Chaguaramas Historical Event

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1956 Trinidad & Tobago was still a British Colony and, as such, had no international status. But responsible government was granted to the ruling 'party' which, among other things, promised to honour existing international treaties. One such treaty, made between the United States and Britain in 1941, had leased Chaguaramas to the US for ninety nine (99) years.

Also in 1956, a provisional constitution had been agreed upon for the projected West Indian Federal Government. A committee appointed to choose a site for this Federation at first rejected Trinidad, but then the committee changed it's mind and chose Chaguaramas as an ideal site.  The Governing Party was not impressed with the decision, the the party's paper pointed out there promised to honour treaties. Nevertheless, in 1957 the leader reluctantly agreed to participate as an observer to a UK - US conference on the subject.

 A commission appointed by the conference advised, one year later, that the base not be removed and America gleefully declared the issue closed; Britain shrugged that the government " could not reasonably ask the United States Government, to relinquish part of the base".  The Federal Government, led by Grantley Adams from Barbados, agreed that the matter should be closed "for say ten (10) years"; The Trinidad Guardian admonished that Australia had waited "long and patiently" for twenty (20) years before establishing it's capital at Canberra. Dr. Williams the leader of the then Governing party declared war on them all: "Our 'base' is the University of Woodford Square, our 'army' is the citizen body; their 'arms' are the banners proclaiming Independence and their placards denouncing colonialism.

CLR James was installed as the editor of the PNM's paper and he kept up a continuous propaganda barrage against the United States. Williams for his part took it to the people, arguing that the American attitude was a continuation of 450 years of European imperialism. "What progress have we made", he asked on July 17 1959 in one of his finest speeches, "if we have substituted Chaguaramas, the naval base of the twentieth century for Brimstone Hill, military base of the sixteenth century?" For Dr. Williams, and for the people who supported him, the issue was quite simple: No self-governing state, far-less an independent Nation, could tolerate another country having jurisdiction over part of it's territory. National Interest demanded a return of the bases to the government of Trinidad and Tobago, and the leader quoted the words of a calypsonian, "we want back we land."

If the Colonial Office refused to pressure the Americans into negotiating the return of Chaguaramas, then it was obviously because the Britain wasn't serious about granting Independence to the Federation. If the Federation didn't support Dr. Williams on the issue then, Trinidad and Tobago was not going to support any West Indian Federal Government which start off by being a stooge for the Colonial Office. But the real war in Dr. Williams' eyes, was between a continuation of past centuries of poverty and suppression, and self-determination. "The only two alternatives available .. to the people of the West Indies: forward to independence, backward to colonialism."

On April 22, 1960 the Governing party organized a rally. It began with speeches at Woodford Square. The choice of speakers - CLR James, Lennox Pierre, Janet Jagan, all known socialist - was a clear signal to the US: we want Chaguaramas or else. On the platform Dr. Williams ceremoniously burnt the "seven deadly sins of colonialism" :(1) 1941 lease agreement, (2) the 1956 Trinidad constitution, (3)the DLP statement on Guyana, (4)the report on the Federal capital site, (5)the telephone ordinance of 1939 and (6)a copy of the Trinidad Guardian. (actually six). And from there, on that day when the rain poured in torrents, tens of thousands marched behind the Doctor to present his demands which were demands too, the US Consulate.

The Trinidad Guardian linked Dr. Williams to Hitler, Albert Gomes called him a "loud-mouthed demagogue", Capildeo thought that talk of independence was "nonsense". But the march in the rain was a vast success. The Colonial Secretary flew to Trinidad to say that Britain needed "no lecturing on the issue", that the West Indian Territories should "hurry up" and take their freedom, and that he would "talk to the Americans." As for them, in the words of US Ambassador John Whitney, "The United States Government was conscious of the aspirations of the West Indians who were taking the road to freedom which Americans themselves took not long ago, and wished therefore to conclude agreements conforming and contributing to those aspirations and acceptable to the people and their political representatives". And by the end of 1960 a settlement was reached between the US and Trinidad & Tobago.

But Chaguaramas was also the first nail in the coffin of the West Indian Federation. "We failed miserably," sang the Mighty Sparrow. (calypsonian). In the settlement between the two countries Trinidad And Tobago was short changed: the base was abandoned but the United States facilities were to remain under American control until 1977; Trinidad and Tobago were to be compensated by assistance in various projects to the miserly tune of thirty million dollars (US). "I had certain reservations" , admitted Dr. Williams.

The compromise was also within the party, for the settlement with the Americans had undoubtedly demanded the isolation of leftists in the PNM. In a sense this was the seed of a political pragmatism which in later years would take such a toll on the party's integrity and idealism. Certainly CLR James was only the first in a long list of PNM members who were axed solely because they dared to disagree with Dr. Williams.

As Chaguaramas was a victory for the PNM, they pushed the opposition into the corner of appearing to be against the national interest. And though the DLP clearly contributed to this, it was no less unfortunate that the Indian population became tarred as being "a recalcitrant minority." It was a definition of "the nation" that was both limited and limiting.

And yet, for all of this, the war for Chaguaramas, in many ways the high point of the nationalist movement, formed some of the most positive elements of Trinidad and Tobago nationalism. As CLR James, writing after his resignation for the PNM, put it to the people who marched through the rain on that day: "Despite the fact that the American base at Chaguaramas had brought in more money here that had ever been brought before, when called upon, you answered, and made it clear that, with only a few years partial freedom behind you, you were ready to throw down the gauntlet to the most powerful nation in the world, to assert your rights as a people, to say that Chaguaramas was yours and you were not going to be deprived of it."

It was a war which took an inchoate and purely negative resentment against the American soldiers and transformed it into a positive nationalism which convinced everyone, the British, the Americans, but most importantly it convinced the Trinidadians of their ability to govern themselves.

On this nationalism the Federation foundered, but the movement was never one of Trinidad chauvinism. Rather, Federation was rejected insofar as it did not support each and every West Indian island. It was this radical, Pan Caribbean sentiment which fashioned the outlook of Trinidad and Tobago, an outlook which has always been generous to the other West Indian Islands.

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