French Caribbean possessions

Regarding the independence disputes in Spain, Tim Brown says: "This reminds me of an independence movement, complete with terrorism, that was going on in the French Caribbean Departments while I was Consul General there(the provinces of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana) . Once, after a particularly nasty spate of bombings (my office was one of the targets hit) the French Prime Minister said in exasperation in response to a press query, "Well, if they really want independence, the Constitution allows us to hold a nation-wide referendum on that issue." This set off a panicked rush to Paris by a dozen or more leaders of the independence movement, all carrying the same message. Mr. Prime Minister, shut up! Why? Because if there had been a national referendum the polls indicated that more than 85% of the inhabitants of the three overseas department would vote NO against independence, but in mainland France almost the same number, 85% would vote YES, get rid of them, they're too much trouble and, at about $1 billion a year in subsides for 800,000 people, much too expensive. While the pro-independence activists were loudly proclaiming themselves as the true and legitimate voice of all the people in all three departments, in fact they knew better and understood they represented only themselves and a small fraction of their fellow citizens. A couple of days later, when a journalist in Guadeloupe asked one of the independentists what they really wanted, he got a surprisingly candid response. We don't really want full independence. What we really want is for France to keep sending us money but then let us spend it ourselves".

My comment: Tim is right that the European countries decided that colonies are more trouble than they are worth. France would like to hang on to French Guiana because of the satellite launching site there. The case of Catalonia and the Basque provinces is different. They are the richest part of Spain, and if Spain lost them it would be greatly impoverished.

Ronald Hilton - 7/26/02