation is, in effect, a
world unto itself.
The crucial question, given this
set of circumstances, then be-
comes how well the various
minorities that compose each of
these worlds will relate to one
another as their numbers sky-
rocket and their personal brushes
increase.
The evidence, thus far, hints
that they will get along well,
because there has been little, if
any, serious hostility between the
different nationalities in the past.
But there are those who are
beginning to hoist warning signs,
who believe the seemingly pastoral
Latin scene in South Florida could
change soon. And for the worse.
C.R. Jan/Feb/March ---Page 3

SOne such is Emilio L6pez, a
39-year old Puerto Rican who
directs the Borinquen Health Care
Center in the Northwest Miami
district of Winwood.

-L6pez, a psychology graduate
from the University of Miami who
-is considered a sort of spokesman
Sfor the area's Puerto Rican com-
munity, says morning conflict
between the various Latin groups
is already evident.

And he blames most poign-
antly local politicians and
pressure groups who think only
: Cu-ban-exile when referring to the
S needs of South Florida's Latin
community.

"Whenever any program is
being set up to help Miami's Latin
community, the program is set up
under- the misconception that the
Latin community is composed
---solely of -Cubans," complains
:- --; -L pez_ -- -
Lbpez-.

"Well, the people may not
realize this, but in addition to
Cubans, there are between 45,000
and 65,000 Puerto Ricans living in
the area, -as -well as more than
30,000 Colombians and thousands
more from other Latin nations,"
-hesays.

L- L6pez claims that in the rush to
resolve the problems of the Cuban
S exiles -- which he acknowledges
are pressing community leaders
ignore the problems of other Latin
--Americans.
2
H -.-He_ claims, for example, that
wh- en a new item- relating to
P-: ert:o Rico's communi y is
d--- delivered to Anglo news media,
t_:the-. media indicates the item
Should go to the Latin news
Smedia.--But, he claims, the Latin
news outlets are full to the. brim
i- with news for and. about -Cubans
and- have little time or space for
nythiig else.- :_

He: also claims that when his
children and the children of other
Latins go to school to take
adi-ant --age of the bilingual system
:- ere they are taught the history of
- Pagi C.RP;.- V -. VII No.;

Cuba, instead of the overall
history of Latin America.
"There are many things like
this ... it also happens to us in
looking for jobs and houses,"
claims L6pez, who holds a Masters
in Guidance and Counseling from
Florida Atlantic University in
Boca Raton.
L6pez warns that unless the
situation is resolved, resentment
within the Latin community will
continue to grow until that time
when an irreparable split will
occur.
Echoing L6pez' complaints is a
Colombian who works in a
mechanical department for a
Miami Spanish-language news-
paper and who agreed to be
identified only as Jos&.
"I used to like Cubans very
much when I was in Colombia. I
had a number of very good Cuban
friends. Those were my friends
and they still are my friends," says
Jose.

"But now, in Miami. I find that
I have to work and to compete
with them. It is not the same. I
cannot make friends with Cubans
at work because, I think, they are
arrogant -toward me. They don't
say it with words, but their looks
seem to imply, 'Hey, little fellow,
I was here first.'
"I know most of the Cubans
here are not like that. But my
feelings are controlled by the
Cubans with whom I come in
daily contact. And that's in my
work. And I can't help being
angry at the ones I work with,
because of the way they look at
me and because I am unable to get
the same American benefits that
some of them get."
Perhaps illustrating best the
undercurrent of discomfort
coursing through- segments of the
Latin community was an incident
witnessed the other day outside a
small coffee shop -on busy South-
west 8th Street, in -the heart of
Miami's famed -Little Havana area.
A young Argentine was com-
plaining to an older Cuban .about

how Cuban exiles had managed to
control many of the areas where
Latins from other nations might
find suitable jobs.
"You Cubans have everything
'tied up,' the Argentine said. "I
come here and I try to make
money to bring my family and I
can't get a job. I don't speak
English. So I have to try in the
Spanish-speaking places. But the
Spanish-speaking places I've been
to tell me they prefer other
Cubans as employees.
"Is that fair? Of course, it isn't.
But that's the way it is."
The Cuban, a cigar clenched
tightly in his right hand, listened
with rapidly exhausting patience
for a couple of minutes, then,
loudly, told the Argentine that he
would help him find a job.
".... just to prove to you that
if you really want to find a job,
you will find a job," said the
Cuban. "Everybody can find jobs
here. The only thing you have to
be is hungry enough. The only
thing you have to be is not lazy.
"We Cubans weren't lazy. We
Cubans were hungry. We had lost
our homeland. We had lost every-
thing. We came here as political
exiles and found ourselves hungry.
Well, we wanted to get ahead. So
we tried. And we worked. Fifteen
or twenty hours, whatever it took.
"We paid our way ... so don't
complain about us Cubans doing
so well here while you're not.
We're doing so well here because
we earned it.
"Now it's your turn," said the
Cuban and strode off, angrily
throwing his cigar but to the
ground.
The Argentine youth glazed
after him for a few seconds, the
muttered under his breath and
walked the other way.
The incident was insignificant,
to be sure. But it appropriately
serves to underscore the resent-
ment that may be brewing among
some Latins who believe they are
not getting a fair and equal share
of the South Florida .that has
become their new home. *

Today, inflation seems to be
everybody's major economic con-
cern. However, it was not very
long ago that a favorite pastime of
economists in the industrialized
countries was giving advice to the
poor, underdeveloped countries
who could not manage their own
economic houses well enough to
avoid either inflation or persistent
unemployment. In the early
1960's, a good deal of attention
was paid to problems of inflation
and growth in the Latin American
countries, and academic discussion
reached its peak at the Rio de
Janeiro conference of 1963 where
the world's experts on Latin
American development convened
to set the record straight. (For the
conference proceedings, see Wer-
ner Baer and Isaac Kerstenetzky,
eds., Inflation and Growth in
Latin America, Homewood, Il-
linois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc.,
1964.) Actually, Rio simply
served as one of several sounding
boards for the notorious mone-
tarist-structuralist debate on the
causes of and remedies for infla-
tion in developing economies, a
debate which had raged since the
fifties. I doubt that any mone-
tarists left the conference as
structuralists or that the struc-
turalists were basically swayed by
the monetarists' arguments.
The foundation of the moneta-
rist view on inflation is the
quantity theory of money, which
has not changed fundamentally
since monks at the School of
Salamarca used it to explain the
Spanish inflation of the sixteenth
century. The quantity theory
simply argues that when money
becomes abundant relative to
other things, money will be cheap

and other things high-priced. Thus
the flow of gold into Spain made
gold cheap and goods expensive,
and similarly, an increase in paper
money, demand deposits, and near
monies can also be inflationary. In
Spain, the sovereign could have
stifled inflation by keeping gold
out of the hands of the people;
modern day governments can do
the same by refusing to expand
the money supply. Not surprising-
ly, economists of the monetarist
bent have frequently chided the
governments and central bankers
of developing nations for their
lack of restraint and mismanage-
ment of the money supply.
Structuralists, on the other hand,
argued that price increases were in
the first instance tripped off by
bottlenecks or deficiencies in the
supply of goods whether of
domestic or external origin. These
bottlenecks were envisioned to
cause an initial round of price
inflation which somehow turned
into an inflationary spiral. The
nexus between such initial price
rises and chronic inflation was not
well established in many of the
structuralists' position papers.

As always, there are lessons to
be learned from the past, and
particularly from past debates. It
seems that structural inflation to-
day is alive, well, and thriving in
the industrialized countries. The
United States itself is beset with
the twin problems of inflation and
unemployment that were so much
the concern of the developing
nations ten or fifteen years ago.
The monetarists and the structu-
ralists are still with us. and the
early days of the inflationary
recession proved to be a delight

CARIBBEAN

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

By Dale Truett

for the former. The managers of
U.S. monetary policy, like Latin
American central bankers, took
the brunt of the monetarists'
criticism. While the monetarists
kept their eyes on the money
supply, truly critical supply bot-
tlenecks developed in world com-
modity markets. The prices of
many key inputs for industrial
processes soared, and a round of
increases in intermediate goods
and final products was kicked off.
The supply disruptions, many of
which are traceable to the oil
crisis, led to worsening of un-
employment as prices rose. On the
monetary side, credit became
tighter and interest rates higher.
The new year finds the United
States finally admitting it has deep
economic problems. With the
highest unemployment rates since
pre-World War II days, the govern-
ment has had to let economic
recovery and expansion take a
front seat ahead of inflation
fighting. The structural nature of
the problem is clear; there is no
unilateral monetary policy remedy
for the price increases caused by
OPEC. Further, the United States
is placed in exactly the position
earlier occupied by many of its
Latin American neighbors. That is.
it can use monetary contraction to
achieve price stability only if it is
willing to stifle economic growth
and worsen unemployment. In
fact., it is quite likely that inflation
will be necessary to the near term
growth process of the American
economy just as it was argued to
have been necessary for growth in
many Latin American countries.
After all, the rise in the price of
energy and the prices of energy-
related goods will cause a diver-
sion of expenditure from other
sectors of the economy. There will
be recessions in these sectors as
long as new money is not pumped
into the expenditure stream. The
necessary injection into this flow
will have to come as a result of
expansionary federal policy, both
monetary and fiscal. So, the U.S.
finds itself now creating federally
supported jobs and loosening up
monetary policy.
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page.5

In any event, Uncle Sam is
certainly too busy with his own
problems to pay much attention
to those of Latin America and the
Caribbean at present. Undoubted-
ly he is too busy to wonder what

his neighbors to the south might
think about "Big Brother's" pre-
dicament or whether there are
some among them ready to
whisper ... "I told you so." *

STHE CARIBBEAN UNDERWORLD
By M. John Thompson

Natural resources should not be
viewed solely in terms of possible
oil or mineral production, but
should include concepts of unique
biological habitats. Bio-organic or
living natural resources are non-
depletable, given proper safe
guards, and can be used repeatedly
to generate capital for the nation
concerned. The nearshore marine
habitats of the Caribbean Sea and
its adjacent tropical waters have a
biological richness which is
matched by few areas of the
world.
How does a nation, company,
or individual set about utilizing a
newly discovered natural re-
source? Logic would dictate that
the first requirement should be an
in-depth survey to determine the
extent of the resource in question
and its projected value. This is
indeed the procedure followed by
any major oil or mineral company
before opening up a new field.
Unfortunately, most people place
resources of biological uniqueness
or natural beauty in a different
category than resources of mineral
wealth. This mental segregation is
all right as long as we consider
beauty a free and inexhaustable
gift of nature, which can be
enjoyed without charge, and
destroyed by any individual for
their own convenience. Thinking
of this type, that beauty is free
and expendible, has already lead
to a tremendous depletion in the
world's supply of natural beauty.
Page 6 C.R. Vol. VII No. 1

This depletion is already being felt
in the overindustrialized nations
of Europe and North America and
will grow more acute as we
approach the year 2000.
As any commodity becomes
scarcer on the market, its value
begins to increase. It is past time
that citizens and governments
realized that beautiful areas within
and around their nation represent
a true natural resource and should
no longer be considered a free gift
of God, to be used and abused by
each man as he pleases. These
resources belong to the citizens of
a nation, and that nation's govern-
ment owes its citizens the protec-
tion and exploitation of such
resources. Beauty is no longer free
in this world. At the present
moment its value is admittedly
somewhat less than that of oil; but
while new power sources can be
found, there is no substitute for
such commodities as living coral
reefs.
The extent to which marine
habitats have been neglected as a
natural resource can best be
gauged by looking at some exam-
ples from around the -tropical
Americas. Florida, rich state of a
rich nation, has the only living
coral reefs found in the continen-
tal United States. For years, these
reefs have supported large com-
mercial and sports fisheries, which
annually dumped thousands of
dollars into the economy of South
Florida. With the increase in

I

sports diving, beginning in 1960,
Florida's reefs, because of their
continental location and ease of
access, became a mecca for divers
from all over North America.
These divers, in turn, generated
more tourism and contributed
substantially to the multi-million
dollar land development boom
seen in the Florida Keys between
1968-74.
Florida first became aware of
the value of its coral reef resources
in 1971 when alarming stories
began to appear in the press that
these reefs were dying. Scientific
studies proved these reports to be
somewhat exaggerated, but the
incident did call to the attention
of some Government officials the
economic value of Florida's coral
reefs. Nevertheless, it was not
until October of 1974 that the
State of Florida set up an initial
program to inventory or deter-
mine the extent of its coral reef
resources.
The Bahamas, an Island nation
quickly and cheaply accessible
from North America, and with a
well-based history of U.S. and
European tourism, have only
begun to promote underwater
recreation within the last three
years. The skin and scuba diving
brochure they distribute is a
general information pamphlet
along the lines of similar pro-
motional material which has been
developed for golf, yachting, fish-
ing and flying. It does, however,
contain a list of many of the best
diving spots on several of the
major islands. This type of in-
formation is an initial step toward
a specific type of marine resources
inventory.
As an island nation, the
Bahamas has taken some ex-
tremely valuable steps toward
protecting their natural under-sea
resources, even without passing a
comprehensive inventory of those
resources. They have made spear-
fishing illegal throughout their
country; and, correlary to this,
they have begun to encourage
underwater photo-hobbiests in-
stead of spearfishermen. Such
events as their "November Under-

water Photo Treasure Hunt,"
sponsored by the Bahamian
Ministry of Tourism, provide both
exposure of their marine habitat
and preserves the inhabitants of
this underwater world for others
to enjoy. The Bahamian govern-
ment has also instituted stringent
antipollution laws and has enacted
penalties for oil spills which may
occur at sea. This type of
legislation is a must if a nation
wishes to preserve its biological
marine resources.
At the present time, I know of
no plans by the Bahamian, or any
other island government, to con-
duct a truly comprehensive marine
resources inventory. A com-
prehensive inventory would in-
clude both scientific and com-
mercial analysis of a nation's
marine resources to determine the
extent and economic value of
those resources. Projected in-
creases in utilization, as deter-
mined by specialists in underwater
recreation, through the year 2000
should be included, along with
estimated carrying capacity of the
submerged environment as deter-
mined by marine scientists.
"That is all very nice," many
will say. "and if we had as many
millions in available capital as the
North Americans, we would do
such a study right away. Unfor-
tunately, as administrators of
Caribbean nations we are con-
cerned with the needs of our
people today; we do not have the
time or the money to invest in
developing a resource of uncertain
value, which may not pay off for
twenty years or more." This is
indeed a valid argument, but a
study or studies such as I am
suggesting can be accomplished
without the expenditures of vast
sums of money, nor need the
whole project be undertaken at
one time. All that is really
required is a strong administrator
who is capable of seeing the
long-range value of such a project
and who has the determination to
keep it moving toward his goal as
time and money allow.
Within the last five to eight
years, great strides have been

made in the field of remote
sensing. New films have been
developed which penetrate water
to depths of 100 feet or more.
The utilization of such film, in
conjunction with modern aerial
photographic techniques, allows
large areas of nearshore sea bot-
tom to be mapped quickly and
cheaply. From such a photo-
graphic map, the extent and
makeup of various nearshore com-
munities can be determined visual-
ly. An evaluator can see exactly
how much of a given underwater
area is covered by living coral reef,
productive grass flats, or barren
rubble. To be accurately eval-
uated, the investigator much make
spot checks of his photomap by
actually visiting various under-
water sites. The expense of such
an aerial photographic inventory,
with occasional spot checks to
insure accuracy, is miniscule when
compared to the conventional
method of surveying marine com-
munities by scuba.
Using aerial photography to

produce a detailed map of a
nation's nearshore hydro-environ-
ment is the first step toward a
truly scientific-commercial in-
ventory of that nation's marine
resources. The second step is
evaluating the resource eco-
nomically and determining a
rational plan for its exploitation
and protection. Aerial surveys are
extremely useful in detecting areas
or point sources of marine pollu-
tion; but unless the legal
machinery exists to correct these
problems, this knowledge is of
little other than academic value.
Similarly, once a scientific-
commercial inventory of a
nation's marine resources is com-
pleted, it is of little value without
a political-economic plan to
develop these resources. Designing
such a plan for the development
of a nation's hydro-environment
requires consideration of many
social as well as economic factors.
Each nation must decide for itself
how it wishes to see its own
natural resources utilized. *

COMMENTARY
ON THINGS TOURISMIC
By Herbert L. Hiller

The movie industry has been
filling the airwaves recently with
dispatches and analyses of an
anticipated huge upsurge in movie
attendance, based on the theory
that when the public is depressed
people like to get away from
reality through movie make-
believe. I'd be willing to bet that
such statements have convinced a
lot of people to go to the movies
more often. Isn't travel really in a
similar league actually a much
stronger league? (From an edi-
torial, "l'hat's Ahead for '75? "
by Joel M. Abels, Travel Trade,
Dec. 30, 1974.)

The high cost of fantasizing in the
tropics is getting out of hand. So
far it has been the cost to the
tourists. Now it becomes cost to
the governments dependent on
tourists showing up. Upping the
ante is not just the cost of fuel
and inflation. New is the cost to
bail out the hotels, built in the
self-confidence of industrial soci-
ety from where their promoters
come that endless growth would
produce an endless stream of
escapists ready to pay the price.
At that, the bail-out cost
proposed so far is only financial.
Continued on page 48
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 7

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WHAT'S A RASTA

By Claudia Rogers

"Look to Africa where a Black King shall be crowned
and He shall lead you out of bondage." This is the
reputed message of Marcus Garvey some forty years
ago to the' lower-class of Jamaica. Since that time a
complete ideological movement, that of the Rasta-
farians, has developed within the island's boundaries.
The Rastafarian Movement of Jamaica is millenial in
the sense that brethren constantly refer to a
hoped-for period of peace, joy and justice. Typical of
other groupings, historical as well as contemporary,
which stress the dream of the millennium, Rastafarians
stress positive change by tenets such as: 1) awareness
of black people of their African heritage; 2)
recognition of Haile Selassie as the Black Reincar-
nated Christ; 3) repatriation to Ethiopia qua Africa,
the true home of blacks everywhere; 4) the
apocalyptic fall of Jamaica as Babylon, the corrupt
world of the white man... In addition, politicized
Rastas claim that once the white man's world
crumbles, the current master/slave pattern will be
reversed. For these individuals, the millenial dream
includes black subjugation of the white race.
Throughout the history of the Movement, Rasta
brethren have been in and out of the public spotlight,
labelled 'religious fanatics,' 'nuisances,' 'an embarrass-
ment to the Jamaican people,' or 'treacherous
criminals' who should be jailed or hung for their
traitorous acts against Jamaican society. By sporting
the 'dreadlocks,' smoking ganja (marijuana), and
using the often violent language of the Old
Testament, many Rastafarians have alarmed Jamai-

cans and attracted the attention of anthropologists.
It is worthwhile examining Rasta behavior in terms
of how they operationalize the concept of African
heritage. By viewing their behavior through the filter
of ethnicity, we can determine why and how
awareness of black people of their African cultural
roots is activated in the "social arena" which Rasta
brethren occupy. The boundaries of this "social
arena" are determined largely by the low socio-
economic status and limited political and economic
influence which traditionally are ascribed to the
brethren as members of the "black masses."
Using the concept of ethnicity, or more basically,
of what the Greeks term "ethnos," we can establish
the groundwork for a better understanding of the
Rastafarians and their status in the Jamaican social
system. "Ethnos" is 'a band of people living together,
a nation or people;' the stem of the word connotes
that the social group of the people with whom one
lives, works and interacts daily is a discrete entity.
"Ethnic" signifies 'of or pertaining to a social group
within a cultural and social system that claims and/or
is accorded special status on the basis of complex,
often variable traits including religious, linguistic,
ancestral, or physical characteristics.' These defini-
tions and their implications reflect the view of some
anthropologists that the major criterion by which a
group is classified as 'ethnic' is self-identification
according to behavior and attitudes established and
maintained by the individuals adhering to such
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 9

ascription.
Within the framework of a developing ethnos,
Rastafarians are responding actively to the categoriza-
tion imposed upon them within the structure of
Jamaican society. A conversation which I had with
four Rasta brothers living in the slums of West
Kingston illustrates this response. "There are three
kinds, or classes, of citizens. The first class is the
wealthy, those who are 'world citizens' since they can
go where they choose and become citizens of any
country they choose. These first-class citizens are the
free men. The second class citizens are the civil
servants who wear white shirts and black ties and try
to buy as many things as they can get. Last and least
comes those who are termed 'inferior,' the suffering

Photography by Roy O'Brien, Jamaica Tourist Board.

mass, the black man. Why the black man is termed
'inferior' we cannot say but he is the one who has
nothing and has no chance of getting anything."
When I suggested that the situation seemed hopeless,
the brothers replied: "Possibly for some there is no
hope, but we have hope that there is a better life in
Ethiopia and until we are repatriated we will suffer as
we have suffered since coming to Babylon.
Meanwhile, we must work at recapturing and
rebuilding our African heritage, our culture. For a
man without a culture is a weak man, he knows not
what he does or what he says. But when a man has a
culture, he becomes strong and does the right things.
All black men are Rastas but some have not come to
Page 10 C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

the full understanding' and therefore are the weak
ones. They may laugh at the Rasta Man because they
are weak and know not what they say."
Rastas view their efforts to realize the heritage
which was stolen from them when they were
uprooted from their native African soil as the initial
step in bringing about the millennium. Such efforts
encompass the religious ideology of the Movement,
the adoption of the Amharic language, and a life style
and appearance which distinguish them from the rest
of the populace. The more visible attempts correlate
with the religious credo, and center on eating and
drinking habits. Specifically, the true Rasta believer
eats neither pork nor shellfish, claiming that hogs are
unclean, scavengers of the earth. Shellfish such as

crab, lobster and shrimp are the scavengers of the sea.
Hence, their meat is not pure. Rastas also prefer
smaller fish rather than the larger kingfish or
barracuda because the latter are predatory and
cannibalistic. Brethren often draw the analogy
between the kingfish and white slave traders and the
European-dominated Jamaican society. If a Rasta eats
the flesh of such a predator, s/he is giving tacit
approval to oppressive behavior. Rastas espouse, the
virtue of "I-tal" foods, i.e., organically grown, 'from
the earth' foodstuffs rather than chemically treated,
processed foods in cans and artificial wrappings.
Brethren tend to avoid drinking hard liquor such as
red rum (e.g. Appleton) or white overproof rum (e.g.

Wray and Nephew 150+ proof), asserting that alcohol
taken in the quantities of "social drinking" is harmful
to the body and mind because it eats away at both.
Many Rastas further claim that rum, whiskey, etc.,
are but more of the tools which the white Babylonian
society uses to oppress the black person. Some
members of the Movement become vegetarians,
refusing to drink even soup made with beef or
chicken stock.
Rastas also apply the rationale for food and drink
restrictions and the preference for "I-tal" foods into
the economic sphere. In explaining "I-tal" employ-
ment, they claim that it is not natural for one man to
work for another, to be the underling, in effect, the
slave of another. Hence, the brethren emphasize

Language is obviously an important part of that
heritage. As approximately 90% of the brethren with
whom I worked are literate, it is not unusual to walk
into a yard and find several of the brethren studying a
book or a magazine article regarding Ethiopia. For
those who have "the true spirit of 'Jah Rastafari',"
such books and magazines are the only source of
knowledge of the land of salvation. Accordingly, any
printed matter on Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, the
Amharic language, is very valuable and thereby passed
from one person to the next so that the individual
can teach himself about his African home.
We find further evidence of ethnic identification
through several terms which Rastas have coined in the
Jamaican dialect, including: "I-tal:" springing from

S.f

' c

economic independence in their work ethic in so far
as they are given a choice in the matter. In both
urban and rural areas, they are artisans or skilled
tradesmen such as mechanics, tailors, plumbers, house
painters, carpenters, fishermen, ganja retailers, so that
they answer to no one but themselves. Where possible
in rural sections of the island, they farm small plots
of land, often combining cash crop produce with
ganja cultivation.
In adopting the Amharic language of Ethiopia,
Rastas claim that it is "the only true tongoe spoken
by man." They term themselves "self-taught experts"
because they have no opportunity to learn of their
espoused heritage in the Jamaican school system.

the earth, earthy, natural; "I an I:" referring to the
individual speaker and implying close communion
with God qua Haile Selassie; "grounation:" verbal
exchange between Rasta brethren for the purpose of
learning what each has to offer to the others, may
include sympathetic non-Rastas and the smoking of
ganja; "jullification:" a situation where the partici-
pating brethren are relaxed, in understanding with
one another and communion with Haile Selassie, the
result usually of a ganja-smoking session; "dreadlocks
/dreadknots:" analogy between the uncut, plaited
hair of the locksman or woman and the appearance of
the ganja plant when fully ripe. The word 'dread' is a
parody of the non-Rasta reaction of fear at the sight
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 11

of a locksman and of disgust at the thought of the
effect of ganja when smoked; "herb, wisdom weed:"
ganja (marijuana), so called because of the Biblical
reference to the herb growing on King Solomon's
grave.
In appearance, Rastas set themselves apart most
noticeably with the "crown of glory" i.e., the locks.
Brethren claim that the practice of letting the hair
grow and plaiting it to form the locks dates back to
the Old Testament and the Book of Isaiah: 'when the
Lord declared to his children that whosoever shall
follow me shall never take scissors to his hair nor
razor to his face.' Historically, this practice was most
visible among Ethiopian warriors. For those not
wishing to advertise as strongly their affiliation with
the Movement, any facial growth will do or even
letting the hair grow longer than the normally
close-cropped cut of the middle class. Women who
are attached to Rasta men or who themselves follow
the Rastafarian dogma do not use the Hot Comb to
straighten their hair. Rastas further publicize their
identity by wearing the Heavenly Colors, the colors
of Ethiopia, gold, green and red which they interpret
to mean: gold for the riches of their native Ethiopian
soil; green for peace and forgiveness; and red for the
awful judgment upon the wicked rulers of white
Babylon and for the salvation of black peoples of the
world.
Rastas' attempts to create a separate life style are
related to the above discussion of differences in
eating and speaking habits and in physical appear-
ance. Concomitant with these efforts is the use of
ganja, often an integral part of the daily pattern of
living for Rastafarians. Brethren, especially locksmen,
tend to use ganja perhaps more extensively than any
other identifiable grouping of people in Jamaica.
They brew it for tea in the morning, soak it in white,
overproof rum as a medicinal tonic and, most
significantly for the wider society, smoke it. Rastas
who do smoke ganja refer to it as 'the wisdom weed'
or 'the holy herb' and regard smoking as the best way
in which to gain both inner and wordly knowledge.
They emphasize ganja as the true source of education,
given the lack of opportunities for learning open to
them because of their low social status. Finally,
Rastas who are ganja-smokers claim that "the herb" is
the best way to relax and be in communion with God
(qua Haile Selassie I).
Within the confines of the ideological doctrine of
the Movement, Rastas consider the ethnically-
oriented behavior described as the basic preparation
of the black man and woman for repatriation with
Ethiopia. Brethren believe that the black person who
is not aware of and is not trying to recreate their
African culture cannot help themselves toward
salvation. Thus, in the ideology of the Movement,
such an individual is a negative force in the constant
struggle of the black masses to achieve their heaven
on earth. Conversely, once all black people do reach
the full understanding of their true heritage and
Page 12-C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

culture and begin to operationalize that understand-
ing, "better mus' come," as the once-popular Reggae
song stated. The final Armageddon will be fought;
Babylon will fall; former slaves will be free in the
kingdom of Haile Selassie I.
Sociologically, the development of ethnos and the
maintenance of markedly different behavioral traits
are of a more immediate significance. They
constantly re-affirm to Rastas their own African-ness,
their separateness, vis-a-vis the wider society. Such
patterns of behavior and attitude also become the
primary means of declaring the Rasta belief in
African identity to the Jamaican society, of
confronting that society with an ever-present
reminder that Rastas reject the categorization of
"black masses" and are attempting to create yet
another category for themselves. By donning "a mask
of confrontation" and establishing and maintaining
the overt boundaries of appearance, linguistic usage,
religion, life style, and the subtle boundaries of
attitudes, Rastas are attempting to reverse the
syndrome of 'the black man has nothing and has no
chance of getting anything.' In effect, brethren are
saying: 'you may continue to deal with us but on our
terms and not those handed down from plantation
society.' Whether this mask and the concomitant
boundaries bring viable results, in terms either of the
millenial dogma or of a re-structuring of Jamaican
society, remains an unanswered question. *

