# Caribbean Basin Initiative Excludes Grenada (1982)

URL: https://allhistories.com/grenada/timeline/1982-caribbean-basin-initiative-excludes-grenada
Location: Bridgetown, Barbados
Themes: main-event

Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981 determined to roll back Soviet and Cuban influence in Central America and the Caribbean, where the revolutions in Nicaragua and Grenada and the war in El Salvador were seen in Washington as linked threats. US aid to Grenada was blocked, and Washington discouraged multilateral lenders from supporting the PRG. In February 1982 Reagan announced the Caribbean Basin Initiative, a programme of trade preferences, aid and investment incentives for the region intended to strengthen friendly governments; Grenada, like Cuba and Nicaragua, was excluded. In April 1982 Reagan visited Jamaica and Barbados, met Eastern Caribbean leaders in Bridgetown, and warned that Grenada "now bears the Soviet and Cuban trademark", seeking regional support against the PRG. Most CARICOM governments, however, preferred to keep dialogue with Grenada open after the tensions of 1981. The initiative, enacted by Congress in 1983, became a lasting framework of US–Caribbean trade relations. For Grenada, exclusion reinforced the economic isolation caused by falling tourism, while the PRG portrayed it as proof of Washington's intention to strangle the revolution. At this point in the timeline (1982), the Queen of Grenada was Elizabeth II (6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022); the Governor-General of Grenada was Paul Scoon (4 October 1978 – 31 July 1992). Government: the Prime Minister (People's Revolutionary Government) was Maurice Bishop (13 March 1979 – 14 October 1983).

## Why it matters
Exclusion from the initiative marked Washington's policy of isolating revolutionary Grenada.

Ruler at the Time: [Elizabeth II](https://allhistories.com/grenada/rulers/elizabeth-ii)

Governor-General of Grenada: Paul Scoon
Prime Minister (People's Revolutionary Government): Maurice Bishop (New JEWEL Movement)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Caribbean Basin Initiative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_Basin_Initiative)
- [Wikipedia — Grenada–United States relations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenada–United_States_relations)
- [US Office of the Historian](https://history.state.gov/)
- [Wikipedia — The Grenada Revolution (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Revolutionary_Government)