The Big 4...

Reach, Portland, Jamaica.

Cuba, Hispanola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico: The 4 largest islands in the Caribbean and arguably the best known Caribbean islands.

Cuba is seen as the sleeping giant because of it's relative political isolation and reluctance to embrace the capitalist philosophy that has transformed the world since Che and Fidel emerged from the bush to revolt. It is truly an inexhaustible, untouched island paradise that is poised for dominance in the tourism sector. It's people are remarkably resilient, warm, and innovative and its new crop of leaders (Raul and his daughter Mariela the grassroots princess) seem to have a crystal clear vision of what and where Cuba will be in this new millennium. Cuba's is a gem because of its sophistication. It is unmistakably Caribbean in its rhythm and its flavour yet there is an old world charm, a certain je ne sais quoi that you see in the smile of an elderly man puffing on a cigar that makes this a land of mysteries and esoteric knowledge. It's almost as if he is laughing at you as he telepathically recognizes that you've underestimated this place.The Giant is restless, and the world is increasingly taking note. Interestingly, Cuba also recently discovered substantial Oil reserves that have the potential to thrust them into the big leagues and make other nations (ie The US) take them more seriously. > http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/18/cuban-oil

Hispanola is the floating dichotomy of Haiti and The Dominican Republic. Haiti is the dysfunctional rebel state. The colonial step-child that never seems able to get her shit together. Despite this, and perhaps directly because of these political and social distractions, Haiti has some of the most pristine beaches in the Caribbean. Carnival Cruises leases an "island" called Labadee on the north coast (really a peninsula but marketing gimmickry trumps geography) where it takes its blue eyed cargo for a romp on powdery white sand on this imaginary private Caribbean island (read fortress). For me, Haiti's real treasure is its culture as best expressed through its visual arts. Haitian art is simply mesmerizing. What it may lack in the sophistication that state-sponsored formal schooling has afforded its Cuban counterparts it certainly makes up for in the passion that exudes from it. Haitian art is simply magical. From paintings, to carvings, to intricate Vodou flags bearing the moniker of a plethora of deities, Haitian art is what expresses that which cannot be articulated about a people perpetually misrepresented. From the rubble of the fallen city, defiantly erect in the squalor is the spiritual beacon that is the creative mind and the expression thereof.

Expect a jack-in-the-box of epic proportions when the world finds out that Haiti sits on the largest oil reserves this side of the world. An Olympic Pool compared to a Glass of Water vis a vis Venezuela is how it has been described. Why do you think there were 10,000 US troops deployed to Port Au Prince hours after the earthquake? The metropole vampires are salivating at these prospects while the barefoot negroes continue to starve. > http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/oil_sites.html#full_of_oil

The Dominican Republic is currently enjoying a steady increase in its tourism with many hailing it as the new hot Caribbean destination. It's relatively cheap with diverse activities and is easily accessible due to modern airports and extensively upgraded road networks. It has all that the other Greater Antillean islands have to offer and its marketing campaign is simple, chic, and sans the fluff of other desperate constituencies. It has lower crime (relatively speaking) and lots to do. The DR is definitely a star to watch. Sure, Trujillo massacred 20,000 Haitians and the world turned a blind eye not so long ago, but most tourists don't care for such inconvenient truths. The beaches are white, the sex is cheap, and the flight isn't that long from Miami.

Puerto Rico is a bit of a pariah state in the region. Though geographically it is wholly Caribbean, politically it is an unincorporated US State. This means that they enjoy a certain level of independence yet are still part of the broader American political machinery: A modern day colony. This means however that they enjoy a significant advantage that Caribbean governments tend to underestimate. They, like Hawaii (under a different political arrangement), are not particularly foreign yet sufficiently exotic to attract tourists in droves from the mainland. This and the fact that Puerto Ricans are largely conversationally bilingual (Spanish and English) means that the doors to Europe and the Americas are open on both sides and this fact is adequately exploited (in the positive sense).

Jamaica is a magical island. It is blessed with a collection of natural resources that are concentrated into an incredibly unique area of biodiversity and geographic splendour that makes it the envy of other similarly sized islands. It has a very friendly, smart people that know how to survive despite the plethora of disadvantages plaguing them. Their zeal is exceeded only by the Haitian joie de vivre. Jamaica's biggest problem has always been that is a violent 'kleptocracy'. Development cannot be sustained in such an environment as it is a self-defeating, disingenuous, den of murder and trickery . Jamaica was once the romping ground of the rich and famous seeking anonymous debauchery and whereas that persists to a lesser degree it is overshadowed by the monumental level of corruption that plagues this puerile democracy. The Jamaican society is usually a victim of its own vices: Jamaican culture is its own impediment; Jamaicans their own worst enemy.

Given this brief (biased) contextual discourse what does this mean for the future of Jamaica?

Certainly Jamaica cannot expect to participate with more civilized nations until it gets its crime under control and stops giving away it natural resources to the lowest pale-faced bidder. There is much mystique about this land thanks in part to the very vagabonds the government tried to eradicate 40 years ago: the Rastafarians. Thick plumes of sweet-stink smoke, matted bundles of wool, and swagger on a hundred thousand-trillion makes these tripods ambassadors of goodwill (...sex and weed). If this mystique is sufficiently explored and the antiquated notion of selling sun, sea, and sand (ad nauseam) is quickly done away with Jamaica could be poised to capitalize on the fact that people are still interested in coming here despite our brutality and self-defeating ways. It really is depressing that tourism is still our only viable industry in 2010 when we have so many potentially lucrative resources being wasted or given away; Oil soon to be one of them: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Ja-may-have-3-billion-barrels-of-oil_7922092

Jamaican politicians are not serious about the nation's business and lately have been showing the megalomaniac tendencies reminiscent of our neighbours in Haiti and cousins in Africa. They do what they want, when they want and answer to no one.

This leaves a people increasingly disconnected and apathetic because they are powerless. Sure they feel powerful when their mini-messiah kisses their baby, and speaks in the vernacular of the common folk to win their favour and elect them as chief servant, but the reality is that the dunce illiterates are but pawns in the chess game of the bourgeoisie and the sooner us simple black people realize this, the sooner we will do stop being exploited in this puerile political game.