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BLACK & WHITE ON GREEN TURTLE CAY

By A.G. La Flamme

Green Turtle Cay is the Northernmost of the settled
islands along the Eastern coast of Great Abaco Island
in the Northern Bahama Islands. The cay is roughly
three miles in length and one half mile in width at its
widest point. New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay's only
settlement, occupies a peninsula on the Southwestern
corner of the cay. The remainder of Green Turtle
Cay's surface consists of forest, citrus and coconut
groves, a few tourist facilities, and the homes of a
small number of resident aliens from the United
States.
The New Plymouth settlement is atypical, although
not unique, among out-island Bahamian communities.
Its population consists of significant numbers of both
whites and blacks. Most out-island communities are
totally or predominately black. Most of the
remainder are totally or predominately white. The
vast majority of Green Turtle Cay's white population
descend from the Loyalist settlers who fled the
American Colonies during the 1780's. The majority
of the cay's black population is descended from the
slave population that was brought to the area by the
white planters. At the time of my census in 1968,
there were 194 whites and 148 blacks within the
community.
THE OLD ORDER

Due to such factors as the thin, sandy soil and the
small size of most land holdings, the cotton
plantation system of America was never a profitable
undertaking on most Bahamian islands. Despite
British cash and supplies, the early settlers had an
extremely, difficult time attempting to adapt to their
new environmental and economic circumstances. The
Loyalist settlers pleaded for increased trade from
Britain and the established colony on Bermuda but
their early economic activities were so unsuccessful
that a lottery for their benefit was proposed in
Britain. During the early years of the nineteenth
century, many former Loyalists left the Bahamas and
reentered the United States. As a consequence of the
failure of the plantation system, slave holding quickly
became an economic liability. Therefore, many
Bahamian slaves underwent manumission well before
the 1834 deadline that was imposed throughout the
British Empire. As was the case in most of the New
World, the bulk of the freed slaves remained as the
major component of their society's lowest socio-

economic stratum.
After the collapse of the ill-fated plantation
system, many out-island communities settled into a
subsistence-level existence centered upon horticulture
and fishing. To the extent that out-island business
existed at all, it was dominated by whites. Relatively
wealthy whites owned and operated all of Green
Turtle Cay's seaworthy ships. This control over
transportation helped to insure the continuation of
local white economic dominance. Fishing and farming
for sale beyond the highly restricted local market
were effectively limited to "approved" individuals.
Beyond fishing and fruit and vegetable farming,
Green Turtle Cay's other major economic ventures
have included blockade running during the American
Civil War, sisal production, lumber production, and
tourism. All of these activities have utilized black and
white labor with white management.
Through the years, Green Turtle Cay's economic
system has been intimately associated with racial
inequality and a large measure of racial segregation.
Minimum property requirements for juror eligibility
and voter eligibility once served to keep the white
Bahamian minority firmly in control of the black
Bahamian majority. Despite the passing of these
political mechanisms, traditional patterns of race
relations on Green Turtle Cay have featured
deferential behavior of blacks toward whites.
Deference was manifested in a number of ways such
as having blacks use the rear entrance of a white
home or use the respectful "Mister" and "Mizz"
before a surname or a given name as terms of address.
Joking relationships, verbal conflicts, and physical
confrontations across racial lines were extremely rare.
At the same time, there was a great deal of
paternalistic behavior of whites toward cooperative
blacks. Properly deferential blacks were rewarded
with occasional job opportunities and second hand
goods. Their less deferential counterparts were
punished by the absence of this sort of paternalistic
largess. Further economic sanctions existed as well.
For example, the actual or threatened withdrawal of
credit by white shopkeepers was often sufficient to
insure "proper" behavior. These behavior patterns
were hardly a local secret. Several individuals with
whom I spoke in Nassau were well-versed in the basic
details of race relations on Green Turtle Cay
specifically and the Abaco region generally.
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 13

Miscegenation in the Caribbean culture-area has
been quite common. Miscegenation on Green Turtle
Cay, however, has been exceedingly rare. In addition,
the physical dichotomy within the settlement is
paralleled by a socio-cultural dualism. This, of course,
predates the foundation of the New Plymouth
settlement. However, life on Green Turtle Cay has
tended to maintain this original dualism. Both of the
community's racially defined populations possess
their own sub-cultural and dialectal variants of
Bahamian Culture and the English Language.
Segregation within a tiny settlement on a small,
isolated island is not always easy. Nonetheless, it has,
to a large extent, been accomplished. Church
congregations, perhaps the most important social
groups within the community, have long been largely
segregated racially. Simple methods such as ignoring
or insulting black visitors have usually sufficed. When
blacks have joined congregations despite this,
however, most whites have formed splinter congrega-
tions or changed denominational affiliation alto-
gether. Schools are racially integrated but the
majority of children's play groups before and after
school tend to be segregated. In the past, some adult
work groups were racially segregated because a few
white men had refused to work closely with their
black counterparts. Voluntary associations among
adult community members have always been racially
segregated. Finally, the settlement pattern of New
Plymouth is clearly along racial lines. This phenome-
non is partially due to the familial inheritance of
houses and building lots. It is also due to the mutual
desire to remain among one's own people. Operating
upon the assumption that some blacks actually desire
to buy or rent a home in New Plymouth's white
section, there is an agreement among whites to keep
this from happening. Such a dwelling would be
removed from the market, quickly rented or sold to
white residents, or simply denied a potential black
customer.

FACTORS PROMOTING CHANGE

The old, traditional social and cultural orders on
Green Turtle Cay are now changing. This is not to
imply that conditions were once perfectly static.
Rather, the scope and speed of change have increased
dramatically since the middle 1960's. After nearly
two centuries of clear-cut social inequality within the
community, New Plymouth is beginning to move in
the direction of racial equality. Traditional patterns
of segregation have changed much less; therefore, the
community is moving in the direction of a "separate
but equal" existence. Recent changes have been
manifested in the three major domains of culture:
material conditions, social relations, and ideology.
The various factors that have promoted these changes
have ranged from the local milieu through the
Bahamian national situation to the realm of
international affairs.
Page 14 C.R. Vol. VII No. 1

The Bahama Islands have experienced a long,
alternating series of economic successes and failures.
Most of these major trends have been closely
paralleled on Green Turtle Cay. Within the New
Plymouth settlement, each "boom" has witnessed the
rise to prominence of one or more entrepreneurs. The
status and role of the entrepreneur has thusfar been
restricted to Green Turtle Cay's white sub-culture.
The success, duration, and ultimate socio-cultural
significance of each entrepreneur has varied con-
siderably.
We can distinguish two types of entrepreneurs.
First, there are free-enterprisers who tend to be
minimally bound to the local social structure and
value system. Second, there are free-holders who are

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more apt to be community insiders with a greater
concern for local values, social relationships, and
responsibilities. Sometimes, the two types of
entrepreneurs seem to develop a symbiotic relation-
ship. The free-enterpriser legitimizes his position and
gains local knowledge through his association with
the free-holder. The free-holder gains outside
knowledge and social contacts through his association
with the free-enterpriser. This sort of a relationship
has existed several times during the history of the
New Plymouth settlement.
A recent and highly significant economic venture
on Green Turtle Cay has involved the actions of both
types of entrepreneurs. Although not an intended
consequence by either, their joint activities helped to

radically and irrevocably alter the community's
pattern of race relations. The economic venture in
question is that of tourism. Tourism here denotes
both the coming of short-term visitors in the usual
sense of the term and the coming of long-term visitors
who buy homes in the area. The latter practice does
not constitute immigration to the community
because these resident aliens remain both physically
and socio-culturally isolated from the community's
residents most of the time. Resident aliens consider
themselves to be outsiders and New Plymouth's
residents concur with this opinion.
In recent years, out-island tourism has been
aggressively promoted by the Bahamian government.
Advertisements throughout the United States and

Photo by Frederic Maura, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

Canada extol the virtues of Bahamian climate,
beaches, and leisure-time activities. More specifically,
tourism in the Green Turtle Cay area has been
promoted by both the government and the
free-holder and free-enterpriser partnership operating
out of the New Plymouth settlement. The tourism
related activities of this partnership have included
Crown Land acquisition and development, house
construction, and the development of various tourist
facilities within commuting range of the settlement.
These related ventures have had a many faceted
impact upon the area and its residents.
Local economic development through tourism has
meant that wage labor opportunities have increased
dramatically. The construction of hotels, houses,

marinas, and the like have provided for large scale
employment in the building trades. Occupational
specialists such as carpenters, masons, painters, and
general laborers have been in almost constant demand
since the full-scale promotion of local tourism began
in the mid-1960's. Beyond the realm of the
construction business, tourism has created a set of
wholly new occupational specializations that have put
old skills to new uses. Tourist facilities need
caretakers, cooks, gardeners, waiters, and waitresses.
Further, some resident aliens employ local residents
in similar capacities on a part-time or a full-time basis.
Several of New Plymouth's fishermen have become
fishing guides at upwards of $100 per day. New
occupational specializations will regularly arise as
local tourism expands.
A growth in black ethnic consciousness in the
Bahamas, as in so many other places, occurred during
the decade of the 1960's. On Green Turtle Cay, one
of the major vehicles for this expansion was the
advent of television within the community. As of
1968, about 18% of black households and about 42%
of white households on Green Turtle Cay possessed
television sets. Individuals without television sets of
their own are normally able to view one belonging to
a friend or a relative on a regular basis. News
programs, documentaries, and dramas focusing upon
civil rights marches, racial conflict, and other aspects
of the struggle for black liberation have become
available via American television stations. Radio
broadcasts, especially from black oriented, soul music
stations in the United States, have played a similar
role. Newspapers and books do not seem to have been
particularly significant in this regard.
Black leaders ranging from the late Rev. Martin
Luther King, Jr. and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy to
Muhammad Ali have become well known. The
assassination of the former during my stay in the
community met with mixed reactions. Several whites
expressed happiness that a "trouble making criminal"
was dead. Many blacks lamented the passing of a
"true Christian." Other such events have met with
similarly mixed reactions.
The rapid expansion of out-island tourism and
black ethnic consciousness has coincided with the
later stages of a significant series of events in the
political system of the Bahama Islands. In 1953, a
two party system arose with the emergence of the
black dominated Progressive Liberal Party. Its
influence grew to the point where its members were
able to take control of the government in 1967.
Actually, the majority in the Bahamian House of
Assembly was a coalition of P.L.P. members plus one
independent and one Labour Party member against
the traditional ruling party, the United Bahamian
Party. In another election in 1968, the P.L.P. won a
huge, clear-cut majority in the House of Assembly. In
this latter election, the P.L.P. gained one of the two
Assembly seats for the Abaco region, a traditionally
white, Loyalist, U.B.P. stronghold. The black led
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 15

...----

% .

W.- -** AL

government has subsequently pushed for, and in 1973
obtained, Bahamian independence from Britain.

SOCIO-CULTURAL CHANGE

Because the expansion of wage labor opportunity via
the growth of local tourism has coincided with the
local rise of black ethnic consciousness and the
appearance of the first black controlled government
in Bahamian history, the precise impact of each
factor is not always easy to isolate. Some cause and
effect relationships are rather clear-cut; other changes
seem to have resulted from the interplay of several
causal variables.
The material conditions of existence within the
New Plymouth community have changed consider-
ably in recent years, largely due to the increased flow
of cash into the community's economic system. The
advent or expansion of a system of wage labor has
often been associated with such change. In many
parts of the Caribbean culture-area, however, this has
involved migratory wage labor. On Green Turtle Cay,
migratory wage labor has never been particularly
important; in-community wage labor has been
critical.
The increased availability of cash on Green Turtle
Cay has meant that several subsistence-related
activities have declined in importance. Fewer and
fewer individuals bother with vegetable gardens. Only
four households still have livestock. Both horticulture
and animal husbandry are now considered primitive
and demeaning by all but a few of the settlement's
older residents. Local fish and, to a greater extent,
produce have become secondary items in the diet.
Such foods have been relegated to this secondary
position in favor of the more expensive and
diversified packaged foods that are imported by local
shopkeepers.
Beyond the realm of diet, an increased variety of
material possessions are now present within the
settlement. Greater cash income has meant that more
households have been able to obtain new furniture,
television sets, telephones, kitchen appliances, fiber-
glass boats, and outboard motors. The appearance of
fiberglass.boats has contributed to the decline of local
boatbuilding. New Plymouth, like its neighboring
Loyalist settlements, was once well-known for its
seaworthy dinghies. No new boats have been
constructed on Green Turtle Cay in recent years
because the imported ones are lighter and easier to
handle and because the men who made them are now
able to earn more money in endeavors such as house
construction. No members of the younger generation
have learned this craft from their fathers or uncles,
the traditional teachers of such skills.
Essentially equal wage labor opportunities for
members of both of New Plymouth's racial groups
have provided the basis for a trend toward greater
material equality within the community. Despite this
potential, however, material equality is still far from a
Page 16 C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

reality. Another variable beyond wage labor oppor-
tunity is involved. Black household units tend to be
considerably larger than their white counterparts.
Mean black household size is 4.4 whereas mean white
household size is 3.2. For nuclear family households,
the black subculture's mean size is 7.5 and the white
sub-culture's mean size is 4.7. Therefore, the
probability of absolute racial equality in a material
sense is diminished regardless of gross economic
similarity. Nonetheless, the gulf between the material
existence of Green Turtle Cay's two ethnic groups has
begun to narrow.
Prior to the tourism and wage labor boom of the
1960's, influential whites were able to control the
allocation of jobs and cash within the community.
The new economic context, however, has created a
labor market situation in which the potential
employers need wage labor at least as urgently as the
potential employees need wages. Contracts must be
honored and deadlines must be met regardless of the
impact upon old socio-cultural patterns. Selective and
small-scale hiring practices have given way to mass
hiring with little or no consideration for the status
quo. Further, resident alien and tourist facility hiring
are done on the basis of ability and dependability
rather than on the basis of race.
The trend toward racial equality in a social sense
has been quite pronounced. The greater availability of
cash due to wage labor expansion has meant that one
of the major mechanisms of white social dominance
has been weakened. Credit in local shops has become
a rather empty threat for most black households. In
general, deferential black to white behavior is
declining. For example, all but the oldest and most
tradition-bound blacks approach white homes via the
front entrance. Further, the respectful "Mister" and
"Mizz" are disappearing from black adult to white
adult speech. These terms of address remain in most
child to adult speech, regardless of race.
The several white men who have refused to work
with blacks have been put in the position of working
alone on small jobs, working with blacks on larger
jobs, or not working at all. They must accommodate
themselves to others rather than the reverse holding
true. As implied earlier, the mass-hiring associated
with the tourism boom has meant, among other
things, that black workers need not be deferential
toward white co-workers or bosses in order to obtain
or maintain their jobs. According to informants from
each racial group, cross-racial joking relationships and
conflicts are both much more common than was
previously the case. Seemingly, social interaction
across racial lines is becoming more open and
spontaneous. Feelings, both positive and negative, are
more apt to be expressed than was the case in the
past.
The probability of courtship and marriage across
racial lines is still far from an actuality. In many old
Loyalist settlements, whites have: "maintained their
racial integrity with the tenacity reserved for the

retention of the last family heirloom." There is no
apparent desire among Green Turtle Cay's black
population for intermarriage but this practice is
assumed to be a major black objective by most
whites. Intra-racial joking often deals with a friend's
alleged sexual attraction to one or another of the
opposite ethnic group's least attractive members. The
segregation of young people of the opposite sex is
easily the most extreme racial segregation present
within the settlement.
Changes of some magnitude are taking place within
the ideology of New Plymouth's black sub-culture.
The old black self-image of dependence upon whites
is rapidly changing in the direction of an image of
black independence. The older stereotype is now
limited to older individuals. New role models of
successful and assertive black leaders are now
available to youngsters during the critical early years
of the enculturation process. Both blacks and whites
on Green Turtle Cay are well-aware of the recent
emergence and rapid growth of this phenomenon.
Less obvious, perhaps, is the black sub-cultural
value of large family size. Concomitant with this is
the disapproval of the practice of birth control of any
kind. Birth control has never been systematically
practiced by the settlement's black population. The
result has been large family size. Today, this
traditional practice is given a new rationale. The
practice of birth control, as practiced by many white
residents of Green Turtle Cay, is deemed to be
politically foolish. There is strength in numbers.
Worldwide black numerical superiority is perceived as
one of the major keys to international political
power.
Many of Green Turtle Cay's blacks, especially its
younger ones, are becoming increasingly aware of the
various cross-national symbols of black ethnic
consciousness. Afro hairstyles, clinched-fist salutes,
and soul music are all present within the community.
Such mechanisms serve to simultaneously set their
bearers apart from both whites and traditionally
subservient blacks. Further, the white reaction to
these symbols has not gone unnoticed.
Green Turtle Cay's white sub-culture has also been
influenced by the growth of black ethnic conscious-
ness and the rise to political power of Bahamian
blacks. Again, these changes have been largely
ideological. Feelings of inherent white superiority,
both morally and intellectually, have not been
shaken. Rather, local whites believe themselves to
have been victimized by a series of inter-related
conspiracies. Invariably, these plots involve Bahamian
blacks from beyond Green Turtle Cay, liberal
Americans, and some non-Bahamian blacks. Such
conspiratorial theories tend to view the black political
takeover of the Bahama Islands as a boost to Florida's
tourist industry. The assumption here is that white
tourists would ultimately be made to feel unwelcome
in a black controlled domain. It is further assumed
that the black power-lust is matched by a black

disregard for the grave economic consequences of this
policy.
White opinions have varied as to the best means of
adaptation to black ethnic consciousness and
expanding political power. Some local whites have
envisioned a tough, Rhodesia-like regime. Other
whites more realistically view peaceful co-existence as
the ultimate ideal. The most frequently stated option,
however, has been that of emigrating from the
Bahamas for a white dominated region within the
United States. Well developed contingency plans for
emergency evacuations exist. Fearful whites have
stated that two actions might precipitate this exodus:
forced intermarriage with blacks and overt physical
domination of whites by blacks.
After nearly two centuries of relative isolation and
white socio-economic domination of blacks, the New
Plymouth settlement on Green Turtle Cay is changing

I&

IL". r

Photo by Ronala Rose, Bahamas Ministry or Tourism.

in a rapid and significant manner. Factors from
beyond the community, such as the growth of black
ethnic consciousness, black political emergence in the
Bahama Islands, and the coming of tourists to the
out-islands, have wrought these changes. The changes
are irrevocable and they range throughout spectrum
of socio-cultural life. Some residual differences in
wealth exist between the community's two ethnic
groups. The pattern of future change will probably be
in the direction of separate but equal existence if the
white population can maintain a certain critical mass.
If, however, emigration and birth control take too
great a toll, the remaining white breeding population
will cease to be a viable entity. The remnants would
then be absorbed, scatter, or simply die out. The
black population will, in any case, continue the
already existent trend toward extracommunity
communication and interaction. *
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 17

I

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CERTIFICAl
CARIBBEAN S'

OVER 20 CARIBBEAN AND C
* CREDIT COURSES OFFERED
DEPARTMENTS IN THE COLL
CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENT
COMPLETION OF SIX CARIBE
30 CREDITS FROM AT LEAST
DEPARTMENTS.
* FOR FURTHER INFORMATION]
KEN BOODHOO
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL U
MIAMI, FLORIDA 33144

aE~JmfIJp** .: E

* an iiimifimibmi -^ -. ihiaft-j&

E IN
rUDIES

ARIBBEAN-RELATED
FROM SIX
5EGE.
'S INCLUDE SUCCESSFUL
LEAN COURSES OR
TWO DIFFERENT

N WRITE TO

SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY

a

SUSU

By Daniel Levin

The examination of the inter-relationship between
susu, a rotating credit association, and other local
institutions of the financial market in Trinidad is part
of a larger study. The larger study is based on
in-depth interviews in the fild with bank officials,
civil servants, local anthropologists, credit union
executives, and businessmen. In addition a pilot
survey was conducted among the members of fifteen
different susus. The susus were selected to represent
as much as possible the residential (urban/rural),
class, and ethnic divisions in Trinidad society.
The inter-relationship between susu, a rotating credit
institution, and the rest of the financial market in
Trinidad is important because of increased possibili-
ties for the provision of capital to the individual. The
mechanism for this increase lies in both the
maximization of savings potential and the easement
of credit restrictions.
Susu is formed on a core of participants who agree
to make regular contributions to a fund which is
given to each contributor in rotation. For example,
ten people will agree to deposit $100 each into a fund
every month. Thus the fund will contain $1000. Each
month in succession one of the ten members will
receive the $1000 until at the end of the month all
members will have received the money.
Susu is similar to the Christmas Club savings plan
in the United States. The two systems possess certain
mechanisms in common, i.e.: a predetermined amount
of money set as a goal, a specific amount for deposit
at regular intervals, the encouragement of a feeling of
obligation to save, and assurance of receiving back all
that one had contributed. However, there are aspects
of susu that are unique. In contrast to a Christmas

Club, susu is not run by a bank or any other formal
organization such as a credit union. Rather, susu is
informal in its structure and membership. The
members are usually friends, relatives, or fellow
workers, and there are no fixed rules except those
decided by the members of each susu. In a Christmas
Club it is necessary to wait until Christmas before the
amount of money set as a goal is received. In susu the
money could be received not only at the end, as in a
Christmas Club, but at anytime between the start and
finish of the susu. The time at which any particular
individual will receive his money will be dependent
on the conventions of that susu. The order can be
determined by lot, rotation, or mutual consent
between the head of the susu and its members.
By definition susu is a credit association i.e. a
group consisting of borrowers and lenders. The
borrowers receive their fund in the first half of the
round and the lenders receive their's in the second.
Since the lenders do not charge interest they are
transferring their potential interest earnings to other
members. If one assumes the nature of economy lies
in the optimum allocation of resources to accomplish
a goal and assuming the goal is maximization of
interest, then one may hypothesize that everyone
would want to be borrowers and receive an early
fund. Surprisingly, in a study that we undertook only
about 16% of all the respondents wanted an early
fund. One may infer that not many of the
respondents are cognizant of the concept of interest.
However, the study showed that a substantial number
are well aware of interest.
A possible answer to the anomaly presented is the
existence of another goal which overrides the
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 19

maximization of interest. This alternate goal might be
the maximization of savings potential. Although it is
true there was some cogizance of susu as a credit
institution, this was small in comparison to the
savings response. An overwhelming amount of people
in the pilot survey saw the institution of susu as one
of savings rather than one of credit. Another question
on our survey dealt with preferences for receiving a
fund late in the round. 62% of the valid responses
said, it was easier to save if they received a late fund.
The respondents believed they were saving if they
receive their fund near the end of the round. On the
other hand, if they receive an early fund and spend
it, the entire exercise becomes somewhat meaningless.
All of the preceding arguments seem to point out that
members of susu regard it more as a personal savings
institution than as a credit institution.
The most important characteristic of susu seems to
be its ability to exert pressure and release reservoirs
of potential savings. Susu exerts influence through
social pressure. If one quits the susu before receiving
the fund, he will inconvenience his fellow members
and will gain a reputation of being unable to live up
to his financial obligations. If a member quits after he
receives the fund it would be the same as defaulting
on a loan. Not only will the social pressure from his
peers be brought to bear, but legal pressure as well
since the defaulter can be brought to court. These
pressures are not present in the ordinary type of
savings plan that an individual initiates with his bank.
Another way in which susu exerts pressure to save
is by providing a repository for small amounts of
money that would be otherwise spent. Illustrative of
this is the example of the sixteen salesmen of a local
food processing firm.
Every lunch-break they gambled. One day they
decided to put the money, instead into a susu. At the
end of four years they had accumulated $42,000TT,
which they have since invested in a restaurant.
Many people do not have the initiative to
systematically put aside some money, deposit it, and
leave it untouched until the goal has been reached.
Susu helps to overcome this hindrance in that there
are no forms to fill out and no line in which to wait.
Since the head of the susu is in close proximity to the
members, no one has to travel to deposit the money,
whereas many times banks are located at a
considerable distance from the potential saver. There
are other characteristics of susu that make it
attractive to the potential member. Susu can be a
social event in that it provides another reason for
friends to get together. It serves as another expression
of solidarity, for example, an office manager said that
he had joined the office susu largely to demonstrate
that he was part of the group.
Another attractive characteristic of susu is that it is
an uncomplicated way to obtain money. If one
borrows money from a bank it is usually necessary to
provide information that many people are not willing
to release. This attitude is understandable considering
Page 20 C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

the behavior of people in general and aspects of
Trinidad society in particular. Most people, not just
Trinidadians, have qualms about revealing their
income to anyone.
This attitude extends into areas where there is a
tradition of discretion such as the relationship
between a person and his banker. Even though it
would be unthinkable that a loan officer in a Trinidad
bank would betray a trust, some people have such a
penchant for privacy that they would not want to
devulge either their income or the purpose for which
the money is intended. In a susu no one asks anything
of anyone. The only requirement is that all payments
be made on time.
The last attractive feature of susu is the possibility
of earning more interest on the face amount than
would be possible with a savings account in a bank.
For example, if a person deposits $100 per month in
a savings account for ten months at 6% interest, at
the end of that period he might have earned only
about $30 interest. However, the same person could
enter a susu where he puts in his share of $100 a
month and draws his money in the first month of the
susu. He could then bank the money and earn almost
$60 in interest. Of course if he receives one of the
later funds, he will lose money in comparison to a
savings account in a bank.
A remarkable circumstance concerning the rotating
credit association in Trinidad is that each of the three
major ethnic groups in Trinidad (Chinese, African,
and East Indian) brought their rotating credit
association with them. However, due to some degree
of Hindu acculturation after the Second World War,
there is some doubt as to whether chitty (the East
Indian rotating credit association) still exists. Hence,
only hui, the Chinese rotating credit association, will
be discussed. It should be noted, however, that chitty
is quite similar to hui.
There are several points of difference between hui
and susu. First, the order for receiving the fund is
decided by competitive bidding, the proceeds of
which are redistributed to the members as interest
payments. For example, assume that a hui with a
$10,000TT fund has 50 people who deposit $200TT
a month. The founder is entitled to receive the first
fund without paying interest. Each succeeding fund
will be the subject of secret bidding on the first of
each month at twelve noon. The highest bidder will
receive the fund. For example, one bid may be for
$5TT, another for $7.50TT and another for $10TT.
Therefore the person who bid $10TT would receive
the fund. At this time he must pay $10TT to each of
the members of the hui who have not received their
fund yet. Since the founder of the hui has already
received the first fund, the recipient of the second
fund must pay $10 X 48 or $480TT. This is done by
having the founder subtract the $480TT from the
$10,000TT before giving it to the recipient. The
founder would then distribute the $10TT to each of
the 48 members of the hui. To take the illustration

one point further, the tenth fund will be examined.
Suppose again that $10TT is the top bid. The interest
that the recipient of the tenth fund should pay would
be $10 X 40 since forty people at the time of the
drawing of the tenth fund have not yet received the
fund.
The recipient only has to pay interest once, and
that is when he bids and wins his hand. After that he
merely repays by depositing his $200 a month. At the
same time however, he no longer receives any interest
as soon as he becomes a recipient. This process
continues until the last fund is taken. The interest
paid on the sums in hui is usually fairly low. For
example, a typical bid for the second fund of a
$10,000TT susu would be around $15TT. This would
mean that the recipient would pay $720TT of a
$10,000TT fund. This would work out to be a bank
rate of 1.8% per annum on a four year loan, which is
not a usurious rate by any means.
Perhaps one of the most interesting features of hui
is the amount of money involved. The amount is
usually over $5000TT with the most common
amount being around $10,000TT. This range is
substantially higher than susu, where the highest
recorded amount was $1300TT. Possibly the reason
that hui has such a large fund is that usually the
money received is invested in business. In order for it
to be worthwhile for businessmen to engage in it, the
sums involved must be large enough to make a
difference as far as investment is concerned. Before
the Chinese Society Building burned down, a Chinese
could always get help from there. Now that the
Chinese Society is defunct, it is the only way that
these funds can be made available.
There are other characteristics of hui that
distinguish it from susu. For example, there is an
element of gambling that is not present in susu. There
is always the possibility that someone could win a
fund with a bid of only 504TT because no one
bothered to submit bids for that month. An
informant described just such an event with a glee
that is usually reserved for telling about a winning bet
on a horse at 50 to 1 odds.
Many of the elements of susu previously discussed
are reflected in other savings and credit institutions in
Trinidad. The following discussion will be devoted to
the description of the institutions and the characteris-
tics of susu residing in them. For example, in 1914
the Trinidad Cooperative Bank opened a savings
program that made provisions for the small depositor.
Bank, popularity known as the "Penny Bank." was
founded on the premise that everyone, should enjoy
the benefits of savings and credit. The idea for the
cooperative bank was started in 1904 in the offices of
the Mirror, a large newspaper.
The initial organization grew until in 1914 it was
incorporated into a full-fledged bank. Prior to the
establishment of the Trinidad Co-operative Bank,
there were only three physical locations where it was
possible to bank, and these were all in Port-of-Spain.

