The Caribbean: Can't We Be Americans?

Anguilla is hardly the proper setting for revolution. A 34-sq.-mi. coral dot in the Leeward Islands east of Puerto Rico, the island has rested languidly for 300 years under British rule. Without electricity or telephones, the 5,000 Anguillans earn a meager living from fishing, working a salt pond and occasional smuggling. In February, Britain tried to loosen its ties with this poor dependency by linking Anguilla with two larger and more prosperous islands to form the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla federation, retaining control only of foreign affairs and defense.

To Anguillans, however, the end of colonialism did not mean the end of outside...

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