503 pages Ethics and Public Policy Center Publication Date: April 1984 Paperback ISBN: 0896330826 Hardcover ISBN: 0896330818

The current debate about U.S. public policy in Central America and the Caribbean is hampered by ignorance, oversimplification, and hidden agendas. The countries there are small and are not well known. Proponents at one end of the political spectrum believe that the self-proclaimed revolutionaries are true people's armies. At the other extreme are those who blame every problem on subversion by the Soviet Union or Cuba. But the causes of the crisis in the Caribbean Basin are an explosive combination of poverty, repression, violence, rising expectations, and subversion.

This volume includes a wide range of views and essential information. Its purpose it to clarify the central issues and thus help to raise the level of debate. Spokesmen for the United States, Cuba, Nicaragua, and guerilla organizations present their positions in their own words, and journalists, scholars, and religious leaders offer thoughtful analyses.

Mark Falcoff is a resident scholar at AEI. Robert Royal is a research associate at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.