Colossus Challenged: The Struggle for Caribbean Influence

H. MICHAEL ERISMAN is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. He has written numerous articles, conference papers, and book reviews dealing primarily with Caribbean/Central American affairs which have appeared in such journals as Revista/Review Interamericana, Caribbean Review, and Opiniones. He has also co-edited a Latin American monograph series. His main fields of interest are U.S. and Cuban foreign policies as well as transnationalism in the Caribbean. He is currently working on two books, one on Cuban Globalism and the other on U.S. Caribbean policy. JOHN D. MARTZ, Head and Professor of Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University, is the author or editor of twelve books and several dozen articles and book reviews on Latin American politics. His most recent articles have analyzed the politics of Ecuador in such journals as Studies In Comparative International Development, Current History, and Journal of Inter-American Studies. His most recent book, with Lars Schoultz, is Latin America, The United States, And The Inter-American System (1980). His present research centers on parties, 'elections, and ideological movements in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. He served as Editor of the Latin American Research Review from 1975-1980.

• Preface -- Colossus Challenged: U.S. Caribbean Policy in the 1980’s -- Soviet Policy and the Crisis in the Caribbean -- Cuba in the Caribbean and Central America: Limits to Influence -- Ideology and Oil: Venezuela in the Circum-Caribbean -- Mexico's Central American Policy: Revolutionary and Prudential Dimensions -- Some Central American Perceptions and Positions in the Face of Big and Middle Power Politics in the Caribbean -- The Struggle for Influence and Survival: The United States-Microstate Caribbean Interface -- Conclusion