Her picture was in the newspapers worldwide, standing beside the US President Ronald Reagan on the president's own platform. They were an odd couple. She was as brown as he was white, and he led the world's most powerful nation, while she came from a tiny, mountainous island in the Caribbean that many people had scarcely heard of. Eugenia Charles was prime minister of Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic), and, in addition, the chair of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) – not exactly commonplace for a black woman in October 1983. But then she got Reagan to intervene militarily on the Caribbean island of Grenada to remove the leftist regime. Officially, it was declared that the US was trying to protect US citizens and restore order. After the press conference, Charles turned to Reagan and said: ‘Mr President, you have big balls!’ (Economist, 2005).

British heritage and male networks

Islets, struggle and culture

Caribbean history differs from that of Latin America. During colonial times, the islands were an area of rivalry between different European interests: British, French, Dutch and Spanish. Most of the islands became British colonies and, later, members of the British Commonwealth, but some were conquered by other Western powers. Many of the states are very small, with less than a quarter-of-a-million inhabitants. But language and culture are extremely varied, marked not only by West Indian and European, but also African, East Indian, Mayan, Chinese, Cuban, Indonesian, Arabic and other, influences. The religions range from Hinduism and Islam to Christianity and traditional religions.

During the colonial period, conflict arose between white colonisers and black slaves on the plantations and the slaves rebelled. The islands have a common history of struggle against colonialism, slavery and racism, and, more recently, in problems related to economic neo-colonialism and tourism. Beyond sugar and tourism, the islands had little to offer commercially and became stations for trade between Latin America and Europe, but the structures of the colonial plantation society changed little.

Gradually, the influence of the US became stronger. The Cuban Revolution in 1959 not only changed the conditions in Cuba, but was highly significant for the whole region. Politically, militarily and economically, the US tried to prevent other countries from following the example of Cuba. Military bases were located all over the Caribbean and investments were made to stem political unrest.