Sun, sand and sea: no wonder the close-on two dozen countries that kiss the Caribbean seem to be the stuff of dreams. But for many of them, the dream is becoming more of a nightmare. Some of these countries now face big debt problems (over 100% of GDP in Dominica and Antigua), the result of persistent economic mismanagement. Tourism revenues have sagged, drug shipments (and consequent violence) are growing, and changing trade rules are causing grief. The islands argue that their small size makes it harder to cope with trouble. The Caribbean has the world's largest group of countries with small populations. Indeed, that is part of the region's charm. A few islands―Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba―have sizeable populations. But in the English-speaking Caribbean, the giant is Jamaica, with a mere 2.6m people.
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