Four decades ago the Caribbean Community, then virtually in its infancy, faced many serious challenges that threatened its survival. Emerging out of the chaos of a just concluded World War II, were regional leaders imbued with a deep feeling for liberation and freedom and a determination to rid their respective countries of the shackles of colonialism. However, newly independent countries soon found themselves caught up in the manoeuvrings of a bipolar world and faced with the imperative either to make choices or to devise some independent path to political and economic independence.