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"C~J~~* _r"U~Y"

A shilling not a small sum for 1914, was required to
start a savings plan in any of these three banks. Credit
arrangements were also quite stringent. The Co-
operative Bank inaugurated a completely new policy.
At the bank it was possible to open a savings account
with as little an amount as one penny, and hence the
name "Penny Bank." In addition, its credit policy
was much more liberal than any other in existence at
the time.
A system which shows the influence of susu
directly is a method of payment called the susu plan
which is used at some stores in Port-of-Spain. In
general, there are two methods of payment in places
like furniture and appliances stores. One is called hire
purchase, and the other is cash payment. The regular
hire purchase method requires a one-third down
payment, and the rest in regular installments. The
customer receives the goods when he pays the down
payment. The advantage of the regular cash payment
is that the customer usually gets from 10% to 20% off
the price of the item. The susu plan is incorporated
into both methods of payment. With the susu
hire-purchase method, the purchaser deposits small
amounts of money when he chooses. There is no
attempt to force someone to make regular payments
of a fixed amount. When the purchaser has
accumulated the amount of the down payment, he is
given the merchandise, and the arrangement is
switched to the regular hire-purchase method. The
susu plan with the cash payment method works along
the same lines, except that there is a 10-20% discount
in the cost of the item. The customer pays his money
in whatever amounts and at whatever time intervals
he wishes. When he accumulates the price of the item
minus the discount, he receives the item. In both susu
plans, the initial payments are regarded as expressions
of intent to buy and are enough to "lay away" the
item. As in the Trinidad Co-operative Bank, this susu
plan serves the function of encouraging twe saving of
small amounts of money that would ordinarily be
spent.
The National Commercial Bank of Trinidad and
Tobago has created what is called the Chaconia
Accumulation Plan. The provisions of the plan call
for a signed agreement to some fixed amount, not less
than $50TT each month for twelve months. At the
end of the year interest will be paid at an effective
rate of 6% compunded monthly. If the savings are
stopped, the depositor loses nothing except a drop in
the interest rate to 3%. To make savings for the
individual easier, the bank will arrange monthly
transfers into the Chaconia account. Of the
approximately 1000 Chaconia depositors, about 50 %
of them choose to save $100 per month, 30% save
$50 per month, and 20% save $200 and over per
month. Although susu may not have directly
influenced the Chaconia plan, the Chaconia functions
much the same way as susu does with its specific time
span and amount of the deposits and the regularity of
payment.

One of the outstanding features of the plan is the
signed agreement. This agreement exerts a psycholog-
ical pressure similar to that exerted by susu in that
both institutions manage to instill a sense of
obligation in the potential saver. Of course, the
mechanics of the pressure are different. In the case of
susu the pressure of one's friends and associates are
brought to bear, and this constitutes probably one of
the most effective pressures possible. With the
Chaconia Plan, it would appear that legal aspects of
the signed agreement are the sanctions for stopping
the savings plan. However, it is more likely that the
majority of the depositors realize that the agreement
could not be enforced in a court of law. This does not
mean, however, that the agreement is useless. In fact,
the document stands as a mute testimonial to the
depositor's desire to save and thus tends to encourage
the saver and put pressure on him to honor his
pledge.
In addition, the provision for the automatic
transfer of money into the savings plan puts it at even
a greater advantage than susu as far as ease of savings
is concerned. One of the functions of susu is made
possible by the proximity of the head of the susu to
the depositor. Even so, the depositor must receive his
wages and then take the required sum to the founder.
With the Chaconia Plan the depositor does not even
have to do that. He does not have to take any positive
action at all in order to save. In fact it would require
a positive action on his part not to save.
The Bank of Nova Scotia has a plan similar to the
Chaconia which is called the Personal Security
Program. The depositor is given a choice of eleven
amounts for savings goals that are reached by making
fifty monthly payments. The monthly payments vary
from $2 to $80 depending on which of the eleven
amounts the depositor chose for his savings goal.
Although the PSP pays only five percent as
contrasted with the Chaconia's six percent, the PSP
provides life insurance equal to the savings goal
selected. Therefore, if a depositor dies, his bene-
ficiaries will receive the savings goal, the money saved
up until the time of death, plus the interest that
would have accrued had the account gone full term.
From the viewpoint of this particular study, the
PSP has two advantages over the Chaconia. The first
is that the sanction for discontinuence of the PSP is
greater than that of the Chaconia. With the PSP, if
the plan is stopped, the life insurance provision is
dropped. Thus something very tangible serves as a
penalty for halting ones participation in the plan.
Secondly, because the monthly payments can range
from $2 to $80, there exists a potentially greater
range of people who can participate in the PSP as
opposed to the Chaconia. The Chaconia is geared to
the medium and large depositors, while the PSP caters
to the smaller depositor. Thus the PSP is judged to be
more in the spirit of susu than the Chaconia due to
the more powerful sanctions and the greater
versatility.

Page 22 C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

The last institution to be discussed is the Workers
Bank. The innovation of the Workers Bank was to
provide easy credit, without the necessity of
collateral, on a moderately large sum of money (up to
$1,000). Before the establishment of the Workers
Bank, the best chance for a working man to obtain
money from a bank was to borrow from the Trinidad
Co-operative Bank. However this necessitated the
holding of shares in the bank. The only criterion for
securing a loan from the Workers Bank is to have
one's pay check processed by the bank so that it can
remove the amount that was agreed upon beforehand
by the bank and the individual. Thus it can be seen
that the Workers Bank satisfies one of the economic
functions of susu, i.e., the provision of easy credit for
small to moderate sums of money.
Another possibility for the easement of credit
restrictions is to create linkages with other financial
institutions using susu participation as collateral and
evidence of trustworthiness. For example, in a
factory susu which was studied, the workers only had
a $300TT susu. This was not enough to buy land on
which they could construct a house. However, what
they did was to borrow $1,000TT from the factory
credit union and repay with money from their susu.
If cooperatives, banks and other credit unions could
give loans based on a person's performance and
payment potential as reflected in a reputable susu,
then the restrictions on credit could be greatly
reduced in Trinidad.
It is not the intent of this study to conclusively
prove that susu can increase the availability of capital
to the individual in Trinidadian society, rather it is
hoped that susu and other local savings and credit
institutions may be looked at in a new light. With a
few notable exceptions, the study of local security
institutions has been the purview of the anthropol-

ogists. In general, the anthropologists have not
attempted to apply their findings to a larger scale
than the unit they studied. The other social scientists
seem to pay little attention to the valuable data
collected by the anthropologist. By pointing out the
possibilities for development through the use of local
security institutions, it is hoped more attention will
be paid by all of the social scientists to these
institutions and the potential they may possess.
In the meantime, the future of susu in its present
form seems to be secure. The strength of the
institution derives from its cultural roots in all three
of the largest ethnic groups in Trinidad: the Negroes,
the East Indians, and the Chinese. It also fulfils
certain economic functions such as savings, credit,
and insurance. In the perception of the members of
susu, the savings function is salient. The provision of
credit is a much less important function of susu,
however, it does exist. The insurance aspect of susu
not only functions as insurance against the expenses
caused by sudden disaster i.e. death, fire, accident,
etc., but also as unemployment insurance. The cane
workers deposit half of their salary into a susu during
the harvest so that they have an income during the
rest of the year. And finally susu serves a social
function in reaffirming the bonds between members
of a group or community.
By considering the potentialities of susu, it is
possible to realize its capability for raising the level of
capital formation and thus reducing the amount of
money which comes to Trinidad as loans or grants
from the more developed countries. This in turn will
increase the sense of national economic and political
independence. The above can only occur if susu is
integrated with the other local savings and credit
institutions in Trinidad: credit unions, cooperatives,
mutual benefit societies, and local banks. *

C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 23

From ANOTHER PLACE, Scrimshaw Press.

CENTRAL AMERICA'S

ECONOMIC FAMILY

By Bernard Coard

The Central American Integration Movement started
with a series of bilateral trade agreements among the
five Central American Republics of Guatemala,
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica
during the early and mid-nineteen-fifties. It developed
into the Multilateral Treaty of 1960, signed by the
three northern countries which, in modified form,
became the General Treaty of Central American
Integration. By 1963, all five countries had ratified,
and begun to implement the Treaty.
The decision-making process leading to the
formation and functioning of the Central American
Common Market (CACM) is significant in many
respects. Firstly, it was a decision-making process
initiated mainly by the "tMcnicos" of the Mexico City
branch of the United Nations Economic Commission
for Latin America (ECLA). Secondly, the strategy for
the operation of the Common Market was one of
deliberately highlighting the economic gains from
integration, and minimising the political costs. In the
drawing up of the list of goods to be freed of tariffs
within given periods of time, all the politically
sensitive goods like coffee, wheat and oil were
deliberately excluded. Thirdly, aid from outside the
region was an integral part of the strategy. The nine
major Central American integration institutions,
including the Secretariat and the Central American

Page 24- C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

Bank for Economic Integration, received the vast
majority of their operating income from outside the
region. Fourthly, the decision making process
involved, at different stages, five major actors the
ECLA "tecnicos", The United States Government
and its many agencies, the "ticnicos" in the various
member countries, the political/military elites in
power in the respective countries, and the foreign and
local business communities. Conspicuously absent
were organized labour unions of urban workers,
peasant organizations or consumer groups. These five
remain ten to twelve years after the inception of
the Common Market the only significant actors in
the on-going decision-making process.
Fifthly, the CACM was conceived by the ticnicos
and the political elites as the major instrument for
overcoming economic backwardness and for achieving
economic development. The level of social and
political unrest in all five countries rose rapidly from
the 1929 depression through the Second World War
and remained high during the fifties. The acceptance
of an ideology of economic development, particularly
following the emergence of the Arbenz regime in
Guatemala during 1950/54 and of the Cuban
Revolution in January 1959 became an absolute
necessity. The failure of the countries to achieve
significant economic growth as individual units during
the fifties convinced them that economic integration
was the only feasible approach to the attainment of
self-sustaining growth and economic transformation.

Finally, the CACM was conceived fundamentally
along laissez-faire lines, i.e. there was no attempt at
regional planning and, indeed, every attempt was
made to avoid conflicts with national development
plans.
The Common Market Strategy was one of the rapid
elimination of tariff barriers amongst member
countries, thereby stimulating trade within the region
and the erection of common tariff barriers with the
outside world in order to implement a strategy of
import substitution. The success of this strategy can
be seen from the phenomenal growth in intra-Central
American trade between 1961 and 1970, and in the
growth of the manufacturing sector. This strategy
involved, therefore, the integrated exchange of goods,
but consciously avoided the integrated and planned
production of these goods on a regional basis, which
would have involved a much higher level of political
commitment to integration and a loss of some unit
autonomy.

% EXPORTS BY AREA OF
DESTINATION FOR THE YEARS 1968-1970

Year United European Central Japan Other
States Common America
Market (CACM)
(of the six)

1968
1969
1970

32.0
34.0
33.5

19.3
20.6
21.0

26.9
25.6
26.7

9.5 12.3
8.4 11.4
7.5 11.3

Source: Banco Centroamericano de Integraci6n
Econ6mica (Compiled from Centro America en
Cifras 1971).

Laissez-faire therefore characterized the attitude
towards the location of industries among and within
the countries. This led to the aggravation of already
existing regional imbalances in the rate of economic
growth and, particularly, the rate of growth of the
industrial sector among the countries, as new
industries tended to gravitate towards those cities and
member-countries (Guatemala City, San Salvador)
which already had relatively developed industrial
bases. Honduras in 1966 made demands for major
concessions as a result of its minimal benefits from
the CACM. In 1970, when the situation had not
improved, Honduras withdrew from the CACM.
Laissez-faire also characterized the attitude to-
wards foreign investment. No significant conditions
were attached as to the type or amount of foreign
investment to be encouraged or as to what industries
should be out of bounds for foreign investment. No
limits were imposed on the repatriation of profits.
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 25

His talent made him famous.
His humanity made him immortal.

CLEMIVNTE
by Kal Wagenheim
Foreword by
Wilfrid Sheed

Roberto Clemente.
Winner of four league
batting championships.
S Recently named to the
Baseball Hall of Fame.
This is the story of his
life, based on personal
interviews with Clemente's
family, friends, teachers
and fellow team members. "Kal Wagenheim has
drawn the true dimensions of this complex, extraor-
dinary man." -Congressman Herman Badillo
Illustrated with 16 pages of photos $6.95
orfQ2 r 111 Fourth Avenue New York 10003

Multinational corporations were not restricted to
investment in new lines of manufactures, but were
permitted to buy out already established, profit-
making local firms, as they proceeded to do to some
considerable extent in most of the countries.
It is important to appreciate the structural
backwardness of the economies and societies in
Central America at the time of the formation of the
CACM in order to assess how these structures helped
to shape the integration strategy that was followed
and in order to measure against that background the
present economic and societal structures which have
emerged.
Duality characterized the economies and the
societies. Relatively modem technological processes
were to be found side by side with obsolete and even
primitive technological processes. Capital/labour
ratios, consumption and taste patterns varied widely
from industry to industry and from urban area to
rural area. This remains largely the same today. The
Indian and Mestizo masses were largely rural,
illiterate, mal-nourished, poorly paid and poorly
integrated into the money economy and divorced
from meaningful participation in the political
processes of their respective countries. Precisely the
opposite was and remains true of the tiny European,
Mestizo and resident expatriate elites.
The heavy structural dependence of the five
economies on agriculture, and within agriculture on
two commodities each for the vast majority of their
exports is clear. Their dependence on the United
States for their exports is also clear. While this export
dependence on the United States drops from 76% of
all Central American exports in 1952 to 46% in 1959,
and to 33.5% in 1970, there has been a corresponding
increase in intra-Central American trade produced by
American corporations operating within the CACM,
so much so that in 1970 nearly one-half of all
manufactured items of intra-Central American trade
was produced by United States firms set up within
the region to avoid the high tariff barriers with third
countries.
Because the strategy of economic development
within the frame-work of regional integration had, by
political necessity, to be by private enterprise, there
were only two sources of capital for the emergence of
the import-substitution industrial bases in the five
countries: the traditional landed elite with its wealth
in coffee and other crops, and the private foreign
investors largely United States multinational
corporations. The "new industrial elite" is therefore
the same as the "old traditional elite." In this respect,
therefore, there has been no socio-economic struc-
tural change. Political and economic power have
remained in the same hands, and as concentrated as
before.
Import substitution has functioned in the context
of the negligible purchasing power of the masses and
has, therefore, been based on the production of
non-essential consumer goods to suit the demand
Page 26- C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

consumption patterns of the dominant elites and the
middle income sectors in the population. This has, in
turn, led to the high import quotient, high
capital-labour ratio, high foreign technology imput of
the production process, which is the antithesis of any
meaningful development strategy.
The efficient implementation and operation of
these elite-oriented non-essential consumer goods
industries has necessitated a close collaboration
between foreign and local capital through the joint
venture system so that both the multinational
corporations and the local capitalists have become
integrated on a regional basis and form a powerful
vested interest group resisting controls on their
activities essential for meaningful structural trans-
formation of the economies.

COFFEE, BANANAS AND COTTON
AS PERCENTAGES OF
THE TOTAL EXPORT TRADE
outside of the CACM area, 1970
(CACM treated as one unit)

Coffee ........................................................ 42.4%
Coffee, Bananas ......................................... 60.2%
Coffee, Bananas, Cotton ............................ 71.0%

Source: Banco Centro Americano de Integraci6n
Econ6mica. (Compiled from Centro-America en
Cifras 1971)

The outstanding feature of the CACM experience is
that the expanded industrial bases in the meniber-
countries and the phenomenal increases in the
intra-Central American trade (up to 1970) have been
achieved largely through a strategy of greater
dependence on the United States. The Central
American economies today are more integrated with
the United States economy than perhaps with each
other. Certainly, there is valid room for speculation as
to which of the two simultaneous integration
processes is now the more advanced.
This dependence can be measured by various
indicators. Firstly, the level of the United States
Foreign Investment in the countries. In the 1950's,
United States investment was preponderantly in the
agricultural sector, of the economy. Approximately
thirty per cent of the manufacturing sectors of all five
countries are owned by United States corporations.
Over sixty per cent of the Costa Rican industrial
Sector is owned by United States corporations.
No country can achieve self-sustaining growth, the
elimination of high rates of unemployment, and the
lateral and vertical integration of its major economic
sectors, without the development of a locally-based
technology. Central America, like many other Third

World areas, has contented itself with absorbing,
without adaptation (e.g., to meet local needs for
greater labour utilization) United States and other
foreign technology machines, skills, processes on
a wholesale basis in all its industries.
One witnesses the spectacle in Central America of
countries, each with high rates of unemployment, and
particularly El Salvador, with one of the highest
population to land ratios in the world, not only
utilizing capital-intensive methods of production in
all the industries, but positively encouraging this
through Government policies over the past twelve
years. Each of the member-countries' "laws of
industrial promotion" permits the importation of
capital goods machinery free of all taxes, and the
Central American Bank for Economic Integration
(over eighty per cent of whose external resources are
provided by the United States) provides loans for
these industries at rates significantly cheaper than the
market rate of interest. In these two ways, the true
price of the capital used by these industries is made
artificially cheap, with no compensatory incentive to
the investor to increase the labour-quotient in his
production process.
Because of this overwhelming reliance on foreign
investment, foreign technology and foreign manage-
ment, we can appreciate the high import bill for both
capital goods and raw materials, the significant capital
leakage each year in the form of the repatriation of
profits and royalties and the low value-added
"finish-touch" "assembly" and "drawback" in-
dustries which have sprung up all over.
Most alarmingly, in terms of the development of
the region, is the virtual impossibility of anything
more than a fraction of the industrial production of
the area ever being exported to third countries. This
is because of two factors: the use by United States
corporations in Central America of machinery and
industrial processes which are in varying degrees out
of date, resulting in relatively uncompetitive costs
and poor quality of production in many cases. These
goods sell easily in Central America because of high
tariffs erected to keep producers in third countries
out. Secondly, the licensing agreements under which
United States corporations and local firms operate in
Central America, restrict to the Central American
region, the sale of the goods produced with the
machines and industrial processes of these Multi-
national Corporations. This is because the Multi-
national Corporations have other businesses on
similar terms in other countries throughout the
world, and they naturally want to exclude competi-
tion with each other.
With the exhaustion of most of the avenues for
import-substitution in Central America, this threat to
the countries' export potential in manufactures arises
directly out of their strategy of near-total depend-
ence, and faces them with a serious crisis of
development in the coming years.
Dependence does not preclude growth. Indeed,

under conditions of structural backwardness depend-
ence may be utilized by governments as a strategy for
achieving economic growth. Economic growth, in
underdeveloped economies, therefore, can and
frequently does go hand in hand with a state of
dependence for short periods of time. However, the
critical factor here is that for any given increase in the
rate of growth, a greater increase in dependence is
necessary for its attainment. Economic growth based
on dependence is always precarious and relies on the
fate of the economy to which the country is largely
dependent. It does not lead to structural transforma-
tion, a necessary condition for self-sustained growth.

CENTRAL AMERICAN LITERACY RATES, 1960

Per cent of Population 15 years and over Classified
as Literate

Guatemala ........................................................ 28
El Salvador ........................................... ...... 43
Honduras ..................................... ........... .. 35
Nicaragua ..................................... .......... .. 40
Costa Rica .................................... ............ 89

Source: Thorsten V. Kalijarvi, Central America:
Land of Lords and Lizards (New York: D. Van
Nostrand Co., Inc., 1962), p. 14.

