Routledge Revivals
The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Central America and the Caribbean
First published in 1991, The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Central America and the Caribbean provides a guide to the most important organizations, figures, events and themes in the contemporary politics of Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The countries covered include Mexico, Guatamala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia, Dominica, St Kitts-Nevis, Antigua and Puerto Rico.
The background information supplied in the book explains how, for many in Central America, the guerrilla wars have merely been the intensification of a conflict previously fought by the likes of Nicaragua s Sandino or the Salvadorean Farabundo Marti, and before them by the Indian leaders who resisted the Spanish settlement.
Although first published in 1991, this book will be a valuable resource for journalists, students, diplomats, business people, and anyone else who is interested in the politics of this richly diverse continent.
The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Central America and the Caribbean
Phil Gunson, Greg Chamberlain and Andrew Thompson
First published in 1991
by Routledge
This edition first published in 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
1991 Phil Gunson, Greg Chamberlain and Andrew Thompson
The right of Phil Gunson, Greg Chamberlain and Andrew Thompson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.
A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 90029902
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-19557-8 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-63827-0 (ebk)
THE DICTIONARY OF CONTEMPORARY POLITICS OF CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Phil Gunson and Greg Chamberlain with additional material by Andrew Thompson
First published 1991
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
1991 Phil Gunson, Greg Chamberlain
and Andrew Thompson
Set in Linotron Times and Helvetica by
Input Typesetting Ltd, London
Printed in England by T. J. Press (Padstow) Ltd. Cornwall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Available on request
ISBN 0-415-02445-5
Contents
Section One: Central America and Mexico
Section Two: The Caribbean
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the generous assistance given by a number of specialists in the region. They include Tim Coone, Duncan Green, Richard Lapper, Lerna Llerena, James Painter, Trevor Petch and Ian Walker.
Abaco secession movement
After the announcement in 1971 of forthcoming independence for the Bahamas, the inhabitants of Abaco Island (40% of them white) demanded its secession, along with Grand Bahama Island, to become a British dependency. The Council for Free Abaco was led by Errington Watkins, a black policeman and opposition supporter. He was elected to parliament at the 1972 general election but the opposition Free National Movement expelled him and three other MPs from the party in 1973 for backing secession. Secret negotiations took place between the Abaconians and US and British businessmen, arms dealers and mercenaries. A month after independence in 1973, the Abaconian Independence Movement (AIM), led by Charles Hall, was set up to fight for secession by peaceful means. But support on the island faded by 1975. The AIM was renamed the Abaco Home Rule Movement and although its candidate won a seat at the 1977 general election, the secession movement then disappeared.
See also Free National Movement; Bahamas.
ABC islands
The three Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaao.
See also Netherlands Antilles; Aruba.
Abraham, Gen. Herard
b. 28 July 1940. President of Haiti 1990. Abraham rose through army ranks, after training in the US, to become assistant director of the military academy in 1981 and in 1982 deputy commander of the Leopards anti-subversion force. He was named director of the military academy in 1983. A few weeks after the collapse of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986, he became information minister and a year later foreign minister. He became acting army commander when Gen. Prosper Avril seized power in 1988. Rebel officers tried to make him president during a revolt in 1989 but this was vetoed by the United States. He succeeded Avril as president for three days in 1990 before handing power to a woman supreme court judge, Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, signalling the Haitian armys first defeat in modern times at the hands of civilian politicians.
See also Avril; Pascal-Trouillot.
Action for the Defence of Democracy (ADED): see death squad.
Adams, (Sir) Grantley: see Barbados Labour Party; Barbados Workers Union; West Indies Federation; Barrow.
Adams, John Quincy: see Monroe doctrine.
Adams, Peter: see Anguilla secession.
Adams, Tom
193185. Prime minister of Barbados 197685. A British-trained barrister and journalist, Adams returned to Barbados in 1962 and became assistant general secretary of his father Sir Grantley Adamss Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in 1965. He was elected to parliament in 1966; after the partys defeat in 1971, and his fathers death a few months later, he became opposition leader in parliament and in 1973 leader of the BLP. He and the party won the 1976 elections and he became prime minister. He pursued a vigorous pro-US policy and campaigned against the left in the region, particularly the revolutionary regime in neighbouring Grenada from 1979. He offered Barbados as a staging post for the US invasion of Grenada in 1983 and sent police and troops to help rule it afterwards. He supported the US-sponsored Regional Security System aimed at curbing subversion in the eastern Caribbean. He died in office in 1985 in mysterious circumstances.
See also
