During the Second World War, American Naval Bases were built in multiple British West Indian Territories including Antigua, Jamaica, and Trinidad.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the socio-economic impact of this would be explored in the songs and the novel “Rum and Coca Cola”.

Small crop size in 1943 would lead to a subsidy on sugar cane and other incentives from the government. This would allow the area under cane cultivation to return to pre-war levels by 1948 but it would also reduce the number of independent cane farmers.

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