What we have witnessed is economic growth -
industrial growth and the growth in intra-regional
trade without affecting positively (and in some
cases worsening) the economic and social
development of the societies. As one key tecnico in
Central America put it: to effect development in
Central America you must attempt to solve the
massive unemployment and underemployment which
exists in all five countries; you must begin to solve
Salvador's population problem, with its repercussions
on Salvadorean/Honduran relations; you have to start
tackling the problem of the non-integration of the
Guatemalan Indian (fifty-four per cent of Guate-
mala's population) into the social, economic and
political life of the country; you must have as the
major objective of any development plan the
elimination of basic poverty the elimination of the
high rates of illiteracy, malnutrition, poor health, and
almost zero purchasing power of the majority of the
population. If the CACM can lay claim to having
begun in any significant way to process leading to the
elimination of any of these, then the CACM has some
relationship to the development of Central America.
The evidence does not permit the CACM to make
such a claim. *

C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 27

THE FUTURE OF TOMORROW

By O. R. Dathorne

Extract from Dr. Pietro's
Future of Tomorrow."

missive entitled "The

... because of the flood and the fire, because of all
the unwisdoms that have been uttered, because of the
lack of form and order, there are a number of men
who sleep without, women lying drunk or dead in
gutters. All flights have been cancelled and living is
postponed till the day after tomorrow. The blind
tenants of the earth can no longer copulate because
of their secret fear of guilt and the indecent lives of
any two neighboring houses have the dull, bland
look of the damned.
For the moment we have had to expel divinty as
useless. The prayers we offered were not heard and
those we did not offer stifled our breasts and kept us
awake at nights fretting for a priest who had died and
whose wish it was to offer the last sacrament of ashes.
He was so young much too young for dying and
when he fell cross-wise off his motor-cycle, his
catechism spurting blood, we could not think. The
moment of forgiveness staggered and collapsed.
Those who are not sleeping are awake and drunk.
Those who are not sick are lying in houses where
walls have been blown away and private lives stare at
the front garden. If one writes so much it might be
misconstrued by the censors of the public ear. This is
in fact what is to be expected at this time of the
season; grass has been burnt dry but no new sprouts
come up and hungry cattle roam over deserts of
parched earth.
- One must get used to the piracy of the soul, for in
the absence of sky-rockets, herbs keep company and
there are no moon-men who can take us nearer
oblivion the slow progress from the rocking horse to
the hearse. Perhaps not so slow since now that leaves
are mildew and the after-noon air has been hung up
to dry, short days crawl bedwards and street-lamps
lift their faces sky-wards, to a moonless zone of
which I cannot speak. Another winter is happen-
ing...
What then can I tell you? Death is not there in the

Painting by Oscar Jaramillo,
Colombia, Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia.
sad afternoon, among the railings; it is not at another
place standing and waving patterns of light and
darkness. It is in the warm scent of the rose, the
shout of boys in the snow over the silence of damp,
in the toss of hair-curl as a woman moves from
charity to slumberless vanity, from grace to glory.
No sermon this but instead a narrative of the
wreath's a urgent need to the devotion of living. We
will bury our dead when all living things have passed
away from us. But only then. Only a second ago the
children and the priest had laughed in the garden, and
now in the latrine there is the crying of old men,
spermless but speechful, knowing that they had done
their own undoing and that the death that faced them
was the death of glands, organs, speech and minor
defects of the brain . .
No doubt therefore it was all very sudden and
perhaps it was the suddeness more then the error
which surprised us. Ordering was easy. We had, of
course made wills and testaments, consulted oracles
and been discouraged, given discourses, sometimes
learned, on the need for arriving. We who had never
sired anyone, were never sure of anywhere, knew we
had to go and hoped to arrive in good shape, sitting
preferably in a first class compartment, with the
weather fine. Last year this time I was in another
place and I had thought that the days would never
criss-cross. But they did and now this. What have we?
(The girl yawned and wondered if the priest trusted
her. In fact she did not care whether he arrived or
not. They kept on talking and never got there. Sin
and forget, they both thought, in silence. It was a
false silence).
True enough we were not warned of the demolition.
Even the priest who crashed, helmet and catechism in
the dust, seemed unaware. Perhaps the poets knew or
the girls near the well. One day we left home and
came back to find unfamiliar spaces between the
furniture. The room had turned completely round.
When we spoke up, even air was no longer tidy, but
there was of course still us people called us by
names we remembered and so we continued with the

Page 28- C.R. Vol. VII No. 1

By Jim Amaral, Museo La Tertulia, Call, Colombia.

association we had with our members, forgetting for a
while that we had become slightly hostile neighbours
to ourselves. Even our vacancy was absent and the
paradise-birds sung no more in tamarind trees. Our
silences had gone.
Within this nightmare from which we did not
wake, we waited. Some, pagan-like, for the worship
of our true idols, others for the false gods of our
cunning. No mind to watch with, no light in the
bell-tower nor life in the belly. We waited. Nuns were
lured into gardens of scent and shown pineapples
which they bought. At some stage we must have
realized in the dream that truth could never decide
for us. Either we accomplish it or we dole it out to
pawnbrokers ...
My duty, my humility, my service, I thought. In
times that were "historical," when we stood on the
loneliest fringe of the world, looking over the abyss
for company, we realized that since things were
happening and we had scientifically controlled
excessive growth of thorns and briar-patches, we must
be ready for the ritual sacrifice of sheep. Instead we
build a fountain, adorned it with memorands, cycle
styled copies of minutes that had passed into hours
and the phallic symbol which we could no longer
remember. "In the very kingdom of Heaven, there is a
bath and all who enter therein wash pride and lust
away. Verily I say this to you. Simeon forgot his
headphones," the priest used to say. Therefore those
who went out late serenading love found false gods
mouthing their anger.
We kept feeling and ought not to have continued
to feel. There could be no crime, for were not things
happening! But the re-enactment of disaster,
unfettered to the manacles of fertile re-growth, had
meant that to save a state in which God had died, we
had to destroy all apologists, versifiers, lame men,
weak dogs, parasites, saints, farmers, betrayers,
strange faces, in fact all protagonists of a repentances
we did not want. So we unknowingly suffered, fully
believing that a sinless season was impossible.
As we moved or seemed to keep standing, the

temples fell. I will say this they toppled with grace,
full of dignity. Theirs was not the holligan collapse of
zinc on concrete but the then tender surrender of
flower on earth, the drizzle of pollen sprinkled on
majestic grass sod. Of course there were protests,
exiles prowled in every direction and genius was
extinguished by cleverdicks. No one could give
answers to questions you did not ask. Of course the
students and others who could not understand were
sorry, but so were the tsetse flies.
"A world manna is bad, but that with scapegoats is
even better," the priest said before he died.
Then we came to yesterday and the defeat. It is
easy to understand, for living had become an
endeavour of the impossible and men receded to
narcissism. No more marriages took place and after a
time we did not even consent to breathing.
Contraceptives and airfresheners were necessary.
Genesis had ended. You have to know that for us life
was a mistake and the cruel definition of it was that
sorrow employed life as a joy-boy. We surrendered to
the robbery and the fiction.
We mated with our own kind. Rubbing and friction
were easier than the burial of the male organ in the
female's and the joyful clutch of ovaries. We had to
die not fully knowing why, except that we had
removed the causes of our being. We had become
mere appendages, a curious anachronism in an age of
mechanical order. The paradox was complete when
the machines moved us, but left the parking-meters.
We genuflected the soap-suds over our stainless steel
sinks and the condensed world in the television box.
Now again there is singing. Someone in the silence
has come in and gone out; one with visions. My new
condition is like a river during the dry-season, wet
without water. There is no need for me to pretend
any longer for I know my own needs and failings. I
am like a wearer: I wish to love all my neighbour,
the cock next door, all laymen, the boy fron the
bakery, the impatient man rattling typewriter keys
late at night and butterflies. This, indeed, is the will
of all that I was denied in flesh. I need no disaster
now. The priest's death was mine.
The headphones are on again and I am in tune with
an eternal murmur of flies on a drowsy afternoon. I
have achieved wealth, conquered passions, liquidated
designs, circumvented disappointment, towered over
terror. In this new conscience I can equate this with
that and, having clearly heard the Soundings of the
eternal mammoth, can give voice to the society of the
sun that sings silence for the kings coming.
And so I send you my breathing and my
memories, the mistakes of a hundred lives and the
necessity for turning back. Behind the garage wall the
owts howt in their sleep and talkative sheep mutter
the language of grass-shoots. There need be no
exposure, no expulsion. Only survive. Flesh is the will
of the someone who moves lightly in and out with
grace, singing with the true silence.
I remain...
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 29

ANOTHER LIFE

By John J. Figueroa

West India Committee.

ANOTHER LIFE. Derek Walcott.
154 pp. Farrar, Strauss, and
Giroux. 1973.

Derek Walcott started work on his
remarkable autobiographical poem,
Another Life, in April 1965 and
finished it in April 1972 when he
was 42. The book, although re-
ceiving critical praise in many
places, has not created the stir
which it should have, and even
recently no copy of it was
available in St. Lucia, the author's
home island, and scene of much of
the human environment in which
the book has its very human and
moving being.
The book is now available in
the Cape Poetry Paperbacks series
(Konathan Cape, London, 1973)
in parts of the West Indies, at
$(TandT)7:50. This should ensure
for it a wider reading public, and
even the possibility of use in
Colleges and Schools. The book is
a must for all those interested in
poetry, in the West Indies, in
Walcott and in what it can mean
to grow up at an apparent distance
from the so called 'metropolitan'
centres.
The poem starts with The
Divided Child; the persona in the
poem is looking back from the
'middle of another life' to his
early situation in that very special
place St Lucia special in ita
physical environment, in its mixed
Page 30-C.R.-Vol. VII No. 1

history (fourteen times did it pass
between French and English rule),
in its crop of very special people:
Begin with twilight, when a glare
which held a cry of bugles
lowered
the coconut lances of the inlet,
as a sun, tired of empire, declined.
............. There
was your heaven! The clear
glaze of another life,
a landscape locked in amber, the
rare
gleam. The dream
of reason had produced its
monster:
a prodigy of the wrong age and
colour.
Here already we have some of
the central elements of the poem:
dream, reason, monster, a prodigy
- but of the wrong age and
colour. The child is divided, and is
going to be very unhappy. He
needs 'the rightness of placed
things'; this he will find mainly in
art, but the process has already
started in the presence of his dead
father, in his remarkable, and very
alive, mother. It will be continued
by the fellowship, and educating
presence, of two painters, and of
constant work with them. It is
remarkable, in fact, the effect
which Art and artists are shown to
have on the central persona of this
poem. Harry, the incomparable
master, not only shows the way as

a working and correcting older
companion, but also introduces
the author to the work of George
Campbell, and to those remark-
able lines of his:

Holy be
the white head of a Negro
sacred be
the black flax of a black child
Holy be
the golden down
that will strem in the waves
ot the winds ...
These lines will be echoed by
Walcott at the very end of his
poem, but by then he will have
achieved more than a hymn to the
solidarity of man in all his ethnic
and mixed experiences in the
Caribbean:

holy is Rampanalgas and its
high-circling hawks,
holy are the rusted, tortured,
rust-caked, blind almond trees,
your great-grandfather's, and
your father's torturing limbs,
holy the small,
almond-leaf-shadowed bridge
by the small red shop, where
everything smells of salt,
and holiest the break of the blue
sea below the trees,
and the rock that takes blows
on its back
and is more than rock,
and the tireless hoarse anger
of the waters

DereK Walcott

by which I can walk calm,
a renewed, exhausted man
balanced at its edge by the weight
of two dear daughters.

Before getting to that penultimate
declaration of what is holy, the
central persona has had to suffer
much, and to perform a rite of
exorcism, as well as to know and
understand the alphabet of his
surroundings. He has known a
great first love, has'had a serpent
for companion', was 'a heart full
of knives'.
Another Life demands, and
deserves, both extensive and inten-
sive reading: its over all structure
is meaningful and carefully put
together, its language imagistic,
rythmic, often lyrical in intensity.
A short review, alas, can but give
some indications, and state some
opinions!
The poem is 152 pages long,
and has the following main sec-
tions:
1) The divided child
2) Homage to Gregorias
3) A Simple Flame
4) The Estranging Sea

Each section is divided into
chapters, and subsections. Some
material used by Walcott in other
places is reworked some times
slightly and reappears in this
poem.
On of the more remarkable
things about Another Life is the
appearance of, in the broadest
sense, a religious element and
theme. The author's nurture has

come mainly from art and men of
art; from art and death and love;
from his openess and ability to see
a meaning, but also from some-
thing else, from his ability to
understand in another way:

I leapt for the pride of that
race at Sauteurs! An urge
more than mine,
so, see them as heroes or as
the Gadarene swine,
let it be written, I shared,
I shared,
I was struck like rock, and
I opened to His gift!

And:

O sun, on that morning,
did I not mutter towards your
holy, repetitive resurrection,
"Hare,
hare, Krishna," and then, politely,
"Thank you, life"? Not
to enter the knowledge of God
but to know that His name
had lain too familiar on my tongue,
as this one would say "bread,"
or "sun," or "wine," I staggered,
shaken at my remorse, as one
would say "bride" or "bread,"
or "sun" or "wine" to believe -
and that you would rise again,
when I am not here, to catch
the air afire, that you need not
look for me, or need this prayer.

It must be made clear, however,
that his is a long, complicated
(and enjoyable and rewarding)
poem, and that it is impossible to
summarise it, or to encompass it
within any one theme, religious or
otherwise. Nothing has been said
so far, for instance, about his
return to, and development of, an
old theme of Walcott's: Nothing.
Which we meet in his earlier
poetry, especially in Nearing La
Guaira, and in Tales of the Islands.
As I have written elsewhere,
"Walcott's way, his allusiveness,
his richly-textured verse in
imagery as well as music is a
very special thing, and cannot be
the way for all in the West Indies.
He had a kind of education which
included the best and the worst of
the old tradition (Horace and the
"naming of the Harbours of the

John J. Figueroa

Evans Brothers
Evans Brothers

World"). ... He came from a very
special home; he must be one of
the few well-known writers who
has a twin brother (himself a
playwright of no mean merit). But
what Walcott's work does illus-
trate, for the Caribbean and the
world to see, is that remarkable
persistence, energy, concentration,
tact, by which a variety of
backgrounds and confusions and
losses and gains, can be made to
grow into something beautiful and
remarkable .."

Anna, I wanted to grow
white-haired
as the wave, with a wrinkled

brown rock's face, salted,
seamed, and old poet,
facing the wind

and, nothing, which is,
the loud world in his mind.

And addressing his master and
friend who died by his own hand,

Forgive me, if this sketch
should ever thrive,
or profit from your gentle,
generous spirit.
When I began this work,
you were alive,
and with one stroke,
you have completed it!
O simultaneous stroke of
chord and light,
O tightened serves to which
the soul vibrates,
some flash of lime-green
water, edged with white -

"I have swallowed all my hates." *
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 31

NAIPAULIANA

By John Thieme
Penguin Books V.S. Naipaul
V.S. NAIPAUL: AN INTRODUC-
TION TO HIS WORK. Paul
Theroux. Homes & Meier, 1972.
$7.95.

THE OVERCROWDED BAR-
RACOON AND OTHER AR-
TICLES. V.S. Naipaul. 286 pp.
Andre Deutsch, 1972. $7.00.

V.S. Naipaul's reputation con-
tinues to grow and both Paul
Theroux's critical study V.S.
Naipaul: An Introduction To His
Work and Naipaul's own The
Overcrowded Barracoon And
Other Stories, a collection of
fourteen years of his journalistic
articles, serve to illustrate the
versatility of his talents. Naipaul's
journalism, however, does this
much more effectively than Mr.
Theroux's eulogistic study. A few
sentences of his own writing give
one a clearer idea of where his
genius lies than all his critic's
vapid encomiums.
From his first page, where he
makes the claim, "Wholly original,
he may be the only writer today
in whom there are no echoes of
influences," Mr. Theroux astounds
the reader with sweeping com-
ments in this vein of loose
generality. The fact that in this case
he clearly doesn't intend to be
taken too literally he sub-
sequently mentions that Naipaul
echoes Conrad in a passage in The
Mimic Men and has been in-
fluenced by Dickens in A House
for Mr. Biswas compounds
rather than excuses the error.
Later on there are other similar-
ly broad value judgements: we are
told that Naipaul's characters are

Page 32 C.R.-Vol. VII No. 1

"incomparable," but we aren't
told why; and Naipaul's 1964
comment that his first three books
were "an apprenticeship . and
then I was ready to write Mr.
Biswas" is quoted without any
accompanying comment to in-
dicate what makes Mr. Biswas a
more mature novel than its
predecessors. For the most part,
though, Mr. Theroux prefers to
avoid even the unsubstantiated
value judgement in favour of an
approach which traces thematic
parallels in Naipaul's work. Un-
fortunately, he doesn't succeed
any better at this.
His first three chapters, res-
pectively entitled 'Creators,'
'Fantasists' and 'Householders,'
which employ this method, offer
little help to the reader coming to
Naipaul for the first time and
the book is, after all, commended
to us as an "introduction."
Granted that Mr. Theroux is
within his rights to reject a strictly
chronological approach surely
the most straightforward way of
presenting this kind of introduc-
tion his technique of cross-
referencing remains unsatisfac-
tory, for his chosen themes avoid
all that is most vital in Naipaul's
work.
How far does it get us, for
instance, to view Naipaul's heroes
as 'Creators' when Ganesh Ram-
sumair, the con-man anti-hero of
The Mystic Masseur, is bracketed
together with Mohun Biswas,
Ralph Singh and, by implication,
Naipaul himself? To say, as Paul
Theroux does, that "Ganesh is his
own man always," to take
Ganesh's "mystical power as a
pundit" at its face value, to speak
of Ganesh's being "fascinated by
typefaces" as a pleasure "any
writer" feels each of these
things is totally to obscure the
point of Naipaul's ironic fable of
success. Ganesh, a veritable
Anancy personified, rises above
his fellow-Trinidadians simply be-
cause he is a more adept charlatan
than any of the small-time
swindlers who inhabit the fictional
world of the novel.
Attempting to establish his

thematic links, Mr. Theroux finds
himself caught in the glibly
universal. It's a serious failing, for,
not only does it prevent him from
discussing the novelist's ability to
realise his ideas in terms of
particular time and place, the
essence of the art of a novelist like
Naipaul, it also leads to his
neglecting Naipaul's own espe-
cially meticulous rendition of
detail, arguably his greatest gift as
a writer. Thus when Mr. Theroux
mentions that Mr. Biswas's
favourite title for his unfinished
short stories is 'Escape,' he is
implying that this is evidence of
the creative faculty at work in Mr.
Biswas. True, but since he never
makes it clear that Mr. Biswas
wants to escape from Trinidad,
the reader is left in a limbo. One
needs to proceed to the general
through the particular and this,
alas, Mr. Theroux never succeeds
in doing. Doubtless Naipaul, him-
self a master of concrete
materiality, would relish the irony
of the first critical study of his
work being so oddly at variance
with the tenor of his own writing.
Mr. Theroux's chapter on
Naipaul's two travel books is a
little better. Here assessment is at
least attempted and cogent
reasons are given for preferring An
Area of Darkness to The Middle
Passage. But once again the
chapter flops. It contains so many
obvious inaccuracies that one's
confidence in Mr. Theroux's
evaluation is completely under-
mined. Of The Middle Passage he
writes: "The book is certainly
lop-sided. There is so much
Trinidad and comparatively little
of the other places" and yet only
a fifth of the book deals with
Trinidad and the section 'British
Guiana' is approaching twice this
length! Similarly Mr. Theroux
tells us that while Naipaul was in
India collecting material for An
Area of Darkness he wrote only
one article yet his own bibli-
ography lists two! and goes on
to state that this article, 'Jamshed
into Jimmy' was "not incorpo-
rated into the text of An Area of
Darkness. The statement need not

be made; it has no critical
relevance. But for some unknown
reason Mr. Theroux has to put it
in, even though it's so obviously
wrong: one finds 'Jamshed into
Jimmy' incorporated, albeit with
minor alterations, into the second
chapter of An Area of Darkness.
Such obvious factual errors are
but the tip of the iceberg. Below
lies a mass of inexactitudes, like
the superficially plausible com-
ment that "In The Middle Passage
Naipaul meets people; in An Area
of Darkness he makes friends.
Friendships were possible in
India." The very next remark tells
us that in India "Naipaul became a
resident and involved himself for
some months in day-to-day living
in Srinigar, in Kashmir." Yet it
doesn't seem to occur to Mr.
Theroux that perhaps there is a
connection to be made here.
Naipaul makes friends in India
because he stays in Srinigar; he
only visits the Caribbean. Another
failure of this chapter on the
travel books is that there is too
much naked exposition of their
content and the following chapter
on Naipaul's history, The Loss of
El Dorado, is even more seriously
marred by this absence of analysis.
In a Free State, which is given a
chapter to itself, is rather better
dealt with than Naipaul's earlier
fiction. Mr. Theroux begins this
chapter by discussing the theme of
rebellion in Naipaul's work, a
rather more profitable line of
study than the themes examined
in the opening chapters, but then
degenerates into critical gener-
alities once again as he says that
"In a Free State is the first book
of Naipaul's in which a fear of
death and a pre-occupation with
failure are considered as being
final." Surely it's the other way
round: this is the first book in
which they quite categorically
aren't final.Paul Theroux himself
hints at as much when he speaks
of Naipaul's own "saving gesture"
in the Epilogue, a moment which
seems to have been conceived as
the climactic experience of this
complex study of personal free-
dom. Perhaps Mr. Theroux's
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 33

misreading originates from his
failure to relate the various sec-
tions of the work together so as to
establish the pattern which would
have enabled him to see the
gesture as climactic.
Finally, we're given 'A Note on
Naipaul's Style.' One hopes
against hope that here some of the
earlier defects of the study may be
remedied, but a 'Note' it is called
and a note it proves to be and a
disappointing note at that! The
first half of it deals not with
Naipaul's style, but with his
attitude to literature; the second
half illustrates the variety of his
sentence patterns and refers
briefly to his ability to compress
and to his humour. No mention is
made of his irony!
True to pattern, the bibli-
ography serves only to hint at
what could have been done. At a
quick glance it appears to provide
a useful list of Naipaul's articles
and reviews, but why, when he has
told us that between April 1959
and April 1960 Naipaul "reviewed
sixty-one novels for the New
Statesman alone," does Mr.
Theroux limit his list of articles to
50 items, including all 22 of those
now readily available in The
Overcrowded Barracoon? More-
over, no critical articles on
Naipaul are mentioned. So much
more could have been done.
And this has to be one's final
comment on Mr. Theroux's book
as a whole. He has not come to
terms with all that strikes us as
most significant in Naipaul's
work: his paradoxical East Indian
West Indianness; his interest in
colonialism and placelessness; the
spare lucidity of his narrative
method; his ironic style and view
of the world. The way remains
clear for further studies.
To turn from Paul Theroux's
study to The Overcrowded Bar-
racoon is to be reminded what a
fine writer Naipaul is. Though this
collection of articles spans
fourteen years and four con-
tinents, no matter what Naipaul
touches there is the same quietly
confident prose style, the same
informative accretion of detail,

.the same flawless irony.
In a 1965 article on "Indian
Autobiographies' Naipaul laments
the failure of the Indian writer
overseas Chaudhuri apart to
provide authentic witness of what
he sees: "people are their desig-
nations and functions, and places
little more than names." He
complains that Gandhi converts
London as he first knew it "into a
series of small spiritual ex-
periences, the vows of vege-
tarianism and chastity being more
important than the city of the
1890s." Later, in a 1967 article,
'Columbus and Crusoe,' Naipaul
levels a similar criticism against
Columbus' Book of the First
Voyage (he reiterates the same
point in The Loss of El Dorado).
Columbus does give some "con-
crete details" of his first ex-
perience of the New World, but
these, Naipaul argues, are no more
than "the props of a banal
poetry ... used again and again
until they are without meaning.
They are at an even lower level
than the recent astronaut's 'Wow'
there is nothing like this pure
cry of delight in Columbus." In
both cases our disappointment is
compounded by the feeling that
so much more was possible.
Gandhi fails to describe the sense
of "unsettlement" which Naipaul
expects an Indian plunged into
an alien culture to feel; Columbus
"was looking less for America or
Asia than for gold; and the
banality of expectation matches a
continuing banality of percep-
tion." Both are inadequate
chroniclers, because they are in-
sensitive to the imaginative pos-
sibilities of the places they "dis-
cover."
This is not only interesting
criticism: it is revealing where
Naipaul's own work is concerned.
It is his ability always to offer
sensitive witness which makes him
an unfailingly good journalist and
an even better travel journalist.
His own sense of placelessmess,
most fully embodied in In a Free
State makes him a particularly
acute commentator on place. It is
as if, feeling he belongs nowhere,

he has developed a chameleon-like
ability to be at home writing
about anywhere. His pieces on
India, Belize, St. Kitts, Anguilla
and Mauritius bring these places
alive as the usual travelogues
simply do not. Naipaul is never
afraid to trust his keen eyes and
ears and his flair for selecting the
significant detail and as a result he
succeeds where Gandhi and
Columbus fail.
In the title-piece, 'The Over-
crowded Barracoon,' a 1972
article on the island of Mauritius,
Naipaul is both informative and
analytical, but it is his rendition of
character and scene which gets
under the skin of what it is like to
live in Mauritius. After recording
the complaints of a group of
Mauritius' many unemployed,
Naipaul says of them:
"But that fat, open-mouthed,
jolly boy, who is 'on relief,' has
just got married and is clearly the
clown of the group. That hand-
some, stylishly dressed boy comes
from a polygamous Muslim bunch
of seventeen. And that sullen man
of thirty-five, with the pot-belly,
has had six children in the six
years he has been on relief."
Such perfectly chosen detail is
worth more than any details or
statistics of unemployment or the
population explosion. The over-
population and underemployment
of the "overcrowded barracoon"
have been humanised.
Paul Theroux tells us that
Naipaul "is a writer who doesn't
have what is called a journalistic
style." Well, of course, it all
depends on who is doing the
"calling." Naipaul's style lacks the
directness and speed of much
everyday journalism, but if one is
prepared to accept that the best
journalism is a condensed blend of
fact and opinion which avoids the
extremes of pure literality and
tendentiousness, then a strong
case can be made for Naipaul the
journalist. His success lies in the
subtlety and economy with which,
through apparently neutral state-
ment, he is able to transmit an
attitude. Thus, "It was on
Mauritius that the dodo forgot

Page 34-C.R.-Vof. VII No. 1

how to fly, because it had no
enemies," or, describing the Em-
peror Haile Selassie's visit to
Jamaica: "The Ras Tafarians were
expecting a black lion of a man;
they saw someone like a Hindu,
mild-featured, brown and small.
The disappointment was great; but
somehow the sect survives." To
say that this is not journalistic is
to say that journalism is not an
art.
Often Naipaul is doing the same
kind of thing at greater length.
The whole of his article on the
1970 Trinidad Black Power riots,
from which the above remark
comes, is informed by the same
impish irony, which, in passages
like the following, enables him to
be severely neutral and slily
critical at one and the same time:
"In the islands the intellectual
equivocations of black power are
part of its strength... Anything
more concrete, anything like a
programme, might become simple
local politics and be reduced to
the black power that is already
possessed."
Mr. Theroux reinforces his
contention that Naipaul lacks the
journalistic style by saying that his
1971 article, 'The Election in
Ajmer' is a "little novel." This
takes us to the crux of the matter.
Naipaul's account of the mixed-up
political loyalties of Ajmer does
have a novelistic flavour at
times it positively seems to echo
The Suffrage of Elvira, which
satirises Trinidad's second general
election under universal manhood
suffrage. But the journalistic and
the novelistic are not mutually
exclusive.
'The Election in Ajmer' is a
journalistic success, not only be-
cause it is first-rate "witness' and
because of the adeptness with
which Naipaul imposes his ironic
vision on an apparently deadpan
account of incestuous local poli-
tics, but also because the story he
tells is a perfect microcosm of the
wider political situation: the main
contestants for the Ajmer seat are
an uncle and nephew, who stand
respectively for the old Congress
and the new Indira Congress and

thus, Naipaul says, provide "a
local reflection of the national
quarrel about legitimacy." His
treatment of such a theme predict-
ably reads like fiction, but surely
this in no way invalidates its
quality as journalism.
The articles in The Over-
crowded Barracoon are collected
under four headings: 'An Unlikely
Colonial;' 'India;' 'Looking West-
ward;' and 'Columbus and
Crusoe.' Though Naipaul's style is
unerring whatever he touches, the
Third World pieces on India, the
Caribbean and Mauritius stand
out. The best of the Indian pieces
describes his 'Second Visit' to

India in 1967. It reads like an
appendix to An Area of Darkness
and comments like: "The aburdity
of India can be total. It appears to
ridicule analysis. It takes the
onlooker beyond anger and des-
pair to neutrality" are hardly
likely to increase his popularity on
the sub-continent. For all this he
is as incisive as ever. Describing
the Indian need for ritual and
magic, he gives his penchant for
comic bathos full play in relating
an anecdote about an Indian holy
man who claims he can walk on
water, but on the day appointed
for him to demonstrate his
miraculous power duly sinks. For
Naipaul this is only superficially
comic; in social terms it is both
typical and tragic. The Indian
needs magic, but magic is denied.
And Naipaul goes beyond this to
give his own opinion: the need for
ritual and magic is a sickness,
because it obscures the "necessary
theme" of causation.
Again, making much the same
point, Naipaul ironically approves
the western beatniks' recognition
that India is their territory like
Indians they deify mysterious-
ness! but says that as the West
turns Eastwards "it is like a cruel
revenge joke played by the rich,
many-featured West on the poor
East that possesses only mystery."
Hyperbole though this may be, it
is still illuminating and it carries
conviction precisely because it is
the product of the sensibility of a
man like Naipaul, whose am-

bivalent "Indianness" enables him
to achieve just the right mixture
of irony and sympathy.
His Caribbean articles reiterate
his "mimic men" view of the West
Indian situation and his 1970
reference to the region as the
"Third World's third world" is as
little likely to please West Indian
chauvinists as 'A Second Visit' is
to please their Indian counter-
parts. Yet, while it is true that
Naipaul lacks the vision to see that
with political independence new
identities have become more than
a pipe-dream for many West
Indians, how good he is when he
writes of the colonial past, as in
'The Ultimate Colony,' his 1969
article on Belize, and when he
brings faraway places before our
eyes through meticulous observa-
tion.
Naipaul has been disparagingly
referred to as a "black English-
man." Yet how many other
contemporary writers have the
historical sense and social vision to
bring the Third World experience
to the printed page with such
perceptiveness? To these two
qualities, Naipaul has over the past
couple of years the process can
be seen in the title-article of The
Overcrowded Barracoon -
acquired the one virtue his detrac-
tors claim he has always lacked,
compassion for the wretched of
the earth. *

CArPBBCAN rCVieW

is Available in
MICROFORM
fnmn...

