#167 The Strengths and Weaknesses of Contadora as Regional Diplomacy in the Caribbean Basin

By Everett A. Bauman

Abstract

Despite their heterogeneous nature, the 45 political entities sharing the Caribbean Basin are bound together by distaste of foreign domination and by a shared goal of individual freedoms. Traditionally, the United States has been the only member of the community disposed to protect the other members from extracontinental aggression. However, its willingness to intervene came in time to include paternalistic armed intervention to save its neighbors from themselves or to protect the private interests of its own citizens. Such a hegemonic attitude led to increasing resentment until, by the time of World War II, the U.S. realized that defense responsibilities must be shared with other hemispheric states. The Rio Treaty, however, only provided for collective action in case of external aggression. It was not designed to suppress the frequent revolutions inspired by internal forces. Nor did it foresee the advent of ideological subversion inspired, in part at least, from abroad. The latter raised anew the problem of hemispheric security. No effective collective response has been devised. 

In the belief that Latin American nationalism would eventually prevail in revolutionary situations, especially if adequate economic and social reform could be instituted, four key members of the Caribbean Basin community constituted the Contadora group in 1983 to mediate the growing conflict involving opposing Marxist and democratic models of reform. Their efforts to induce nationalist commitments among the revolutionaries, however, have been hampered by ideological intransigence. Their reliance upon moral suasion has proved insufficient to prevent growing crisis. However, as the U.S. has exerted military pressure on the situation through a variety of means other than its own direct armed intervention, the situation has stabilized. Some would even claim that headway has been made. However, the situation today is basically at stalemate and if further progress is to be made toward a peaceful solution, the Contadora states must overcome grave internal contradictions as well as differences among themselves. To assure an adequately verified democratic solution as the means to political power, they must have continued and sufficient backing of U.S. power. Only such cooperation -- even if informal and tacit -- is likely to bring success to the Contadora diplomatic initiative.

It is equally true, however, that unless the U.S. can promote the continued Contadora process, it will have utmost difficulty in imposing any lasting unilateral solution in the troubled Caribbean. This paper considers the past role and possible future involvement in the Contadora process of each of the member nations, the effectiveness of the process vis~ vis current United States policies and prospects for the future.