Xerox University Microfilms
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PLEASE WRITE FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION
.______________ __

C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 35

Drawing by Susan Alvarez
Drawing by Susan Alvarez

TOMORROW'S CHILD

By Jose R. Garcia
TOMORROW'S CHILD. IMAGI-
NATION, CREATIVITY AND
THE REBIRTH OF CULTURE,
Rubem Alves. Harper and Row,
1972.

Christianity came to Latin Ameri-
ca with Columbus. Not so theolo-
gy. In the four hundred and fifty
years that have passed since
Columbus discovered America, no
Latin American voice has made a
difference in the history of theolo-
gy. It is only in this second half of
the twentieth century that theolo-
gical work of significance is being
done in this part of the world. The

Roman Catholics now have Gus-
tavo Gutierrez, Juan Luis Segundo
and Segundo Galilea. On the
Protestant side there is Jose
Miguez-Bonino, Julio de Santa
Ana and Rubem Alves. Of late,
outside of Latin America, the
Brazilian Rubem Alves is perhaps
the best known Latin American
Protestant theologian.
Denominational labels, how-
ever, do not tell us much about
the thought of Latin American
Theologians. The primary concern
of their work is not the theolo-
gical issues that have traditionally
divided Christianity along denomi-
national lines. Rather, Latin
American theologians are con-

cerned that their thought serve to
improve the life of the Latin
American man. For this reason
one finds them articulating the
relevance of Christiantity to the
psychological, sociological, eco-
nomic and political realities of this
part of the Third World.
In the dissertation for his
doctoral degree from Princeton
Theological Seminary, A Theology
of Human Hope, for example,
Alves deals with such issues as the
manipulation of man's ideals by
the masters of technological
society, the possibility of changing
that society through human ac-
tion, what God is doing to
improve the situation, and how
man is to respond to such action
on the part of God.
In Tomorrow's Child Alves is
dealing with basically the same
issues that he dealt with in A
Theology of Human Hope. The
difference between the two books
consist only in the lengths to
which Alves goes in explaining the
concept of God's action in the
world and the concept of imagina-
tion. In A Theology of Human
Hope Alves devoted scarcely three
pages of the last chapter to
explain the role of the imagination
in man's life. The main portion of
the book was an explanation of
how God's action in the world is
not limited to bringing about
possibilities inherent in any given
state of affairs but is to be
conceived always as creation ex
nihile. Such a conception of the
action of God seems very much
against the flow of scientific
explanation which conceives every
state of affairs to be caused by the
states of affairs that preceded it.
From the scientific standpoint,
therefore, Alves' thought is un-
scientific and may be said to be
the product of his imagination. To
this Alves replies that without the
use of the imagination the work of
the scientist would be impossible.
Using the work of Thomas Kuhn,
Alves argues that it is through the
use of his imagination that the
scientist is able to come up with
the models that he uses to
organize and explain the facts that

Page 36 C.R. Vol. VII No. 1

he gathers in his experimental
work.
Tomorrow's Child is the reverse
of this coin. Here it is not until
the last chapter that faith in God
comes into the picture whereas
the main portion of the book
deals with the imagination. For
now, instead of limiting the role
of the imagination to fashioning
the models used by the scientist
the way that Kuhn had done,
Alves wants to expand the scope
of the imagination to include the
fashioning of society as a whole.
A logical sketch of Alves'
argument, as opposed to the
organization that he gives to the
book, would run as follows: Man
has more than physical needs.
Life, in order to be human,
requires that not only its physical
needs be met but also that the
needs of the heart be met. This is
made plain by the fact that men
who enjoy health and wealth have
dropped out, joined communes,
become revolutionaries or hermits
and have even committed suicide.
What is missing in the lives of
these men is the necessary coher-
ence between the values that arise
out of their imagination and the
objective social conditions. The
world in which they live does not
express their values; rather it
destroys them. Of course, they
could always forsake their values:
but, if they did so, they would be
forsaking their humanity. For to
be human is to be creative. When
man looks at the world he sees not
only what is there; imagination
lets man see also what is missing
that should be there and what is
there that should not be. And
according to that vision, man
endeavours to change the world.
The words 'change the world'
are used advisedly. It is not his
situation within the existing world
that man is endeavouring to
change. What man wants is not to
join the Gomezes or to keep up
with them. He refuses to play that
game. For the rules of that game
make it impossible for him to win.
Instead man wants to play a
completely different game. Im-
agination then flies us to a place

where the game of life is played
according to different rules. This
is the utopian intention of the
imagination.
Imagination has also a playful
and a magical intention. Man has
fun playing. Play suspends the
rules of the game of reality and
therefore lifts the pressures that
make man serious and tense which
result in ulcers and nervous
breakdowns. Again, in play imag-
ination creates an order which is
not within the possibilities inher-
ent in the present state of affairs.
Having broken the absolute deter-
minism of the cosmos, the order
created in play is expressive of
freedom.
Based on this description of the
role played in man's life by the
imagination, Alves criticizes both
the social order of the United
States as well as that of the Soviet
Union. The criticism, however,
emphasizes more the negative
aspects of the social order of the
United States. It is the work of
American futurologists that Alves
criticises and it is from life in the
United States that Alves draws
most of the cases that he deals
with.
The charge brought forth by
Alves against the existing social
order is that it is irrational. Power,
instead of being a means has
become an end. Instead of being
at the service of man's imagina-
tion, power has become an oppres-
sor. This is made plain by the fact
that social institutions no longer
pay attention to the 'why?' or
'what for? questions, the ques-
tions regarding goals, but rather
concern themselves only with the
'how?' question, the question of
power and effectiveness. Thus the
economy has to keep growing and
bring all of the world's markets
and resources under its control,
the military has to get stronger
than anyone else's so that its
supremacy cannot be challenged,
and science's curiosity is not to
remain idle but provide industry
and the military with the instru-
ments of control.
And it is both the objective and
the subjective that the existing

social order seeks to exhert its
power upon; it is both imagination
and action that must be con-
trolled. For there are limits to
what physical force can do.
Violence brings resentment and
hatred. But just as scientific
research can, on the one hand,
provide the police and the military
with the means to control man's
action, on the other hand, it can
also provide industry with the
means to control the imagination.
This is accomplished by manufac-
turing and selling so many new
gadgets and diversions that imag-
ination no longer has the power or
the time to compete with what
the system offers. By thus bring-
ing under its control even the
things that produce pleasure, the
system succeeds in controlling the
imagination.
The system achieves total con-
trol when it succeeds in controlling
language. According to Alves, our
perceptions, and therefore our
thought and behaviour, are fixed
by language. He who controls
language, therefore controls what
man thinks and does; he defines
what is real and unreal, good or
bad, possible and impossible, sane
or insane. To avoid the second
label in each of these four pairs
means to think and behave the
way the system wants. How is
man to respond to this state of
affairs?
According to Alves the only
alternative is to destroy the
existing society by force and
create one following his imagina-
tion. The revolution will not come
through a change in consciousness.
It will come through the exercise
of power. The revolutionary -
turned hippie does not realize
that he is engaged in masturbation
and not in procreation. He who
has abandoned the demonstration
and the protest march, forsaken
the cold logic of political analysis
and no longer shouts in anger but
has instead joined a comune and
exchanged his rifle for a guitar in
order to sing love songs, dance,
play, celebrate and be joyful
following the directive of his
imagination, does not fertilize the
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 37

'-'- I % U'
I- -- ^

By Juan Antonio Roda, DELIRIO DE LA MONJA MUERTA, Museo De La Tertulia,
Call, Colombia

earth but leaves everything as it is.
He has become drunk with the
aperitif and is no longer fit to go
on with the main course.
But how can the revolution
come through the exercise of
power if the system makes it
impossible by having all the
power? How can one hope if the
hoped for cannot be realized?
Hope cannot be abandoned. With-
out hope man sinks to an inhuman
level. Furthermore hope is the
presentment, that imagination is
more real and reality less real than
it seems; it is the hunch that the
way things are is not the last word
and the suspicion that there is
more to reality than meets the
eye.
For Alves this is what faith in
God is all about. For him belief in
God is not the belief that there is
a being somewhere in the universe
or outside of it. To believe in God

is to believe that contrary to a
realistic assessment of the situa-
tion, the unexpected will happen
and change the possibilities of
human life and fulfillment. Such
creative events have taken place in
the past. Ours may not be the
time when the creative event is
taking place, but ours is the time
when we may fertilize the earth
with hope. The creative event is
the result of grace. When it comes
about the only thing that one can
do is to join it.
The perceptive reader will
notice a serious lack of consisten-
cy in Alves' book. Take for
example the relation between
man's actions and the building of
the future according to the guide-
lines of the imagination: Alves
tells us that if this is not the time
where the creative event comes
into fruition, it may well be the
time for man to plant the seed; in

the next page we are told that the
creative event will not come
through the work of man and that
the only thing he can do is to join
it. This type of inconsistency is
very common among Protestant
preachers. They will tell their
parishoners that salvation is not
the result of human works but of
faith alone and that therefore all
they have to do is to believe.
Another inconsistency in Alves
is that he manages to be a
determinist and an indeterminist
at the same time. This is an
inconsistency that abounds among
social scientists. In the case of
Alves it comes about when he tells
us that existing society has been
successful in controlling the
imagination while telling us that
man's imagination is free. To be
free is to be one's own law.
Therefore, to the extent that
imagination complies with de-
mands made by something foreign
to it, it does so only by making
these demands its own law. On the
other hand, if imagination is
subject to control by the outside,
if it is determined by the outside,
then, whether it be in the existing
society or in any other, it will
always remain determined just like
the movement of billiard balls is
always determined whether it be
your cue or mine that hits them.
As far as I am concerned, I am
convinced that man's imagination
is free. Alves' work itself confirms
this conviction of mine. If society
is able to control the imagination
of its members how is it a fact
(acknowledged by Alves) that the
revolutionary-turned-hippie can
imagine the new society into
which the existing one will be
turned by a revolution of cons-
ciousness? Indeed how has Alves
himself been able to use his
imagination in writing his book?
But this is not all. While one
may believe that the imagination
is free, one need not believe that
the body is likewise free. This is
reflected in such sayings as 'you
may imprison my body but not
my mind.' Thus Alves' claim that
existing society denies objective'
freedom, the freedom of the

Page 38- C.R.-Vol. VII No. 1

body, must be considered sepa-
rately from his claim, just refuted,
that the existing society denies
freedom to the imagination.
Again, it is from facts acknow-
ledged by Alves himself which are
inconsistent with his claim that we
get evidence to refute him. For
how can it be a fact that the
hippie is able to live his non-
productive life according to his
own imagination in the comune if
the system is successful in repress-
ing all kinds of non-productive
behaviour or any behaviour that
does not enlarge the society's
power?
In spite of all this, Tomorrow's
Child is saved because in it Alves
raises a question of crucial im-
portance for any society, especial-
ly for societies like those in the
Caribbean. The question of
whether and how the goals
pursued by society are to be
evaluated must be given serious
consideration by all countries,
especially by countries, like those
in the Caribbean, who have yet to
settle on the goals that they are to
pursue, who have yet to establish
mechanisms whereby these goals
may be attained and who have yet
to establish a tradition of deci-
sion-making in those matters that
affect society as a whole. And yet
I am not convinced that Alves'

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attempt to answer the question
sheds more light than heat.
Of course, my rejection of
Alves on the grounds that he has
failed to persuade me may be
unwarranted. I may be rejecting
Alves for failing to accomplish
what he could not attempt to do
and still be consistent with him-
self. For Alves' answer to the
question 'How is one to evaluate
the goals of society? is that one
evaluates the goals of society in
terms of their coherence with the
aspirations of the imagination.
That answer denies the possibility
that one can persuade another
should the two persons' respective
imaginations provide different
aspirations.
For example, ask yourself the
question 'On what grounds can I
condemn conspicuous consump-
tion (i.e., the wasteful use of the
world's limited resources on use-
less gadgets such as electric
backscratchers)? Surely cons-
picious consumption cannot be
condemned on the grounds that it
is evil according to the guidelines
of your imagination; for just as
your imagination tells you that
conspicuous consumption is evil,
the imagination or he who con-
sumes conspicuously tells him just
the opposite. To settle that
disagreement between those two
different sets of guidelines both
offered by the imagination, one
has to go beyond the imagination.
Traditionally, that beyond the
imagination to which thinkers
have appealed to settle their
differences has been the facts, the
data accessible to the experience of
everyone. This accounts for the
thinkers' concern to describe that
data accurately. The data' is like a
lock which is ready to reject any
key that does not fit regardless of
who may have fashioned it. As
such it may be relied on as the
grounds for persuasion.
Alves, on the other hand,
refuses to fall back on the data to
settle his arguments with someone
else. For him man is a creative
being who shapes the data accord-
ing to the guidelines of the
imagination. The problem with

this, however, is that the imagina-
tion is notoriously idiosyncratic.
As my grandmother was fond of
saying and as the example given
shows, "Every head is its own
world." The imagination, then,
cannot serve as the criterion in
terms of which disagreements can
ultimately be settled. Consequent-
ly, if one insists in changing the
world according to his imagina-
tion, as Alves believes man must -
because of the kind of being he
believes man to be, one cannot
but attempt to impose one's way
on others by the exercise of
power.
This choice, however, lands
Alves in an inconsistency of such
magnitude that it is in a class with
the category of the sublime in
aesthetics. This consists in advo-
cating freedom while being com-
mitted to settling every argument
by the exercise of power. It is a
case much too similar to that of
the officer of the U.S. Army who
described one of his exploits in
Viet-Nam with such words as "We
had to destroy the village in order
to save it." *

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THE "M" FACTOR

OF TOURISM

By Ramesh Ramsaran

TOURISM AND DEVELOP-
MENT, A CASE STUDY OF THE
COMMONWEALTH CARIB-
BEAN. John M. Bryden. 236 pp.
Cambridge at the University Press,
1973.

In the past five to ten years
Commonwealth Caribbean coun-
tries have been inundated by a
series of studies on tourism
sponsored directly by govern-
ments of the region, or in
collaboration with external of-
ficial and semi-official agencies.
Most of these studies however
have tended to be of a very
limited scope, attention being
focused mainly on the multiplier
effects of the industry and their
impact on certain key economic
variables. Costs arising from the
particular trend tourism has taken
in the Caribbean have been largely
ignored or overshadowed by the
glowing picture painted of the
tremendous benefits being derived
or derivable from the existence
and growth of this industry. Even
within this limited objective ana-
lytical rigour has not been a
particularly distinguishing feature
of these reports many of which
were intended as blue prints on
which the governments of the

From ANOTHER PLACE, Scrimshaw Press.

region could plan the future of the
industry.
Bryden's work which is the first
articulate study on Caribbean
tourism to be undertaken by an
academic is much more encom-
passing and thought provoking
than previous studies on the
subject. In both technique and
scope he carries the analysis to a
more sophisticated level using a
cost-benefit approach within
specified models to derive many
of his conclusions. The study
however does not quite cover the
area he claims it does. Bryden is
concerned mainly with a par-
ticular type of cost, viz, that
germane to a condition of mis-
directed or under-utilized re-
sources. The concept of social cost
though often used in a limited
sense in economic analysis is much
more encompassing than this, and
includes condiserations which do
not lend themselves easily to
quantification; so that although he
claims as his objectives the
examination of the "social aspects
of tourism" and the consideration
of "the dynamic impact of the
tourist sector" these exercises
have in fact been carried out in a
very partial and circumscribed
way. The approach is essentially

economic with a quantitative bias.
For the sociologist or psychologist
the book will be of little value.
This is not to imply that the
study has no practical worth.
Indeed some of the conclusions
that emanate from the analysis
should prove of tremendous inter-
est to policy makers whose vision
is too often limited to the
immediate calculable benefits of
tourist activities. The aura of
salvation which the industry has
acquired in recent years, however,
coupled with the intense competi-
tion prevailing among the islands
is not likely to make a rational
approach to the subject a particu-
larly easy matter.
The apparent lack of concern
with the wider implications of
unplanned tourism tends to stem
from two basic sets of conditions
which have grown increasingly
stronger in the last five to ten
years. One has its roots in the high
economic benefits-low cost per-
ception which surrounds the in-
dustry. The ethic implied here is
that plenty is being got for very
little in the way of expenditure
and efforts. The other is the
importance acquired by tourism in
relation to the traditional exports
of the region which have been
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 41

- i t

facing serious marketing and
production difficulties in recent
years. A related concern is the
growing pool of unemployed
human resources to which the
governments of the region seem to
have no answer. The critical
nature of the problems implied in
the last two factors coupled with
the attitude described in the first
has produced an atmosphere in
which tourism is welcome in any
dose and in any form in the hope
that some of the pressures will be
removed, or least be mitigated.
Logic it seems has lost its head in
the mad scramble for 'tourist
dollars.' Some of the islands have
even permitted and continue to
encourage the wholesale alienation
of land in the belief that this will
result in an increase in the inflow
of foreign currency which has
slowed considerably as a result of
the sluggish growth of visible
exports. Where commodity ex-
ports are non-existent, the situa-
tion is even more appalling.
A controversial question on
which Bryden's analysis throws
some interesting light is the value
of the multiplier on which there
has been a great deal of debate
particularly after the publication
of the Zinder Report. In trying to
assess the benefits from tourism
the question is an important one
in the Caribbean where foreign
ownership dominates the industry
and where an extremely large
proportion of total supplies
originate abroad. These facts have
prompted several formulations of
the 'm' which as the key concept
in income determination analysis
occupies a prominent place in all
Page 42 C.R. Vol. VII No. 1

UJ. -u

-

the scope of planning efforts. We
know from the existing organiza-
tion of the industry and the
structure of West Indian econo-
mies that the actual value of the
multiplier is way below its poten-
tial value. The resource allocation
problems created by the 'ad-hoc'
and un-planned growth of tourism
in the region however is yet to be
fully appreciated. Bryden's work
is an important contribution in
this regard. By using the cost-
benefit approach he not only
throws new light on some old
problems but demonstrates very
emphatically the need "for con-
trolling the growth rate of the
tourist industry much more rigidly
than has hitherto been the
practice of Caribbean govern-
ments."
As he rightly points out the
case traditionally made out against
tourism rests largely on its non-
pecuniary or 'transcendental'
impact on society." Part of his

S... ,

From TWO BRAZILIAN CAPITALS

the professional studies that have
been done on tourism in the
region. Based on differing assump-
tions and procedures the mag-
nitude of 'm' ranges all the way
between 0.873 and 2.3. Using data
relating to Antigua, Bryden comes
up with an estimate of 0.88 which
he regards as something of a
maximum. By throwing domestic
agriculture into the import sector
within his matrix (a reasonable
move in the Caribbean context) he
reduces 'm' to 0.81. Adjusting for
under-utilization of capacity in
hotels he further reduces the
figure to 0.77. For Dominica and
the Cayman Islands he comes up
with multipliers of 1.195 and 0.65
respectively. In each case 'm'
varies with the degree of 'open-
ness.' Regardless of the accuracy
of these figures, what his analysis
does bring out is the danger of
generalising even in the Caribbean
where the economies appear to be
very similar in many respects. It is
not our intention here to discuss
the economic implications of his
results, or his data base or even his
methodology which at times seem
questionable. In view, however, of
the differing magnitudes we have
been getting for 'm' and in the
light of the importance of this
concept in the planning context
one cannot too strongly em-
phasize the need for an indepth
study of this subject in the region.
Of course ascertaining the value
of the multiplier does not resolve
the more fundamental question
facing the region which is how to
derive a greater measure of bene-
fits from the tourist industry
which still remains largely outside

concern is to demonstrate that
there are real economic costs
involved also and the two may be
linked. "It is possible to argue,"
he contends, "that at least some
part of these 'transcendental' costs
are the results of the absolute size
of net social benefits, and their
distribution, rather than being
largely independent phenomena
which can be left out of the
economists' calculations." This is
true to an extent. And seen in this
perspective costs emanating
through this channel would appear
to be controllable and amenable
to correction. The other dimen-
sion of the non-pecuniary or
'transcendental' costs which he
does not discuss are those arising
from what has been termed the
'culture clash,' and these are not
so easily controllable. One mani-
festation of this type of cost is
seen in the tendency of poor
societies to ape the life styles of
the more affluent visitors to
whom they cater. A more vicious
and extreme form is to be seen in
the effects that mass tourism can
exert on the social fabric of
mini-societies and their entire
value system which gradually
disintegrates to the point where a
whole new culture begins to
emerge based on transitory re-
lationships and a new conception
of work being fundamentally in
conflict with the long term ob-
jectives of these societies.
Finally a prominent short-
coming of Bryden's study which
needs to be pointed out is the
static nature of his analysis which
concentrates "on the likely impact
of tourism in the existing institu-
tional and political context rather
than on 'potential'." In view of
the dependence of the region on
the industry it would have been
interesting to see what the bene-
fits would be under various sets of
adjustments to the existing or-
ganizational and structural frame-
work. As it is he can easily be
accused of focusing too much on
the negative consequences of
tourism, however justificable this
approach might be in the existing
circumstances. *

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tables, references. Paper: $7.00. "It may be too
often forgotten because of an anti-planter ideol-
ogy, a cultivated dislike of large-scale enterprise, a
distrust of 'monoculture,' or a romanticized
conception of the sturdy yeoman that, under
optimum conditions, sugar cane turns out to
provide a rich return to the environment in which
it grows, relative to its yield of energy in sugar and
by-products, and to the utilization of resources
necessary to its cultivation." Sidney W. Mintz.

Forthcoming:

Sidney W. Mintz (editor), Working Papers in
Haitian Society and Culture.

Order from:

Antilles Research Program
Yale University
Box 1970 Yale Station
New Haven, Connecticut 06520

C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 43

_ __

1. GENERAL

Biography

MY NAME IS JOSE. Charles Bean. Franciscan
Herald Press, 1974. $4.95. The history of a
Puerto Rican boy in the U.S.

PABLO NERUDA: FIVE DECADES. Ben
Belitt, editor and trans. Grove Press, 1974.
$12.50 cloth; $3.95 paper. A story about
Chile's revolutionary poet.

ROBERTO CLEMENTE: THE GREAT ONE.
James T. Olsen. 31 pp. Children Press, 1974.
$4.95.

WHO WAS ROBERTO? A BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF ROBERTO CLEMENTE. Phil Musick.
Doubleday, 1974. $7.95.

General Works

ADVENTURES IN BELIZE. Robert P. L.
Straugham. 240 pp. A.S. Barnes, 1974.
$17.95.

BEST BUYS IN THE CARIBBEAN. Jeanne
and Harry E. Harman, III. 124 pp. Harman
Assoc., 1974. $2.50. Tips on shopping in the
Caribbean.

BRAZIL ON THE MOVE. John Dos Passos.
Greenwood Press, 1974. $10.25.

IN CUBA. Ernesto Cardenal. D.P. Walsh,
trans. J.R. Lippincott, 1974. $10.50 cloth;
$3.95 paper. A fascinating account of Cuban
life by the Nicaraguan Poet/Priest/Marxist.

LA QUESTION DE PANAMA. Alberto Ruiz
Eldredge. 98 pp. Atenas (Lima), 1974. $3.60.

DOMINICA. Basil E. Crackwell. 198 pp.
Stackpole Books, 1973. $8.95.

FUSANG: THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
BY CHINESE BUDDHIST PRIESTS IN THE
FIFTH CENTURY. Charles G. Leland. 212
pp. Curzon Press (London), 1973. $10.50.

LA HORA DE ARGENTINA. H6ctor Hidalgo
Sola. 53 pp. El Ateneo (Buenos Aires), 1974.

THE PILGRIMAGE TO SANTIAGO. Edwin
Mullins. Taplinger Pub. Co., 1974. $12.95.

PUERTO RICAN PERSPECTIVES. Edward
Mapp. 171 pp. Scarecrow Press, 1974. $6.00.

Page 44 C.R. Vol. VII No. 1

SARTRE ON CUBA. Jean Paul Sartre.
Greenwood Press, 1974. A reprint of the
1961 edition.

SEVEN INTERPRETIVE ESSAYS ON
PERUVIAN REALITY. Jose Carlos Maria-
tegui. Marjory Urquidi, trans. 302 pp. U. of
Texas Press, 1974. $3.45.

THE STORY OF TOBAGO, ROBINSON
CRUSOE'S ISLAND IN THE CARIBBEAN.
Carlton Robert Ottley. 114 pp. Longman
Caribbean (Trinidad), 1973. $2.50.

THE UNITED STATES AGAINST THE
THIRD WORLD. Melvin Gurtov. 259 pp.
Praeger Pub., 1974.

THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTH
AMERICA, THE NORTHERN REPUBLICS.
Arthur Preston Whitaker. Greenwood Press,
1974. $13.00.

Geography and Travel

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE. Adi-Kent
Jeffrey. 86 pp. New Hope Pub. Co., 1973.
$1.50.

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE. Charles Berlitz
with J. Mason Valentine. Doubleday, 1974.
$7.95.

CENTRAL AMERICA. Doug Richmond. 176
pp. H.P. Book, 1974. $5.95. A guide for a trip
to Central America.

FIESTA TIME IN MEXICO. Rebecca B.
Marcus. Garrard Pub. Co., 1974. $3.00.

GUIDE TO ALL MEXICO. John Wilhelm.
425 pp. McGraw Hill, 1973. $8.95.

History and Archaeology

ADVENTURES IN THE SANTA FE TRADE,
1844-1847. James Josiab Webb. Porcupine
Press, 1974. $17.50.

THE ANCIENT AMERICAN CIVILIZA-
TIONS. Friedrich Katz. 386 pp. Praeger Pub.,
1974. $5.95.

BERMUDA FROM SAIL TO STEAM: THE
HISTORY OF THE ISLAND FROM 1784 to
1901. Henry Campbell Wilkinson. Oxford U.
Press, 1973. $31.60.

BUENOS AIRES. PLAZA TO SUBURB
1870-1910. James R. Scobie. Oxford U. Press,
S1974. $12.50.

CASAS GRANDES: A FALLEN TRADING
CENTER OF THE GRAN CHICHIMECA.
Charles C. Di Peso. 3 vols. Northland Press,
1974. $75.00. Results of a decade of
excavations into ruins in Central America.

CHRONICLE OF COLONIAL LIMA: THE
DIARY OF JOSEPHE AND FRANCISCO
MUGABURU, 1610-1694. Robert Ryol
Miller, ed. U of Oklahoma Press, 1974. A
reprint.

CONQUISTA Y COLONIZACION DE
SYUCATAN 1517-1550. Robert S. Chamber-
lain. 400 pp. Porria (Mexico), 1974.

FROM CORTES TO CASTRO. Simon Collier.
Macmillan, 1974. $12.95. An introduction to
the history of Latin America 1492-1973.

EL DORADO. THE GOLD OF ANCIENT
COLOMBIA. Julie Jones and Warwick Bray.
152 pp. New York Graphic Society, 1974.

EAST FROM THE ANDES; PIONEER
SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH
AMERICAN HEART LANDS. Raymond E.
Crist. 166 pp. U. Florida Press, 1973. $4.00.

GUATEMALA, LAND OF THE MAYAS.
Joan Lloyd. Greenwood Press, 1974. $9.75. A
reprint.

JAMAICA AND VOLUNTARY LABORERS
FROM AFRICA, 1840-1865. Mary Elizabeth
Thomas. 211 pp. University Presses of
Florida, 1974. $12.00.

LETTERS RELATIVE TO THE CAPTURE
OF SAINT EUSTATIUS 1781. George
Brydges Rodney. 185 pp. Irish U. Press, 1973.
$17.00. A reprint.

MASSACRE IN MEXICO. Elena Paniatowska.
Helen R. Kane, trans. with an introduction by
Octavio Paz. Viking Press, 1974. $8.95.

MESOAMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY. Nor-
man Hammond, ed. 474 pp. U. of Texas
Press, 1974. $15.00. This book shows in what
diverse directions and with what significant
results research in the Mesoamdrica regions is
progressing.

MEXICAN REVOLUTION. THE CONSTITU-
TIONALIST YEARS. Charls C. Cumberland.
450 pp. U. of Texas Press, 1974. $4.35.

MEXICAN REVOLUTION. GENESIS
UNDER MADERO. Charles Cumberland. 298
pp. U. of Texas Press, 1974. $3.75.

THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848. K. Jack
Bauer. Macmillan, 1974. $14.95. An epic
study of one of America's most controversial
wars.

MONTONERAS Y GUERRILLAS EN LA
ETAPA DE LA EMANCIPACION DEL
PERU: 1820-1825. Gustavo Vergara Arias.
216 pp. Salesiana (Lima), 1974. $4.80.

NEW APPROACHES TO LATIN AMERICAN
HISTORY. Richard Graham and Peter H.
Smith, editors. 275 pp. U. of Texas Press,
1974. $8.75.

PABLO MORILLO AND VENEZUELA,
1815-1820. Stephen K. Stoan. Ohio State U.
Press, 1974. $13.00. The career of the
disposed Spanish general who was sent to quell
a bloody rebellion.

SIXTEENTH CENTURY MEXICO. THE
WORK OF SAHAGUN. Munro S. Edmonson,
ed. 228 pp. U. of New Mexico Press, 1974.

TRES FRANCESES EN LA INDEPENDEN-
CIA DE VENEZUELA. Paul Verna. 119 pp.
Tiempo Nuevo (Caracas), 1974.

THE UNAPPROPRIATED PEOPLE: FREED-
MEN IN THE SLAVE SOCIETY OF BAR-
BADOS. Jerome S. Handler. 225 pp. Johns
Hopkins U. Press, 1974. $10.00.

UNWANTED MEXICAN AMERICANS IN
THE GREAT DEPRESSION: REPATRIA-
TION PRESSURES, 1929-1939. Abraham
Hoffman. 207 pp. U. of Arizona Press, 1974.
$4.75.

Reference

INDICE INFORMATIVE DE LA NOVELA
HISPANOAMERICANA TOMO I: LAS AN-
TILLAS. Edna Coll. 418 pp. Editorial
Universitaria, UPR, (Rio Piedras), 1974. A
reference book about the Hispanic-American
novel.

PROTESTANTISM IN LATIN AMERICA: A
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE. John H. Sin-
clair. William Carey Library, 1973. $6.95. An
annotated bibliography of selected references
in Latin American studies.

II. THE ARTS

Art, Architecture, & Music

BUSH NEGRO ART: AN AFRICAN ART IN
THE AMERICAS. Philip John Crosskey Dark.
54 pp. St. Martin's Press, 1973. $10.00. Art in
Surinam.

JUAN RAMON JIMENEZ Y LA PINTURA.
Angel Crespo. 309 pp. Collecci6n Uprex,
Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1974.

MEXICAN FOLK RETABLOS: MASTER-
PIECES ON TIN. Gloria Kay Giffords. 160
pp. U. of Arizona Press, 1974. $19.50.

Language and Literature

MANUEL ALTOLAGUIRE: VIDA Y LITE-
RATURA. Carmen D. Hern6ndez de Trelles.
188 pp. Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1974.

AMERICAN AND BRITISH WRITERS IN
MEXICO 1556-1973. Drewey Wayne Gunn.
300 pp. Univ. of Texas Press, 1974. $12.50.
Shows the influence Mexico has had on
American and British writers and their
literature.

BOBERIAS. Servando Montaia (ed). 182 pp.
Colecci6n Uprex, Editorial Universitaria,
UPR, 1974.

NEMESIO CANALES: LENGUAJE Y SI-
TUACION. Servando Montana Pelaez. 254
pp. Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1973.

EL CANTAR FOLKLORICO DE PUERTO
RICO. Marcelino Canino Salgado. 405 pp.
Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1973. $2.50. A
study of Puerto Rican folklore.

CANTO POPULAR DE LAS COMIDAS.
Armando Tejada G6mez. 118 pp. Premio
Poes(a, Casa de las Am6ricas, 1974.

CARIBEE. Christopher Nicole. St. Martin's
Press, 1974. $7.95. A four novel series about
the colonization of the West Indies.

CUADERNO CUBANO. Mario Benedetti. 167
pp. Schapire (Buenos Aires), 1974.

DEEP THE WATER, SHALLOW THE
SHORE. Roger D. Abrahams. 125 pp. U. of
Texas Press, 1974. $7.50. Three essays on
shantying in the West Indies.

DESPEGUES. Alfredo Gravina. 152 pp.
Premio Cuento, Casa de las Americas, 1974.

EL ESPANOL EN PUERTO RICO. TomBs
Navarro. 346 pp. Editorial Universitaria, UPR,
1974.

STUDIOS Y ARTICULOS. Jorge Porras
Cruz. 274 pp. Colecci6n Uprex, Editorial
Universitaria, UPR, 1974.

STUDIOS MARTIANOS. Jos6 Martf. 197
pp. Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1974.

GLOSARIO. Servando Montania, ed. 164 pp.
Colecci6n Uprex, Editorial Universitaria,
UPR, 1974.

GOZOS DEVOCIONALES DE LA TRADI-
CION PUERTORRIQUEIA. Marcelino
Canino Salgado. 148 pp. Colecci6n Uprex,
Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1974.

LATIN AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY
POETRY. Robert Mbrquez. 505 pp. Monthly
Review Press, 1974. $16.50. An anthology of
revolutionary poetry, featuring the finest
poets of Latin America.

JOSE MARTI. Ferruccio Rossi-Landi. 694 pp.
Edizioni de Ideologie, 1974. In Italian.

EL MUNDO DE LOS SUENOS. Rub6n Dario.
323 pp. Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1973.

ONCE IN PUERTO RICO. Pura Belpre. 96
pp. F. Wame, 1973. $4.50. Puerto Rican tales.

EN OTONO, DESPUES DE MIL AIOS.
Marcos Yauri Montero. 335 pp. Premio
Novela, Casa de las Americas, 1974.

LA POESIA DE VALLE-INCLAN: DEL
SIMBOLISMO AL EXPRESIONISMO. Emilio
Gonzalez L6pez. 197 pp. Editorial Universita-
ria, UPR, 1973.

RITUAL HUMOR IN HIGHLAND CHIAPAS.
Victoria Reifler Bricker. 257 pp. U. of Texas
Press, 1973. $8.50.

TESTIGO DE LA ESPERANZA. Francisco
Matos Paoli. 132 pp. Colecci6n Uprex,
Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1974.

III. SOCIAL SCIENCE

Anthropology and Sociology

ABANDONMENT OF CHILDREN IN
JAMAICA. Erna Brodber. 104 pp. Inst. of
Social and Economic Research, West Indies,
1974.

AMERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDERS ON ST.
CROIX, ST. JOHN AND ST. THOMAS. Sabra
Holbrook. 64 pp. Parents' Magazine Press,
1974.

BLACK FRONTIERSMEN: A SOUTH
AMERICAN CASE. Norman E. Whitten.
Halsted Press Division John Wiley, 1974.
$11.25.

CALCUTTA TO CARONI. THE EAST
INDIAN OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO.
John La Guerre, ed. 111 pp. Longman
Caribbean (Trinidad & Jamaica), 1974. L
1.50. History and experience of the Indian
community of Trinidad and Tobago.

CHICANO POWER: THE EMERGENCE OF
MEXICAN AMERICA. Tony Castro. Satur-
day Review Press/Dutton, 1974. $8.95 cloth;
$3.95 paper. An analysis of the plight of
Mexican-Americans from the time of
President Polk to their struggles in the 1970's.

CHICANO REVOLT IN A TEXAS TOWN.
John Shockley. U. of Notre Dame Press,
1974. $9.95.

CHRISTIANS AND SOCIALISM. John Eagle-
son, ed. Orbis Books, 1974. $7.95 cloth;
$4.96 paper. Documentation on the Christian
movement for socialism in Latin America.

CHURCH AND STATE IN GUATEMALA.
Mary Patricia Holleran. 359 pp. Octagon
Books, 1974. $13.00.

LA CLASE OBRERA Y EL PROCESS
POLITICO EN PUERTO RICO. Angel A.
Quintero Rivera. 66 pp. Centro de Investiga-
clones Sociales, UPR, 1974. An analysis of
the working class in Puerto Rico.

EDUCATING THE MEXICAN CHILD IN
THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Katherine
Meguire. 81 pp. R. and E. Research Assoc.,
1973. $8.00.

ESPERANZA: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC
STUDY OF THE PEASANT COMMUNITY
IN PUERTO RICO. Carlos Buitrago Ortiz.
217 pp. U. of Arizona Press, 1973. $4.95.

C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 45

FLIGHT 13: THIRTEEN YEARS WITH
CASTRO. Mike Bove. 232 pp. Vantage Press,
1973. $5.95.

GHOSTS IN THE BARRIO. Ralph Poblano.
374 pp. Leswing Press, 1973.

HANDICAPS OF BILINGUAL MEXICAN
CHILDREN. Fred Wesley Marcoux. 83 pp. R.
and E. Research Assoc., 1973. $8.00.

HUILLCA: HABLA UN CAMPESINO
PERUANO. Hugo Neira Samanez. 216 pp.
Premio Testimonio, Casa de las Americas,
1974.

INDIAN EDUCATION IN THE CHIAPAS
HIGHLANDS. Nancy Modiano. 150 pp. Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1973. $2.50.
LATINOAMERICA Y LOS PROBLEMS
SOCIALES DE NUESTRO TIEMPO. Justo
Avellaneda. 259 pp. E. Autor (Lima), 1973.
$2.85.

LATIN AMERICANS; CONTEMPORARY
PEOPLES AND THEIR CULTURAL TRADI-
TIONS. Michael D. Olien. 408 pp. Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1973. $10.00.

LET JORGE DO IT: AN APPROACH TO
RURAL NONFORMAL EDUCATION. James
Hoxeng. 221 pp. U. of Massachusetts, 1973.
$4.00. Rural education in Ecuador.

LOS MAESTROS DE INSTRUCTION
PUBLIC DE PUERTO RICO. L. Nieves
Falcon and P. Cintron de Crespo. 167 pp.
Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1973.

MARX Y LENIN EN LA AMERICA LATINA
Y LOS PROBLEMS INDIGENISTAS. Ale-
jandro Lipschutz. 224 pp. Premio Especial,
Casa de las Americas, 1974.

THE MARXISM OF CHE GUEVARA.
Michael Lowy. 127 pp. Monthly Review
Press, 1973. $2.45.
MEXICAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION INTO
CALIFORNIA, SINCE 1945; A SOCIO-
ECONOMIC STUDY. Horace Edwin Newton.
69 pp. R. and E. Research Assoc., 1973.
$8.00.
MEXICO: A CENTURY OF EDUCATIONAL
THOUGHT. Irma Wilson. 376 pp. Greenwood
Press, 1974. $14.75.

A PILOT STUDY: RETURN MIGRATION
TO PUERTO RICO. Celia Cintr6n y Pedro A.
Vales. 80 pp. Centro de Investigaciones
Sociales, UPR, 1974.

RURAL SANTO DOMINGO: SETTLED,
UNSETTLED AND RESETTLED. Marlin D.
Clausnes. 323 pp. Temple U. Press, 1973.
$11.50.

SLUMS, PROJECTS, AND PEOPLE:
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF
RELOCATION IN PUERTO RICO. Kurt W.
Back. Greenwood Press, 1974. $9.00. A
reprint of the 1962 edition.

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS TRENDS
OF MEXICAN PEOPLE RESIDING IN
ARIZONA. Raymond Flores. 67 pp. R. and
E. Research Assoc., 1973. $8.00.
SOCIOLOGIA DE LA REFORM
AGRARIA EN AMERICA LATINA. Antonio
Garcfa. 237 pp. Amorrortu (Buenos Aires),
1974.

STRUGGLE IN THE ANDES. Howard
Handelman. 296 pp. U. of Texas Press, 1974.
$10.00. This book is an analysis of the causes
and consequences of extensive social and
political mobilization among Peru's peasant
population in the 60's.
TEOTIHUACAN. Karl Ernest Meyer. 172 pp.
Newsweek, 1973. $10.00. Deals with the
Indians of Mexico.

THE URBANIZATION PROCESS OF A
POOR MEXICAN NEIGHBORHOOD. An-
tonio Ugalde. 69 pp. Inst. of Latin American
Studies, U. of Texas, 1974.

iVIVA LA RAZA! THE STRUGGLE OF
THE MEXICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE. Eliza-
beth Sutherland Martinez. 353 pp. Double-
day, 1974. $14.95.

WHY IS THE THIRD WORLD POOR? Piero
Ghedoo. Trans. by Kathryn Sullivan. 143 pp.
Orbis, 1973. This book addresses itself to the
question: Why is two-thirds of humanity
poor?

Economics

THE CARIBBEAN SUGAR INDUSTRIES:
CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES. G.
B. Hagelberg. 173 pp. Antilles Research
Program, Yale Univ., 1974.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF RE-
VOLUTIONARY CUBA; STRATEGY AND
PERFORMANCE. Archibald R. Ritter.
Praeger, 1974. $18.50.

ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN CENTRAL
AMERICA. Jeffrey B. Nugent. Johns Hopkins
Press, 1974. $14.00.
EMPLOYMENT IN AN UNDERDEVELOP-
MENT AREA: A SAMPLE SURVEY OF
KINGSTON, JAMAICA. W.F. Mounder. 215
pp. Greenwood Press, 1974. $10.50. A reprint
of the 1960 edition.

EXPROPRIATION OF U.S. PROPERTY IN
SOUTH AMERICA. George M. Ingram. 391
pp. Praeger Pub., 1974. $22.00.
FORMACION HISTORIC DEL ANTI-
DESARROLLO DE VENEZUELA. Hector
Malave Mata. 274 pp. Premio Ensayo, Casa de
las AmBricas, 1974.

ISRAEL'S DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
WITH AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN
AMERICA. Shimeon Amir. 133 pp. Praeger
Publishers, 1974.

JAMAICA, 1830-1930: A STUDY OF
ECONOMIC GROWTH. Gisela Eisner. Green-
wood Press, 1974. $17.00. A reprint of the
1961 edition.

LATIN AMERICA: THE STRUGGLE WITH
DEPENDENCY AND BEYOND. Ronald H.
Childofe. Schenkman Pub. Co., 1974.
MEXICO Y LA INTEGRACION ECO-
NOMICA DE AMERICA LATINA. Wolfgang
Konig. 313 pp. BID/INTAL (Buenos Aires),
1974.

PARAGUAY: ECOLOGICAL ESSAYS. John
Richard Gorham. 296 pp. Academy of the
Arts and Sciences of the Americas, 1973.

PARAGUAYAN PAPER MONEY. Dale Allan
Seppa. 50 pp. Obol International (Chicago,
III.), 1974. $3.00.

PENSION FUNDS IN LABOUR SURPLUS
ECONOMIES. Maurice A. Odle. 150 pp. Inst.
of Social & Economic Research, U. of the
West Indies, 1974.

POLLUTION AND INTERNATIONAL
BOUNDARIES. Albert E. Utton, ed. 135 pp.
U. of New Mexico Press, 1973.

-]-'J-p

Page 46 C.R. Vol. VII No. 1

E irtal.

El jBwrtra1. hinr.

maiNTro BUm as*
*An JlUAN . IL 001a

'1BOOKTOR!E

409 San Frnciuco

Plaza do Colbn

Old San Juan

Hours:
'Til 10 p.m. Mon. to Sat
12 Noon 'til 10 Sunday

l -ogfguiu--.i-ir|^

RESIDENCE, EMPLOYMENT AND
MOBILITY OF PUERTO RICANS IN NEW
YORK CITY. Terry J. Rosenberg. 230 pp. U.
of Chicago, 1974. $5.00.

THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN PERNAM-
BUCO: MODERNIZATION WITHOUT
CHANGE, 1840-1910. Peter L. Eisinber. 289
pp. U. of California Press, 1974. $15.00.
Sugar trade in Pernambuco, Brazil.

TRADE THEORY PREDICTIONS AND THE
GROWTH OF MEXICO'S MANUFAC-
TURED EXPORTS. Robert Wayne Boatler.
159 pp. Cornell U., 1973.

Philosophy & Theology

UNDERSTANDING LATIN AMERICANS:
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RE-
LIGIOUS VALUES AND MOVEMENTS.
Eugene Albert Nida. William Carey Library,
1973. $3.95.

Politics
THE AFRO-ASIAN DIMENSION OF
BRAZIL FOREIGN POLICY, 1956-1972.
Wayne A. Selcher. 252 pp. U. Presses of
Florida, 1974. $10.00.

THE ALIENATED "LOYAL" OPPOSITION:
MEXICO'S PARTIDO ACCION NATIONAL.
Franz A. Von Sauer. 224 pp. U. of New
Mexico Press, 1974. $12.00. Case study of a
leading minority party in a one-party
dominated country.

LA ALTERNATIVE LIBERAL (UNA
VISION HISTORIC DE PUERTO RICO).
Juan M. Garcia Passalacqua. 169 pp. Editorial
Universitaria, UPR, 1974. An essay on the
Puerto Rican liberal alternative.

AMERICA LATINA Y ESTADOS UNIDOS.
RELACIONES POLITICAL INTERNA-
CIONALES Y DEPENDENCIA. O. lanni y
Marcos Kaplan. 163 pp. Inst. de Estudios
Peruanos (Lima), 1973. $3.00.

BEYOND CUBA: LATIN AMERICA TAKES
CHARGE OF ITS FUTURE. Luigi R.
Einaudi, et als, ed. 250 pp. Crane Russak,
1974. $11.50.

CHILE EN LA HOGUERA: CRONICA DE
LA REPRESION MILITARY. Camilo Taufic.
239 pp. Corregidor (Buenos Aires), 1974.

COUP! ALLENDE'S LAST DAY. Jos6
Manuel Vergara & Florencia Varas. Stein and
Day, 1974. $7.95. A minute by minute
reconstruction of the Chilean coup of
September 11, 1973.

CUBA IN THE 1970's PRAGMATISM AND
INSTITUTIONALIZATION. Carmelo Mesa-
Lago. 200 pp. U. of New Mexico Press, 1974.
$9.95 cloth; $3.95 paper. A prediction of new
directions in Cuba's domestic and foreign
policy.

CUBA UNDER CASTRO: THE LIMITS OF
CHARISMA. Edward GonzAtez. 241 pp.
Houghton Mifflin, 1974. $3.95.
DISASTER IN CHILE: ALLENDE'S STRAT-
EGY AND WHY IT FAILED. Les Evans,
comp. Pathfinder Press, 1974. $2.95.

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO
RICO. Antonio Fernos Isern. 269 pp.
Editorial Universitaria, UPR, 1974.

LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL
THOUGHT: A DEVELOPMENTAL PERS-
PECTIVE. Edward J. Williams. 69 pp. U. of
Arizona Press, 1974. $1.50 paper.

THE LATIN AMERICAN REVOLUTION:
POLITICS AND STRATEGY FROM AFRO-
MARXISM TO GUEVARISM. Donald C.
Hodges. William Morrow, 1974. $9.95.

MARS MOVES SOUTH: THE FUTURE
WARS OF SOUTH AMERICA. Norman D.
Arbaiza. 87 pp. Exposition Press, 1974.
$6.00.

MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES
1821-1973: CONFLICT AND CO-
EXISTENCE. Karl Michael Schmidt. Wiley,
1974. $10.95.

MUNOZ Y SANCHES VILELLA. Ismaro
VelAzquez. 325 pp. Editorial Universitaria,
UPR, 1974. The story of Governors Muioz
Marin and Sanchez Vilella's years in office
and their differences.

THE POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION OF
THE BRAZILIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Thomas C. Bruneau. 270 pp. Cambridge U.
Press, 1974. $16.50.

POLITICS IN VENEZUELA. David Eugene
Blank. 293 pp. Little, Brown, 1973. $4.95.

PROTEST AND RESPONSE IN MEXICO.
Evelyn P. Stevens. MIT Press, 1974. $17.95.

jPOR QUE CAYO ALLENDE? Ruy Mauro
Marini et. al. 88 pp. Alonso (Buenos Aires),
1974.

PUERTO RICO Y OCCIDENTE. Ram6n
Mellado. 185 pp. Colecci6n Uprex, Editorial
Universitaria, UPR, 1974.

BY REASON OR FORCE: CHILE AND THE
BALANCING OF POWER IN SOUTH
AMERICA. Robert N. Burr. 322 pp. U. of
California Press, 1974. $3.45.

THE TROJAN HORSE: A RADICAL LOOK
AT FOREIGN AID. Stephen R. Weissman et.
al. 249 pp. Ramparts Press, 1974. $7.95.

URBAN GUERILLA WARFARE IN LATIN
AMERICA. James Kohl and John Litt. MIT
Press, 1974. $12.50.

EL VIAJE MAS LARGO. Humberto J. Pefia.
227 pp. Ediciones Universal (Miami), 1974.

VIDA, PASSION Y MUERTE DEL PARTIDO
COMUNISTA DOMINICANO. Franklin J.
Franco. 80 pp. Lib. Nacional (Santo Domin-
go), 1974. $1.00.

Photo by Ronald Rose, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 47

Con tinued from page 7
Leveraging the message is aware-
ness on the part of the interna-
tional hotel systems that Carib-
bean politicians have no choice if
they are to continue to provide
jobs in the tourism sector. But
there is a neutralizing if not yet
visible political cost as well. For
whatever else "development"
means, it's going to have to mean
governments putting up cash and
commitments if the jobs geared to
rich folks' fantasy are to continue.
Development subordinated to
tourism. This is the take-it-or-
leave-it pitch from the surrogates
of industrial society delivered to
the 200-plus delegates from
governments, business and divers
sectors lately convened in Caracas
for the First Specialized Confer,
ence on Caribbean Tourism.
Hailed as "'historic" by its
organizers, the sessions dwelt
among ironies and were perhaps
most memorable for having stood
their auspice on its head. The
Caribbean Tourism Research
Centre, born to create a develop-
ment context around tourism,
became appointee of fantasy
tourism, swiftly to convey -the
message onward. Onward to the
development establishment that
its resources be diverted-to the
"'haves." In effect, that without
bailing out the "haves" the region
would remain only with "have-
nots."
Initiated as it was. the confer-
ence could hardly have wound up
otherwise. Its occasion was in
response- to talk of collapse when
last September the -regional- gov-
ernment tourism organization met
in annual meeting in Martinique
(CR Oct/Nov/Dec 74). There the
Caribbean Travael Assn.- urged the
convening as an immediate prior-
ity. It was--a request that could
hardly have been. refused. the.
President of CTAi-and the Chair-
man of the- Caribbean Tourism
Research Centre being one and the
same, Peter Morgan, Minister of-
Tourism of Barbados.
The government of Venezuela
quickly seized the--opportunity to
welcome the event to Caracas. The

era of Perez had already come to
be felt world-wide. It was oppor-
tune to turn national interests
toward the neighboring archi-
pelagic basin. President Perez later
was to inaugurate the conference
by admitting that "Venezuela has
been living with the cold shoulder
to its responsibility in the Carib-
bean," but now would welcome
these neighbors into what he
termed "the great Latin American
citizenship." Venezuela would
now channel its geopolitics
through tourism. Why not?. What
better avenue to influence in the
Caribbean?
It would be an occasion for
nothing less than a prestigious
turnout. Indeed, the commitment
of Perez to address the meeting
would leverage a high-level attend-
ance, would dignify the proceed-
ings, would mean undeniably the
message heard, whatever it-might
be. It would also mean, convening
in the luxury- surroundings of
Inter-Continental's Hotel Tama-
naco, that for some the tariff
would be burdensome. At
US$30.95 double per day, and
minimum air fare of US$180 from
a point immediately north of
Barbados, such as St. Lucia, fourth
nights to be.on hand for the heavy
three-day sessions -would cost: at
least US$250. It was not an
occasion likely to draw large
numbers of small hoteliers,
academics, or others .who would
have to pay their own way.
It was, after all, the most.
serious of meetings; In Martinique
it had been -said- there was a
'liquidity criis" continuing on an
"unabated negative -trend;" that
rising costs and dwindling -re-
venues were resulting in financial
inability to "refurbish. the dete-
riorating physical -plants"-- it- was
recommended- that. :all .govern--
ments iriMpose an immediate nii-ra-
torium on newit investment .andr
construction pending a thorough
study of the exact. status of the.
industry. Instances were given of
potential hotel. bankruptcies, of
governments being obliged: to
provide financial support to- avert
-closures, of very substantial 1'sses

occurring. As Minister Morgan
summarized in his pre-Caracs-
bulletin, "The very serious impact
of the decline, if not collapse, of
Caribbean tourism in terms of: -.
social, economic -and political- --
consequences was stressed." -
And the most serious of-people .:
would attend: the governmentt. __
tourism administrations, the chain-- -:-:--
hotels, the airlines, cruise lines,
tour operators, the advertising/
promotion fraternity, the com-
mercial banking sector, the-region-
al tourism organizations.- They
would be joined-by represen-tatives --:--
of -the World .Bank, the- O.A.S -
Caribbean Development Bani,
Canadian -International Develop- -:
ment Agency,--Caribbean Com-:
munity Secretariat,:_ 'Christian .
Action for Development in the :-
Caribbean, .UWI's Institute of
Social_ & Economic Rese-arch Ki_ e-
Inter-American: Foiudation, and
others. Cuba-and Chitle-ere here
as an odd couple-of o-bseer.vs._-
Colombia as well.
They would address-themsl vels--
to three topics.: Finance- -and&---,
re-finance mainly: of- the- hotel:'-
sector; transportation and-miarket--: -
Sing/public relations; and thehinter-
relationship between. agriculture
and manufacturing: with to ---- uris ---
Or as the Chairman noted ith
regard to the:-latter, th-' .rert
table lack of it."
Primary attention- became :
focused -on -the- plih-t of the_ ::
_hotels. This was, t a, -a here _
the banks were invested and-there-
their loans -were going bd. it was
also where CaaibbeanvoitiWians-0
-have banked- on igh empiGyloyent.
Barclay's noted baner's dozen
of loans _gone ead, Fanging from
12 to 250 rooms. Fri Th -

steady rise -in total baulams to -
Ahisroulib sv'^fe ^ ih- a
tourism, J974 saw thd=:firslsag
aM a corresponding iin the
prootrtin f torismnidin
part of- total -ommerl an
Only the start, deelare-bs& e
Richard Barclay. "I&I mid -be -
expected that commercialariks
will look even ore figofousl &
rnewi p ects- haneheefoth ad-wil
rfeqtire: a higher aroiorid of :,

;_-

Page 48- C.R. Vol. VII No. 1

Sproprietors capital to .-total fi-
a -'n.- ance." He noted.-advise6lly that
.-for a -:iewv hotel -to make satisfae-
S-tory- profits "it. needs an average
annual: occupancy of- over =7i0 per
.cent'," difficult tb achieve, he said,
with the .'Caribbeanrs _'-strong
- seasonal swing in occupancies."
hy: sohigh? A:u- fller-answer
:- was w provided by( TChades A-. Bellh L
E. t ix Vi dicet Presidenit;:.AV4terin
Heispheire, and Corpoate Tes-
nical: .Seriices- 'f-Hilton Inte-na-
S o-;- tio'al C'o.-Most of the reasons are
"mique to: theseG Caibhean island
:- r rt hotels, s iBel- FistH off-
S ost. ofi sales- Tour operator
o- ctrinissicins o 15 to 2ipe cent
-helpto reTlube caribbean robm
'profit ratios to 681.8 per: cent
verstui well ove-i 70- per- cent- in-
C. Canada- and -Latin America. -Ad--
-vertising -and business proimottion
--expense, is .35per cent higher thah
.in the other-two areas.:"
-Resort hotels require_. more
labor, -he -noted gardeners,. beach
attendants, social_ staffs, etc; The-
: productivity of workers mi these
otelS is ifower .than- elsewhere,
- :.-; od -andbeverage_ p- chases are
: orted ata ti-atsportation -cost
of at leaist10.per cent "and many
Simes ;these attract punitive e duties
o top of tht." This same cost of
imiporfati on and transport "carries
over into chima, lnei, silver, glass,
and a myriad 'of supplies ranging
S fromn-facial towels and -napkins to
cleaning and. office :supplies. The:
re- -sort mifust.-provide onre music
and entertainment -than the com-
merieial hotel. Even repairs :and
_- maintenance- under -the- rigorous
lina-ite -and seaside- conditions
contribute. to a higher .Caribbean
::-expenset ritid:- this category,- and
: perhaps to-p -it off; the- Carib-
Sbean-;--as been -it -imuch harder
than its two neighbor areas-by the
threefold' increase in the cost- of
oil." -
Bell decried the-policy of most
governments which encourage
further extension of their hotel
sectors. The emphasis instead, he
said, "should be on improving the-
economic health of the hotel and
tourist industry that already
exists."

-One' who-disareed sharply was
mloses Mataori, -Chairman -of:
amaiea's U--iriban, --Development-
Corporation. Under .his direction,
Jamaica wi i have addehalf again
to the number fits. existing hotel
rooms -withiW- a current five-year
perioTd- The .prograw- has-plunged
:pccupanciesi-s ta figure for.1974
(that)- is .not .exfpeted-_ to- exceed
-45 per cent", according :to the
reporttt at-Carac-of -the Jaimaica
Hotel- & Tourist Assn. Why such
internecine division in- Jamaica?
and why- UDCs Matalon pitted
against banker arayand Hl-
tonxs Bell? .
.__
The '--iddle unravels orn. closer
reading;. Hilton's Caribbean
properties, w-hile, wefully- .less
profitable than the -chain's groups-
in Latin Amrerica and Canada. to
wIhich he: offered .compaisons,..
-nevertheless chalk up .a house.
profit ratio- of: 16.5. per cent;
house: profit. is- what's. left 'after
-deducting the -direct--costs of
-operation, those -which the oper-
ator: can to a greater or lesser
degree control. For the Caribbean
hotel industry.as'--a whole the
-comparable 1973. house. profit
Figure was a-dismal.2.3- per cent.
Or take .again the Jamaican
case. The JHTA report goes on to
-say. that the building- of large.
properties -by the chain hotels
ddaling to a great extent in chapter
travel and in some cases at cut
price rates has "seriously affected
the occupancy figures of medium
and small hotels of which the
island is mainly comprised. Many
of these hotels are now finding it
extremely difficult to remain
viable. with high rates of interest..
making it almost -impossible, to
me~ t long term mortgages. The
;cost. of operation due to-the above
has-now.far exceeded any possible
rate increase."
What JHTA doesn't note is that
the demise of the smaller proper-
ties is no accident. It is the result
of deliberate policy. For the UDC,
an instrument of Jamaican policy,
the case is -clear: -"It has been
unavoidable that the enforced
obsolescence created by the
frequent changes within the air

transport- fleets should have in ;.
itself been the cause of a consider- .
able amount of -obsolescence in.- -
the accommodations for visitors at -
the- end of- the line. Over-the last
three decades a pattern-- has
evolved whereby the -minimum n
number of rooms it viable hotels
seems t increase -in relatiohnlship-.
to the. seating capacity odf .the then;
most popular size of aircraft iTr
service.- Today's figure-seems to -be- -
in-the vicinity of 200-rooms."''As .-
if to forecast the future, the J-UDC
report notes further that "there'iis
a school of thought that contdeds--.-
,that there is little chance; o -
viability for any hotel- antcipating
year -roun: business -ith an
installed capacity of less than350 -
rooms." -
Matalon welcomes the inevita-
bility of technologic ch-ange-
"the technological revolution
within this industry," he-calls it -
"a revolution---similar to that of.-
retailing where the-supermarket is
transplanting- (sic) the --corner-
grocery store." It-does not mean
there is no .longer any room for a
corner grocery store but- rather,
"that there is no longer any room
for a grocery store on every
corner."
The situation in Barbados
would .seem to bear him 6iit.
There- the condition- w-as ;teimed-- -
alternately "extremely critiical"-
and "extremely preciouss" It ist-a -
case, reports the President-of the
Barbados Hotel Assn., where "al-
though the luxury hotels, with -
stronger -financial backing- and-
more highly trained -.personnel,
were -better equipped to withstand :
the loss .. the-small bdtels.-with-
continuing losses.were in critical--"-
finandial trouble ard would -so0on-- -
have to. make decisions as to:1-ie---- --
feasibility and 'rationale of cor-i-l-
tinuing to operate." -
In other ways as well it became
apparent that the -sense. of- the
meeting was that the era of small
hotels-was-over and the future lay -
with the chains, th larger worth
bailing out, those invested in by:
local entrepreneurs best left to
wither. Two examples should
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 49

suffice. During a discussion on
whether or not a moratorium on
new hotel construction should be
recommended for consideration in
advance of governments extending
new finance to bail out the sector.
banker Barclay, arguing against in
plenary session noted that during
the committee debate on the
matter "the moratorium question
was discussed at great length and
it became apparent that there was
at least one state that wouldn't
accept a moratorium, it was
contrary to their policy. And also
that there were other states which
foresay continuing development
of a certain type of large hotel but
which no doubt would see that
smaller hotels were kept under
check."
It was left finally to the last day
of discussion on resolutions for
the hotel forces on hand to do in
the prospect for the smaller
non-chain properties. Two resolu-
tions at odds with each other,
both ultimately approved, pointed
up a dichotomy which persisted
throughout the meeting.
The committee dealing with
integration of domestic agriculture
and manufacturing with tourism
had drawn the smallest number of
participants. Fewer than 20 were
there, as contrasted, for example,
with more than 100 seeking to
bail out the chains. These were in
the main officers of agriculture
and manufacturing marketing
boards, the Caricom and Cadec
delegates, the former tourism
adviser to the CDB, and first
chairman of the Caribbean Hotel
Assn.'s Small Hotels Advisory
Council. Out of its work came a
series of 11 resolutions. The first
called on CTRC "to organize on
behald of the region a program of
research to determine the scope of
the market which will support a
locally owned and integrative
tourism and also to evaluate the
prospect of establishing one or
more government tour operators
to market this product, further to
analyze the types of incentives
necessary to support such a
tourism with particular considera-
tion to training, finance and
Page 50 C.R. \ol. VII No. I

marketing."
There were perhaps 50 dele-
gates in the. hall when it came up,
many its chief proponents. The
hotel committee's work was dis-
cussed first, however. While the
bulk of its attentions was devoted
to calling on governments, CTRC.
the CDB and other regional
institutions to organize new fi-
nance in support of the troubled
hotel sector, where it dealt speci-
fically with the smaller properties
"the corner groceries" it was
plain these interests were to be
subordinated. As it came out in
approved resolution, the message
was clear: "Whereas the limita-
tions of resources of some hotel
enterprises might be overcome by
coordinating their efforts in order
to achieve a larger occupancy in
view of solving their financial
problems, and whereas certain
marketing services and mecha-
nisms turn out to be highly
expensive for small hotels, (we
resolve) to recommend to the
governments to consider initiatives
destined (sic) to the coordination
by the needy hotels, of marketing
and administration efforts, bearing
in mind that no monies should be
expended until a sound hotel
product acceptable to the market
is developed."
It had become "Catch 22."
How could monies be expended to
determine whether there was a
"sound hotel product acceptable
to the market" until monies were
first expended to establish that a
market exists? And what consti-
tutes such a sound hotel product,
and to whose notion of the
market would it have to be
acceptable?
Ironically, the pre-condition of
"acceptability" was introduced at
the argument of CHA's President
Jack Gold, the same who had
championed the small hotel sector
before his ascendency to the
presidency. Nor was it an about-
face. It was rather a peeve with
the government of Jamaica which
a few years back had launched its
"Inns of Jamaica" program, es-
sentially a marketing initiative to
bail out the small hotels but

without investing the necessary
management training and do-
mestic support systems to insure a
sound product when the visitors
began to arrive. The result was an
embarrassment at which Gold,
himself a successful small hotelier,
particularly chafed.
It was a matter of ill-timed
pique, given the constituency of
the Caracas meeting, and was
quickly accepted by the body.
Puerto Rico had also talked
somewhat of its small hotels
initiative, the "paradores Puer-
torriquenos. But it was too early
to calculate the results, said the
delegate, Carlos Diago. And in any
case, the Puerto Rican problem
was not with the small properties
which now were being organized
soundly and experimentally
marketed through Puerto Rico's
own tour operator abroad. It was
with the oceanfront high-rises,
ill-financed, many failed, and
other failures in prospect. What
was needed was strong action by
the region in support of this sector
no talk of moratorium, fought
primarily by Diago and Barclay
who co-chaired the committee on
hotels so there would be no loss
of confidence, no message to the
marketplace of weakness, no
publicity of trouble. Barclay's was
not alone heavily invested. The
stakes were larger in the case of
Puerto Rico which had lately
introduced slot machines in its
failing properties, contrary to
pre-existing legislation governing
San Juan, to amass funds that
would guarantee bank refinance
from abroad.
It was a bail-out and the
governments were given no choice.
CTRC was called on to arrange a
meeting of the financial institu-
tions working in the region -
CDB, IDB, World Bank as well
as government and private banks
"to study the scope of the
problem and to discuss the me-
chanisms and procedures neces-
sary for the debt refinancing and
for the restructuring of hotel
capital in regions that have been
affected."
The irony, of course, is that the

President Carlos Andrds Perez Photo by Neil Schwartz

hotels championed by Moses
Matalon those "acceptable to
the marketplace" are those
which historically have resisted
integration into their local com-
munities. At 200 rooms and up
they out-scale their Caribbean
places. Run by expatriates, domi-
nated by oligarchs, expensively
fueled on fantasy, but "efficient"
for the overseas travel marketing
apparatus, they are increasingly
capital-intensive, dependent on a
degree of technology which vir-
tually rules out domestic supply
sources or equitable use thereof
when available.
These properties proliferate in
the more developed of the Carib-
bean states. Matalon's Jamaica is a
clear case. In place of the corner
grocery stores the UDC's super-
markets which he pointedly notes
"I have the privilege to represent"
have commitments of some $60
million in properties with some
2,200 rooms, "all the equity of
which is owned by these corpora-
tions (governed by the UDC)."
The corporations, he adds, "are
further committed to infrastruc-
ture and amenity developments
associated with the tourist sector
to the extent of a further $50
million. And it shall be the policy
of these corporations ... to use all
available opportunities for further
investments in the industry where
these can be beneficially and
economically deployed to increase

the share of the available market
we feel the island can and should
enjoy."
It is increasingly an indus-
trialized travel experience. It is the
tourism of "you gotta give 'em
what they want." Who "they" are
is not the traveler. "They" are the
tour operators, the chain oper-
ators, the airline marketing execu-
tives and their collective power to
induce product acceptance within
the marketplace. The new hotels
grow larger. They become more
self-contained, more security-
conscious, more out of touch with
their locales. The escape is further
embellished, the fantasy more
lavish. It is the particular product
and export of industrial society.
We produce what we can never
enjoy; the cost of production
demands our dissatisfaction. What
was once pleasure travel, the
respite from industrial values we
thought, has now become mass
tourism, the supermarket hotel
with its additives, chemicals, ad-
vertising hype, emphasis on
packaging, check-out lines,
automation, plastic-wrapped
sugared carcinogens. It is neither
intended for the benefit of the
worker nor of the consumer. It is
for the benefit of the corporation.
From corporate decision-making
flow all benefits. Wise is the
corporation, wise is the corpora-
tion, and powerful. The corpora-
tion is now the travel wholesaler,

the packager. Sell the product.
And our two weeks at leisure are
now the packaged product of
industrial society. Those who sell
it to us at work hustling their
brochures, assembling the coupon
books, taking their commissions -
the suppliers of our industrial
pleasure are people at work at the
assembly line, fantasizing in their
cubicles among the travel posters
and route maps wishing to hell
they could get away on vacation.
What of the CDB's policy to
favor the "less-developed na-
tions," those, ironically, where the
hotel chains are least likely to
invest, given their relative inacces-
sibility by trunk carriers? Changes
in values and attitudes, the CDB
President, William Demas, calls
for; technological innovation to
develop efficient labor-intensive
techniques of production. "The
problem that modern technology
poses for Third World countries
suffering from heavy unemploy-
ment is that Western technologies
are highly capital-intensive and are
becoming increasingly so, as con-
tinuing efforts are made in the
advanced countries to economize
on labour." And further, as he
writes in "How To Be Independ-
ent" (CR Oct/Nov/Dec 74):
"These changes in values, atti-
tudes, and motivations towards
hard work, towards agriculture,
towards vocational training, to-
ward production as against con-
sumption, and towards tastes for
local as against foreign goods and
services can only be achieved
through the development (and
practice) of an authentic, in-
digenous West Indian ideology of
development and social change -
one in keeping with the historical
experience of the West Indian
people."
But if the politicians are blind-
ed to options in tourism develop-
ment by the blandishments of the
chains that bind them, what
becomes of CDB policy? or is
there to be a political quid
without a political quo?
Energy, said one of the planners
in Caracas, is the "new wild card,"
matched with what he termed

C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 51

high goods costs and low labor
productivity, the "two long-term
plagues of tourism." Fritz Lunde
noted that "even high occupancy
properties are approaching zero
profit in those countries where the
energy bill has tripled and quadru-
pled in the last year." And he
called for a new "energy ethic in
tourism. Tourism is an energy
intensive industry, at least as
compared to per capital energy
consumption rates of Caribbean
countries. The hotel guest uses
more water, more electric energy
per day than would be com-
parably true in his home, at his
work place or in his industry ."
It fell to Lunde to spell out the

"other" political message: "Since
electric rates are subsidized by
many governments in order to be
affordable by the less affluent.
sectors of the society, it is very
clear that governments will not
thereby wish to unduly subsidize
tourism at the expense of the
native population, particularly if
the national becomes) aware if
the situation."
Once upon a time it was said
that if only the governments
owned the hotels their interests
would be secured. But the oil
corporations have accepted their
divestment of equity. The market-
ing and system technics remain
theirs. Their role becomes increas-

ingly clear. Responsible neither to
the producers nor to the con-
sumers, the corporation become
the super-marketers. They are not
responsible for change. The role is
to suck an ever greater apparatus
into the middle, to withdraw
energies from the principals of
source and mouth, to complexity
at the center, to neutralize the
binding conditions of community.
In its place: the new floating
corporation of interest, arbiter of
consumption, princes of tech-
nology. Emerging from the failure
of society, the corporation can
have no scruple but to take
charge; society has no choice.
Survival is dependent on us. *

THE NEW

CARIBBEAN GUIDE

By Herbert L. Hiller
At----------

In place of "The Caribbean Guide" as it has regularly appeared, we want to talk
about what happens when tourism happens in the Caribbean. What happens when
some six to seven million people each year come into the Caribbean and the
Bahamas at leisure? What is that relationship all about? What kind of a thing is it
to think about?
The new guide emerges from the kind of travel analysis we will offer. The guide
will talk about travel in the Bahamas and the Caribbean from the point of view of
the domestic policy toward having visitors. We will look at the policy as a guide to
what kind of experience is being encouraged for the traveler. Is it an experience
isolated from the place where it happens? Is the vacation ambience likely to be one
of fantasists escaping into the Tropics from Industrial Society? Is the experience
integrated with the place? Am I likely to be among others experiencing the scale
and pace and mood of what goes on there?
The editorial bias here is toward the integrity of places and toward travel as an
experience to help us sort ourselves out, those who travel as well as those who are
traveled among.
The guide entries will be up-dated as policies change or as the travel experience
seems generally to change even in the absence of policy shift.
We will not initially deal with such things as prices, entry requirements,
geographic descriptions, so on, and we may not get into it at all. This kind of
information is available in conventional guides. Some few places to stay, eat and
visit will be noted in particular. These will be places known to the writer. Readers
are encouraged to offer their own recommendations from experience, and indeed,
to comment generally on the content being developed through these reports.

ANTIGUA
This is one of the earliest tourism in the
Caribbean, begun as a series of enclave resorts
and probably having set this pattern for much
of the eastern Caribbean. The places are
almost all under 100 rooms, expatriate-
owned, many charming, luxurious, and
convivial in their seclusion. The places hug the
hundreds of coves and beaches. An American
airbase folded after the World War and left
Antigua with the makings of a modern jetport
Page 52 -C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

at a time when only the well-to-do were
traveling so. Antigua became available non-
stop from New York. The tourism selected
Antigua more than Antigua has ever calcu-
lated a rational approach to produce eco-
nomic and social rewards from it.
A malaise has set in and the tourism has
fallen on hard times. In Antigua, this has to
be politically disquieting. Recent moves in the
tourism administration bode better, and the
prospect is at hand for more serious inquiry
into the ongoing relationship between An-

tigua and its tourism.
Gregarious experiences are to be had at
Darcy's at the Kensington Court where the
local town scene is displayed in flourishes.
This is in St. John's, the capital. The cuisine
and brew are salubrious, and the place is
altogether too local to tolerate an atti-
tudinalized sullenness which has marked too
much of the travel experience on the island.
The streets outside are wide, the commerce of
the town active. It is too bad the tourism is so
cut off from it.
Perhaps the veil of English mannerisms has
allowed it to be accepted that the tourism
should occur in such a way. Among sandy
enclave coves there is a leisure acting out for
Northern escapists, marked by occasional
sightseeing to colonial landmarks. One is
aware that much is being missed from the
experience, lost benefits.

ARUBA
This is the commercial success of Caribbean
tourism. On a superb stretch of beach just
about all the hotels are strung out. There is
ample public access and the scene is shared
along the waterfront by Arubans and visitors
alike. But apart from the typical use of local
nomenclature to name the bars and night
clubs, it is a tourism removed from local
contact. It seems strange it should be so here
where the domestic prosperity, education and
liking for North America make it so easy for
the visitor to interact with the resident
population.
There are smaller hotels, less formal than
those modeled on Miami Beach and San Juan.
The island is rich in its archaeology, birdlife,
landscaping, geology. There is a community
feeling about the island politics. There is a
history of economic well-being. There is an

awareness and development of the unique
Indian heritage.
One is left with the feeling of some quirk
wherein what is local is deemed insufficient;
that the fantasy constructed for the visitor,
though funny in so many ways, is nevertheless
something to be serious about. As if to say,
okay, if that's what they want, we can do that
just the way we can do most anything. It is
too bad the Aruban competence is not more
closely perceived by the visitor. But it is not.
Outstanding is the seafood cuisine at
Trocadero in Oranjested, hub of the tourist
area. First-rate cuisine, too, at the Pensi6n
Antillano in San Nicolas, the city with its oil
refinery which supplies most of the island
revenues.

THE BAHAMAS

These hundreds of islands ranging from north
of Hispanola and arching northwesterly to a
latitude off Palm Beach, Florida, must be seen
as several tourist areas. There is Freeport on
Grand Bahamas Island: the tourism man-
made, fantastic, non-Bahamian, touristy.
There is New Providence Island which offers
three versions in itself: a broad-based enclave
for the rather well-to-do on Paradise Island;
the traditional charms, though somewhat
congested, along Cable Beach; the decayed
yet vibrant bustle of Nassau. And there are
the Out-Islands where the experiences are
governed by one's hosts in close relationship
to the natural and cultural surroundings.
This is the classic economy dependent on
tourism, and hardly anywhere is the evidence
so accumulated as to what it means. Here
perhaps as nowhere else the need is to
reorganize the tourism in terms of national
objectives, to find how to get a handle on this
phenomenon which for so long has been
encouraged out of mythic belief in its
propensity to bring good fortune to those
who serve it. It is seen differently now and
processes of reorientation begin.
In the meanwhile, the experience is
ambiguous. What makes it uniquely its own,
particularly in Nassau, is that the very history
of tourism is inescapably part of what one
realizes while there. It suffuses all and all
includes shopping, a spectrum of entertain-
ment, gambling, sightseeing, beach-going, golf,
and on and on. It does not suffuse, however,
the Three Queens Inn, redolent and reward-
ing of the local cuisine.

BARBADOS

So long favored for its diminutive scale, its
decorum, sophistication and beaches, Bar-
bados tourism today paradoxically attracts
both the well-to-do and the air-charter
tourists. How you find the place depends on
how you've known it. The charm is still to be
had though it requires greater selectivity
today than once. An impetuous romance with
low-end charter tourism has produced num-
bers among visitors but dismays planners with
a lowering net return to national coffers.
The approach is always rational and the
tourism is likely to be reorganized to draw
more strongly again from the upper end of
the market. In the meantime, Barbados
remains a center of Caribbean affairs, a locus
of West Indian culture, though with hardly a
hint of it all exposed to the visitor. In hotels
and restaurants you can get the other kind,

but a good Bajan meal is hard to find. It is
definitely worth looking for though, making
private arrangements. And in any case, there's
the succulent fried kingfish prepared by the
vendors along Baxter Road in Bridgetown,
available on the street late in the evening.
The widest range of accommodations
available, friendliness, a Caribbean pallette of
colors in an orderly environment. And a
reliable bus service to get you everywhere
while among people who will converse
openly.

BONAIRE

Bonaire offers among the happiest of vacation
experiences in the Caribbean, off the coast of
Venezuela, under-populated, quiet, and offer-
ing a stunning assortment of unusual things
easily experienced. It is such a place where
picnicking always seems the appropriate thing
to do while touring an island distinct in its
birdlife, its reefs, its protected wilderness.
The wildlife birds, the cactus and related
flora of Washington National Park, the salt
flats, picturesque inland villages, all offer the
stuff of tours and impromptu discoveries.
There are also the beaches and reefs, as fine as
to be found, and free not only of'crowds but
often of people. Though still much off the
beaten track, there are nonetheless several
fine local eating places one thinks
particularly of Sujo's and Zeezicht, the
former inland, the latter along the sea.
The Bonairean is easily met, helpful,
friendly. The capital of Kralendijk is a
comfortable place to walk, to have a snack or
meal, to pick up food for picnics, to have a
sense of the scene. It often seems there are
unusually few people in town. With a land
mass about two-thirds that of Barbados,
Bonaire's population is about 1/25th -
around 10,000.
Hotels are mostly locally owned, few,
mostly small and informal, specializing in
clientele to the scuba crowd, Venezuelans, the
luxury trade, the budget-minded, the longer-
stays. There's a change of planes in Curacao
and worth the effort for the natural
marketing selectivity that occurs.

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

Eighty miles east of Puerto Rico, one mile
across the Pillsbury Channel from the U.S.
Virgins. A place largely dependent on tourism
yet unaffected by the big-time of it all. Small
hotels by international standards, individual,
informal for the most part, though there is a
British sensitivity to form. The diminutive
scale of the hotels reflects the pace of these
islands where there are only some small
towns, Road Town the administrative center.
Nothing overwhelms but the tranquility, the
scenic display, the sense that one is removed
from worldly hustle.
It may be because of a minimal air facility
on Beef Island, to where flights originate in
San Juan, the U.S. Virgins, and Antigua. As
elsewhere in the Caribbean, the extra flight
separates the seeker from the casual vaca-
tioner who is sieved out at the connecting
points.
Still a Crown Colony, the BVI may be one
of the places that organizes its tourism in its
own self-interest. That can only vouch for the
interests of travelers as well. BVlslanders, by

the way, work at jobs in the U.S. Virgins with
a result that U.S. currency is official here. So
is familiarity with U.S. ways. The under-
standing seems to yield a host who interacts
amiably and in the interests of guests from
overseas.

CAYMAN ISLANDS

The appeal of Grand Cayman has been its
quietness, the friendliness of the people, and
the beach. The people have been industrious,
sailors to the world; there is no unemploy-
ment. Nor has there been anything much to
do at home, retail and distribution trades plus
fishing, house-building. The economy has
been dependent on remittances.
The traditional supports are changed. It is
now tourism, offshore banking, land specula-
tion. What made the earlier hotels agreeable
despite lack of air conditioning, mosquitoes
and the like was the ambient tranquility. The
small scale of development inescapably
brought the visitor and Caymanian together.
Specialization and organization by in-
dustrial values are ascendant now. The easy
ways become aberrant. "Modern" is in vogue.
Culture becomes quaint. As it changes to
become like the rest, the place demands
comparison. The primacy of its selfless is
given up.
Larger numbers come, more building
comes on, the tone of what was is gone.
Those who come for the quiet can fly on to
Cayman Brac or Little Cayman, just enough
of a small-plane hop to separate those who
buy the image and therein put it to an end,
from those who move on and start the process
elsewhere.
The beach remains The Beach, just as the
cuisine at the Tortuga Club remains memo-
rable.

CUBA

Little known to the U.S. market, Cuba's
tourism expands at a geometric rate. From a
base of nil, under professional guidance
geared to objectives of the revolution, the
country's emergent tourism parallels Cuba's
quickening re-establishment among hemi-
spheric affairs. Some 4,000 came in 1973,
mainly Canadians and eastern Europeans. The
numbers were reported at 15,000 in '74, and
prospects are for triple that volume in the
current year. Growing apace is the accom-
modations sector with 11 hotels said under
construction now and plans for three times or
more that number by '76.
The vacation experience is neither heavy
on ideology nor on separation of the visitor
from the Cuban. The emphasis is to attract
the visitor to a wide range of accommoda-
tions, to establish a diversified market, and to
strengthen the Cuban's knowledge of the
world through the interaction while at the
same time representing the achievements of
the revolution to the visitor. In the classic
mode, chief objectives include the creation of
employment and earning of foreign exchange.
What makes it different from experiences
generally offered in the Caribbean is the
harmony between what are otherwise termed
public and private objectives. Domestic
realities are not seen as an encumbrance from
which the visitor must be shielded in enclave
isolation. What is being managed is not a
hotel, but rather an economy of which the
hotel, be it humble or luxurious or the
C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 53

camp ground or guest house of family home,
for that matter is only an aspect.
Given the integrity of its offerings and the
probability of pent-up market demand,
Cuba's position is perhaps one of the
strongest in the region already. The tourism
sector will be expanded only as there is
supply to accommodate the demand. Staff is
being trained not to become culturally
depersonalized but in themselves to represent
Cuba to the visitor. Fortunately for the rest
of the region and its dependence on tourism,
there is no apparent desire within the national
administration ideologically to punish other
resort areas.
Given the reality of Cuba's re-emergence,
the others, especially her near neighbors, are
eager to establish good relationships on behalf
of their tourism. The prospect is for
multi-island visits when the North American
market opens fully. It may be, though, that
visits will be available only seven months of
the year as current policy, even while it allows
Cubans to share the facilities at all times, is to
close vacation areas during the months from
May through September when Cubans par-
ticularly prefer to vacation themselves.

CURACAO
As tourism in the Caribbean has developed,
this once most popular destination has
languished. Where once the shopping in
downtown Willemstad, the capital, was a
prime appeal, as destinations have become
more competitive, tours more massive, stand-
ards generally less marked, the earlier appeal
of Curacao's architecture, friendliness, and
favorably priced luxury merchandise have
become less substantial attractions.
Why does one visit Curacao? There are no
beaches to speak of, no lush tropical
vegetation. It is flat and dry and windy. But it
is also the political, urban and cultural center
of the Netherlands Antilles, chief link with
Holland, historically a merchants' community
and significant in the affairs of North and
South America as well as the Caribbean.
These are not the normal Caribbean tourist
attractions. On the other hand, it is perhaps
the European character of Willemstad which
so differentiates the experience. On the other,
the sophistication of the people, and the
prosperous organization of society drawn
from their industriousness.
Yet the administration of tourism, in-
creasingly influenced by chain hotel proper-
ties, allows the island to be represented in the
main by the same commercialized hype
applied elsewhere. The place is too politically
advanced for the Curacaolanean not to
express himself, even when it may be
upsetting to the marketplace imagery with its
premium on docile natives.
The depth of life here escapes the visitor.
In a more efficient than thought-out policy,
the traveler's experience is shaped by modern
hotels and shopping, and but for the charm'of
downtown, the essence of the place is largely
kept removed. It is a policy out of touch with
reality and shapes a let-down for the visitor.
To enjoy oneself here, the need is to shape
one's own experience. The scene is intense,
international, full of prospect. It becomes a
fascinating place to visit as one comes to
know it. It is obviously the basis for a highly
differentiated tourism, one which coupled
with nearby places more appealing in their
traditional offerings of beaches and natural
variety can reorganize its faltering prospect.

DOMINICA

One of the more difficult places to get to
from outside the Caribbean, Dominica by its
isolation offers a vacation experience ungov-
erned by fantasy, imports, and the stress of
industrial technology. It is an outdoors place;
the attractions are the scenery jungle,
forests, waterfalls, rivers, geologic oddities -
and the people among the scene. Dominica is
a spectacle; verdant, mossy, sparsely settled.
One becomes aware of finding oneself as a
being in nature.
The hotels are individual expressions,
some locally owned, nothing larger than 60
rooms, most around 10 to 30. There is little
pretension; it is hardly a place anyone would
build a hotel except to attract a visitor
compatible with a host's standards. Most are
in Roseau (several simply commercial places),
the capital, or in the near outlying areas. All
are at least an hour from the airport which
further provides a buffer for those who
already appreciate the place and those others
likely to find out about it.
Cuisine is local, often well prepared,
sometimes superbly, as by Millie Toussaint at
the sometimes open, sometimes closed Spring-
field Plantation.
Dominica's tourism can only benefit by
more visitors who come in response to the
kind of place it is. It is not soon likely to be
overrun, yet the added numbers can benefit
the economy, given the absence of leakage
among foreign exchange earnings.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Second largest land-mass among Caribbean
states, the Dominican Republic has never
made it as a tourist place. Politics has
overshadowed natural and historic attributes,
and there has been minimal encouragement in
the post-Trujillo era. Reflecting the lack of
policy, Dominican tourism experiences come
in a wide assortment but paper-thin in
organization, uncertain in performance. Hos-
pitable people and an abundance of local
content nevertheless make the visit worth-
while for the traveler who seeks experiences
on a per-person rather than mass basis.
Local seafoods, beef and produce com-
bined with respect for Hispanic traditions,
cultural integrity and relatively low prices
make the Dominican experience affordable
and a part of what happens to any visitor
whether in the capital of Santo Domingo, at
the resorts of La Romana, the north coast, or
the mountains. Dominican sophistication is
pre-plastic; the resident population is en-
countered on a person-to-person basis. The
capital is redolent of the smells, full of the
sights sounds and motion of a cosmopolitan
city made up of accumulated neighborhoods.
The accommodations include a range from
bloated elegance to guest houses, with rustic
lodges and correspondingly informal small
hotels in slumbering resorts. A pair of hotels
at La Romana are in the top league of
Caribbean places, offering fullest amenities
and recreation, yet integrated into the life of
the neighboring sugar community. Lina's sets
the international standard for in-town cuisine.

GRENADA

One of the beautiful places, each of its
hostelries distinctive, each characterized by its
own architecture. The place has not yet been

geared to "smile" at the tourist or otherwise
to become cute or pandering. It may be
because the overseas tourism apparatus
doesn't regard Grenada with particular favor:
it's difficult to get to, which is to say, it
requires a change of plane unless you're
traveling from Trinidad & Tobago, or St.
Vincent to the north. (The neighboring
Grenadines, to the north, require still another
change of plane.)
Yet despite this relative remoteness and an
intermittent political abrasion related in the
overseas press, visitors continue to come to
Grenada. The island, now an independent
state, is self-supporting in its food-stuffs. One
senses the higher standard of living here
among the islands of the Windwards &
Leewards. This may account for the lessened
sense of economic gap between traveler and
resident national. It is, in any case, easy to be
at home in Grenada.
This absence of heavy tourism has left the
place with much of its own flavor fully
available to the visitor. Nutmeg, mace, cocoa,
limes, bananas are chief crops. One of the
favorite places of the Caribbean to sample the
local cuisine is here, at Ross's Point Inn just
on the road south of St. George's, the
beautiful harbor capital, en route to the
Grand Anse, one of the Caribbean's finest
beaches.

GUADELOUPE

The experience is quiet, French-creole, scenic.
There is room to move about on (680
square miles), and a range of differences
between the twin islands of Grand-Terre
(where Pointe-a-Pitre is, the largest city) and
Basse-Terre (site of the capital of the same
name). Hardly yet discovered by tourists, the
islands of Guadeloupe may nevertheless
quickly develop their appeal and take on
some characteristics, facilities, attitudes, of
the more developed tourist destinations.
It is most French on Grand-Terre, more
rustic on Basse-Terre. Several island depend-
encies of Guadeloupe offer still fainter
metropolitan and stronger Caribbean flavors:
lies des Saintes, Marie-Galante and La
Desirade. St. Barthelemy (St. Bart's) is island
home to some 2,500 descendants of early
French settlers. French St. Martin, half the
island shared with Dutch Sint Maarten, is also
part of the Departement of Guadeloupe.
The grander scenery is on Basse-Terre to
the west. A fine Creole hostelry is operated as
a hotel school here and accommodates guests,
Relais de la Grande Soufriere. Most of the
hotels are on Grand-Terre where L'Auberge
de la Vieille Tour enjoys a worldwide
reputation for cuisine and charm (in Gosier).
Creole meals are easily found throughout
Guadeloupe. Hotel accommodations range
from simple and often tasteless on the one
hand, to international style, on the other.
There is much to choose from that is local
and well done.

HAITI

Favored by cognoscenti, flavored by all things
local, savored by increasing thousands each
year, Haiti offers an unduplicated vacation
milieu. The inventiveness, vigor and sophisti-
cation of the Haitian seem to be the product
of generations of self-reliance and isolation,
least influenced by the outside world in
modern times, most characteristically authen-
tic. Everywhere the Haitians are there seems a

Page 54-C.R.- Vol. VII No. 1

larger-than-life presentiment of the Haitian
experience. One seems to experience every-
thing here more fully, often in paradox
among surroundings of ongoing collapse
supported by inner vigor.
The experience is marked by a range of
everything one is likely to encounter. Haiti is
altogether a fervent expression of its culture.
There is no veneer to rub off. Though
experienced in tourism since the early
post-War period, Haiti accommodates visitors
in a variety of hotels almost all locally owned.
There is a formality which bespeaks more a
genuine regard for form, style and comfort
than of standardized rules of dress and
routine. The rules are those of hosts
appropriate to their houses. It is a place where
one chooses one's hotel by its personality and
likely returns on another visit. It is a place
best for those who are rewarded by the
integrity of the places they find themselves.
There opens a world of museums and galleries
but where art is everywhere. Perhaps nowhere
do visitors so easily meet others in friend-
ships.
Beaches are not easily reached from any of
the hotels, and driving demands skill and
endurance. The Haitians organize tours well
to show off their myriad historic attractions.
Their religion, food, music, dance, art and
architecture are inevitably part of the
vacation experience. In Port-au-Prince, just on
the road up to Petionville, is the Select, a
restaurant which offers the best of local
cuisine at reasonable prices,
Tourism is becoming more important to
Haiti economically. Here if anywhere it seems
possible the larger numbers can be absorbed
without serious detriment to the Haitian sense
of self-identity. Who can tell?

JAMAICA

So well-known among Caribbean resorts,
Jamaica is largely unfathomed by tourism.
Almost half million a year come and go home
again busily comparing their experiences with

WHEN IN JAMAICA,
Eat at the only
West Indian dinner
restaurant in the West Indies

PIQUET HOUSE
Creole Dinners
Gordon Town

7:30 and 9:30 pm sittings
Friday to Sunday

those of others they know who've gone.
Jamaica is one of the places many people talk
about but few experience. It is the tradition
of the travel business that no one really wants
more than a soupcon of local culture, and
Jamaica's tourism administration has succeed-
ed uniquely in using the tourism apparatus to
advantage.
The paradox is that Jamaica is its own
society, experimental in the Caribbean and
becoming more so. There is a sense that
solutions to contemporary life are to be
found among contemporary energies. While
there is official doctrine that visitors are
encouraged to meet with Jamaicans, it is
essentially a middle class experience, while
Jamaica's individuality is more the expression
of the unadapted.
What tourism does express here is among
the best to be found in the Caribbean: charm,
imagination, hospitality, diversity. Jamaican
food is available everywhere except, unfortu-
nately, at almost all the hotels. In Kingston,
I.P.'s Catering Establishment is particularly
recommended.
Just about everything for a tropical
vacation is to be found in Jamaica and for
every state of consciousness. It may be also
the place which first learns to express itself in
its tourism without loss of economic gain yet
with the realization of social objectives.

MONTSERRAT

Montserrat is Montserrat, the mood of the
tourism a reflection of how Montserratians
see themselves. The island is diminutive (11
miles x 7, midway between Antigua & St.
Kitts 27 miles from each); no hotel tops 50
rooms and there are fewer than 400 on the
island, mostly owned by local people. It is
common to encounter Montserratians in all of
them, as several of the places comprise much
of the social scene for the islanders
themselves.
There is no sense of separation here, you
as the visitor from the resident population.
There is no choice but to accept the place as
it is. Vacationers find themselves touring the
countryside, visiting the bubbling volcanic
fissures, walking in the port of Plymouth, the
capital, lying on the beach, engaging in some
light sport.
Tourism has not changed the place. None
of its hang-ups are experienced. The beaches
are everyone's; we tend to meet each other
here in our most agreeable behavior. It helps
that there is no direct service from metro-
politan points of origination; a change in
Antigua is necessary. It is easily worth it to
anyone who enjoys a local scene and cuisine.

PUERTO RICO

The most advanced of Caribbean tourism,
Puerto Rico reflects in San Juan and the
rfeighboring sections the contradictions of the
industry's development throughout the
region, just as it has served as a model for
their extension. Urbanized, highly technical,
intensely competitive, suffused with fantasy.
This is the heart of mass tourism in the
Caribbean, inevitably the place most in mind
among discussions of the regional tourism
prospect. This is where the tourism business
just a few years ago became so "successful"
that economically and culturally it separated
itself from its surroundings. It has confirmed
an alienation reflected elsewhere in the
society.

Yet for the all the glitter first imported
here to the pivot point of the Caribbean from
Miami Beach and Havana, there exists the
hinterland, largely unaffected by tourism, as
if hidden by the giant frontal billboard of
"the strip." Here in the outlying areas a new
tourism is being organized. Not only is it a
reflection of indigenous values, but of change
in time, of new marketing perceptions based
on cultural change in the North American
marketplace. This is the tourism of "parado-
res," inns fixed in their local milieux,
openings to the heritage.
Nor do the gaudiness and gambling totally
neutralize the culture and the charm of older
sections of the urban area. Old San Juan is a
pungent flow of neighborhoods, much in
favor by sophisticates and degenerates alike.
It is for all of it one of the most vibrant
municipal expressions in the Caribbean.

SABA, SINT EUSTATIUS,
SINT MAARTEN

These three islands, in the northeast Carib-
bean, comprise the Windward Islands of the
Netherlands Antilles. Saba and Sint Eustatius
(Statia) see among the fewest tourists in the
region. St. Maarten, on the other hand, is
what happens when tourism happens without
a governing policy.
St. Maarten is tourism's frontier town in
the Caribbean. Much of anything goes. Pick
your fantasy. The gambling is there; the
glitter; the transplanted tourist successes from
Miami Beach and the Catskill Mountains. St.
Maarten is what happens when for a time the
tourism is "in" and then when it starts to fall
"out." It is the glamour treatment, the
fantasy lived on the beaches. The economy is
based on the tourist. Perhaps more than any
other place, this is where one has the feeling
the tourist is fair game; he comes bringing the
money.
Yet there are a number of fine small
hotels, attentive to their returning clientele.
On nearby Statia and Saba, small is also the
standard, small and local. Both islands have
been naturally protected by their inaccessi-
bility. Statia now experiences a boomlet;
Saba, with a population of about 1,000,
remains a rock of tranquility. On these two
smaller islands the visitor appears as a guest.

ST. KITTS/NEVIS/ANGUILLA

Some 250 miles east southeast of San Juan,
St. Kitts is site of this tripartite state from
which Anguilla, to the northeast, is in a de
facto state of separation. Tourism has had
only minor impact throughout the three
islands. While the mainly favored hotels in St.
Kitts are for the most part removed from the
capital of Basseterre, there exist a few in-town
places characterized by West Indian hospital-
ity, cuisine, and mood.
With the exception of one small chain
property, each is individually owned and
reflects the character of the proprietors, some
local, some expatriates. They range in mood
from informal but sophisticated to modest
and well-run, and good vacation buys. The
same is true of Nevis and Anguilla, except
that the latter is still more casual and
scaled-down.
Holidays are for being at the beach,
sightseeing, and the least sophisticated enter-
tainment but usually amidst much conviviali-
ty. St. Kitts & Nevis are particularly beautiful;

C.R. Jan/Feb/March Page 55

all three are tranquil.
All three islands require connections from
trunk points: Antigua, San Juan, or the
U.S. Virgins.
Perhaps nowhere than among these three
islands is the visitor more considerately
regarded and the population more responsive
to such policy.

ST. LUCIA
The beauty of St. Lucia is offered in the
marketplace as a last unspoiled place in the
Caribbean. This is the backdrop message of
the island tourism administration. Against it is
played out a counterpoint of enclave
offerings, classic example of the expatriate
mentality in possession of the tourism. Hotels
offer services in the grand tradition of
Europe, in the massiveness of charter
movements, in the mode of middle-class
American standardization. The choice is all
offered in the marketplace except the St.
Lucian choice.
Not that it isn't there and available.
Rather, that there is no initiative from within
to make the place known as it is outside.
Here, as so frequently in the Caribbean, one
encounters administrations which woo the
overseas tourism apparatus in the hopes that
competition in the social circuit will be
successful in the delivery of tourists. But it is
not a business of guilt or pity, and the
advantage lies with those who spend the
bigger budgets.
So the charm of the place, the distinctive-
ness of its creole heritage, the character of its
people go largely unknown. In and around
Castries, the capital, there are several guest
houses and smaller hotels which bring the
visitor closer in touch with the St. Lucian
scene. Outside of the capital to the south the
accommodations are sparse though nonethe-
less available and worth the effort. Par-
ticularly notable among them are Allain's for
cuisine in Soufriere, entry point to St. Lucia's
drive-in volcano. And further along the coast
road headed south are the Pitons, twin-peaked
landmark on the way to Vieux Fort where
Cloud's Nest is a choice among those who
seek out what is genuinely local and
outstanding.
One notes with encouragement that
following the collapse of a major U.K. travel
wholesaler which controlled not only the
eastern Caribbean airline but also a number of
hotels throughout the region, that two of its
properties have come into new management
here with new policies to integrate the life of
St. Lucia into the travelers' experience.

ST. VINCENT

Due west of Barbados some 70 miles, the
experience here for visitors is as open and
uncomplicated as is likely to be found
anywhere. The technology of industrial
tourism has passed the place by, mainly
because of an airport which accommodates
only smaller-than-jet aircraft. A blessing for
those who take the time to come.
Proprietors of accommodations for visitors
here are hosts; visitors experience themselves
as guests. Such rules as exist are sensible by
Vincentian standards. Informality is the key
as innkeepers will convey you to town, to the
airport, talk to you about anything you want
to know and happy to do it. There is
surprising sophistication among the hotels
here, including digs for the cosmopolitan set

nevertheless free of hassles. The Haddon
Hotel in Kingstown offers choice West Indian
cuisine, good enough that West Indians
regularly stay here while on the island.
St. Vincent is a natural delight, offers an
active volcano, rare bird and tree-life, broad
agricultural plains, mountains, greenness
everywhere. Beaches are best in the Grena-
dines (though there are some black sand
beaches on the mainland of St. Vincent)
where sea sports are a diversion for those here
for untrammeled leisure.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Tourism is a minor matter for Trinidad, and
therein the stimulation of the experience. To
be in Trinidad is to be suffused by the place.
Wherever one walks or travels, the life of
Trinidad is apparent. Whether it is to sample
the roti or delight in the architecture which
spans time and world influences. The pace in
Port-of-Spain is quick; one senses the
international relevance of what goes on here.
The countryside is full of unique attractions,
not the least the variety of cultures and
enterprise. Neither the least, the Caroni
Swamp and its scarlet ibis, and the pitch lake.
One realizes how little of the inner life of
Trinidad is understood from news reports of
its politics. Its leadership position in the
Eastern Caribbean helps put the visitor into a
state of mind that what goes on here is not so
much "less than" as "different." The
experience is its own and to be recommended.
Learning can take place.
Virtually all the hotels are away from the
beaches. They range from luxurious to
threadbare. Much is local but not particularly
distinguished by way of accommodations.
There is a local cuisine for each of the
population heritages, though not as easy to
find as might be imagined.
Tobago depends on tourism for much
employment and earnings. It is tranquil,
mesmerising in its beauty share and among
offshore islets, as well as in the water at
Bucco Reef. Hotels range from the budget to
luxury. Beaches are palm-lined and un-
crowded. The need to fly in from Trinidad
effects a gentle restraint on the growth in
tourism despite the universal enthusiasm for
vacationing here.

THE TURKS &
CAICOS ISLANDS

Lying as the easterly extension of the
Bahamas, and roughly equidistant between
Miami and Antigua, these islands are new to
tourism with perhaps not more than 200
rooms among their 166 square miles. Their
beaches are surely among the finest many
spectacular made more attractive by the
absence of any appreciable number of visitors.
Here one feels remote, explorer. The islands
are flat, here and there slightly hilly and with
caves along Middle Caicos. Across the wide
Caicos Bank, some 60 miles of water less than
a fathom deep, fishermen catch crawfish and
a wide variety of seafoods, and along the
banks of the Turks grouping as well.
Accommodations are in the main modest,
well integrated with their environment, and
charming. There is some greater sophistication
to be had, as well as experiences in
air-conditioned concrete block motel struc-
tures. Island seafood cuisine is outstanding at
the Turk's Head Inn, and as well as the Mt.
Pleasant Guest House on Salt Cay (the only

source of accommodations here, with five
rooms).
These are places for people drawn by
water activities, love of simply prepared
seafoods, and quietude. Hardly anywhere else
are meal guests likely to exclaim, "What!
lobster again? "
One flies in from Miami non-stop to Grand
Turk and on to South Caicos (whence
non-stop to Miami again). Also from Port-au-
Prince via Cap Haitien.

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

Here the tourism has been most favored in the
Caribbean. The duty-free exemption is $200
for returning U.S. citizens, double that from
anywhere else. These islands of St. Thomas,
St. Croix and St. John are also part of the
American political entity; there is less bother
for Americans to go here than most other
places. The beauty of the islands and their
collective aspects allow for much diversified
vacationing. Water sports, outdoor living,
quiet retreat socializing, golf, tennis -
virtually the range of holiday experiences is to
be enjoyed.
But the islands have suffered also from the
absence of any long-range tourism planning.
This is a reflection of an altogether anomalous
administration of the U.S. Virgins wherein
since their sale to the U.S. by Denmark early
this century a malaise has crept in and grown
to overwhelming magnitude. It is the strange
child of too much politics, too little exercise
of democracy, the truncation of heritage. It is
as if this century's accumulated administra-
tion has been an activity separate from the
basic interests of the general population. Yet
much of the population works for Govern-
ment. It is a place where the native-born have
become simply one of many interest groups.
One can picture a place governed by
lobbyists.
Quickly grown great in its tourism, the
U.S. Virgins by its collapse is one of the
places that has marred Caribbean tourism
imagery. In the Caribbean, this is the same as
affecting worldwide recognition. Vacationing
here among these islands reflects much of the
intensity of Caribbean experience. *

Page 56 -C.R.-Vol. VII No. 1

PASANGGRAHAN is located in a quiet
lush tropical garden on the beach of
Philipsburg, the free-port capital of
Dutch St. Maarten. Each of it's 21
attractive double rooms with private
baths have overhead fans and optional
air-conditioning. The kitchen is famous
for a great variety of well-prepared
international dishes. Total informality
sets its West Indian atmosphere. Estab-
lished in 1958 it is still St. Maarten's
biggest little bargain and repeat visitors
are the best salesmen for the hotel. Write
or cable PASANGGRAHAN, St. Maar-
ten. Represented in North American
cities and Puerto Rico by The Jane
Condon Corporation.

Print where the CARIBBEAN RE VIEW is printed

* 5 COLOR WEB OFFSET PRESS

* CAMERA PLATE MAKING

* COMPLETE BINDERY

* ART WORK/LAYOUT

* MACHINE COLLATING & INSERTING

* SHEET FED PRESSES

* COLOR SEPARATIONS

* DIE CUTTING

* TYPESETTING

Some of our nationally known accounts: Norwegian Caribbean Lines, General Foods, Max Factor,
Eastern Airlines, Disney World, Gucci, and other important local businesses.

Whatever your need, contact Mr. Vincent Ravenna, Caribbean Accounts Manager

690 West 83rd Street, Hialeah, Florida, U.S.A. 33014. Telephone: (305) 822-8900. WATS line: (800) 327-5056.
690 West 83rd Street, Hialeah, Florida, U.S.A. 33014. Telephone: (305) 822-8900. WATS line: (800) 327-5056.

it

Cruise there with Norwegian Caribbean Lines" We go to just about every place
you'd ever care to visit in the Caribbean. And on board, there's everything from
d.,-.!ig to dining to almost continuous entertainment. See your travel agent.
Ships' registry: Norway.
M/S SC.ir-;th.i 14 d-,y Cruise: Port Antonio, Curacao, Caracas, Barbados,
I .--.cinique, St.: ;,. .. St. Thomas, San Juan, N -. :. Departs from Miami
throughout the i'
i/S ? .. :ward ,-.y Cruise: Freeport, Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, Cozu-
mel (Mexico). D- ii- from Miami throughout the summer.
' i"/S ;:-.. -y Cruise: Cap-HaYtien, San Juan, St. Thomas, Puerto FP.u
DI. .. .,s from -- e- ; Saturday.
M/S :5 ;:. : '.. -.::'y Cruise: Port-au-Prince, Port Antonio, Montego I' y,
T.. D: from i i every Saturday.

r S"ywand o "S uthwa F

	Front Cover
	Table of Contents
	Front Matter
	Main
	Back Cover

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