United States Atlantic Remnant (1983: Doomsday)

The United States Atlantic Remnant  is a governing body in the Caribbean that was created to serve the the citizens of the US Territories of the United States of America and those living or visiting what is now the East Caribbean Federation after Doomsday. It was created by the remnants of the US Navy which had left Guantanamo Bay after Doomsday. The military structure has helped maintain the American spirit in the region. The actual land under sovereign USAR control includes the US Virgin Islands, Navassa Island, and Culebra and East Vieques (by treaty with Puerto Rico). However, Americans all over the Caribbean are included under its care. The American consulates in all the islands of the ECF are under the authority of the USAR.

Doomsday
The Americans in the East Caribbean were affected by two nuclear blasts - one near Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (by an American strike against Santiago) and one at the eastern tip of the main island of Puerto Rico). The strike near the Naval Base - a facility under "perpetual lease" from the Cuban government. The Castro regime, though, had rejected this lease as illegal and had only left the base alone due to international pressure. With the destruction of the government in Havana, this animosity did not go away.

On the Virgin Islands, tens of thousands of tourists from mainland America and abroad found themselves away from home for what would most likely be forever. Governor Juan Luis tried to keep the tourists calm and provided them with food and shelter, but unrest insured as the populace saw a permanent increase putting a strain on many resources.

Crisis at Guantanamo Bay
Already on high alert with word of a nuclear exchange, the US forces at Guantanamo Bay Naval base had been shocked that the US had actually bombed Santiago. This act signaled to local Communist troops that the treaty of 1903 was considered void. Cuba was now at war with the USA, making Guantanamo Bay fair game. However, the perimeter of the US Naval Station was impenetrable to their meager attempts by land. The local forces nearby had no other choice but to call Havana for instructions. Havana, of course, had also been bombed.

In the meantime, the US forces began an orderly withdrawal of their troops and supplies from the now useless stronghold. It was known that it would be only a matter of time before the remnant governments of the US and Cuba would be in negotiations, and that the base would have to be closed. Before the end of November, 1983, nothing was left at the base but empty buildings. Shortly thereafter, Cuban forces occupied the base during their campaign to restore order to Cuba. The US forces had relocated to Jamaica, with a small contingency having made it to Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands by way of the Dominican Republic.

Reclaiming Navassa Island
Navassa Island, an inhabited island off the coast of Haiti, took on new importance with the unrest in that troubled land. Long a US territory (disputed by Haiti), the island supported a herd of goats and thousands of seagulls. Off its shores Haitian and Jamaican fishermen claimed whatever the sea would yield. Only the smallest of boats were able to come ashore because of the reefs and the cliffs. However, the US armed forces had landed helicopters upon the island on their way to Jamaica in order to establish a strategic location at the southern gate to the Gulf of Mexico. It was, after all, an untouched resource of the United States. Within a month, the troops there had begun building New Lulu Town near the light house. Relations were set up with Jamaican officials that assured supplies to the waterless outpost. Throughout the late eighty's work was done on clearing the harbors of reefs and demolishing cliffs on the island's southwestern shore. A man-made port was up and running in 1991. On the north end of the island, state of the art desalination facilities were constructed with the help of Jamaican engineers to relieve the drain on resources that Lulu Town was becoming to Jamaica. By 1992, the deserted island had begun to bloom. The indigenous goats, however, had long since become a footnote in history, though attempts had been made to preserve them. Seagulls, on the other hand, continue to pester the new human inhabitants. In 1995, the first civilians began to come to Navassa, and Lulu Town grew to a population of 527 (as of 2009).

Organizing the Remnant
In May of 1984 communications officers of the Atlantic Fleet received what many thought to be a bizarre message said to be from George Bush, president of what had become the acting government of Americans around the world. The American Provisional Government, set up by the late president Ronald Reagan (who died at sea on the way to Australia), had decided that it needed to protect the assets of the US armed forces. General Order 0001-1984 called all forces to gather in Australia.

Most of the Atlantic Fleet which had been stationed in the Caribbean, however, had known that this order was unconstitutional. Without a sitting Supreme Court to appeal to, however, they had no choice but to mutiny. Whole units decided by agreement to stay "in America" to support the survivors. Most of that "America" was the diaspora in the Caribbean. Concentrated in the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the units made contact throughout the Caribbean and Atlantic islands - from Bermuda to Belize. Negotiations with the various independent nations that arose when European "motherlands" were destroyed helped to smooth the transition of the Americans to life in involuntary exile.

When the troops from Guantanamo Bay had reached San Juan, they found that the nationalism on the main island of Puerto Rico was intense. There was little interest in fighting fellow Americans to uphold the US government's "claim" on the territory, so the commanding officers moved on to Charlotte Amalie. There they found that the governor of the US Virgin Islands was very much in favor of setting up a provisional government in the capital. After negotiations with the new government in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands acquired the minor island of Culebra, the "Spanish Virgin Island" (also the birthplace of the Governor of the US Virgin Islands Juan Luis), and the eastern half of Vieques.

Finally, on July 4, 1989, the American flag was once again raised in Charlotte Amalie, in what had been the capital of the US Virgin Islands. From there, Americans throughout the Caribbean and Western Atlantic were represented by the new government known as the United States Atlantic Remnant. In agreement with the government of the ECF the Americans living among the Caribbeans would send representatives to St. Thomas and would live as "foreign nationals" among the populations of the young Federation.

Exodus from Panama
Another influx of military personnel came to the Virgin Islands from the. Most of the Americans who had survived the nuclear blast to Panama City had been living in a condition little better than the country's guerrillas and former drug traffickers. Most of the forces had spent 1983-4 banding together to try and maintain a safe pocket in the hills just west of the canal. But after a year or so, divisions appeared within the US forces in Panama, with some detachments heading for the Caribbean coast to leave the Panamanian quagmire.

The Virgin Islands were the obvious destination for these Americans. Information reaching Panama was sketchy, but they knew that the Islands were likely the only safe US territory in the region. The large number of abandoned ships in the port of Colón would facilitate their exodus. A few small boatloads, mostly civilians from the base with armed escorts, began trickling over from Panama late in 1984, and by 1987 a few thousand troops, support personnel, and family members had made the crossing. Many of them were put to work on Navassa Island.

Relations with the APA
From the beginning, relations had been shaky with the APA due to the gathering order, with the government on St. Thomas vehemently proclaiming that America was alive and well in the Atlantic. Political pundits argued that the USAR would not survive, but it outlasted the APA. In 2010, word would arrive from Torrington, Wyoming that the United States of America was not dead. And George Bush, now in retirement, would learn that the American spirit was still alive and well.

The New Millennium
The Atlantic Remnant grew to become a powerful presence in the Caribbean. However, for as many allies they had, they also had rivals or enemies. They had not dropped claims to Guantanamo Bay, which was by now under Cuban control. But the Cubans claimed that not only was the original occupation illegal, but that base had become fair game when it was abandoned.

The USAR also did not forget US claims to the Panama Canal Zone. When it became clear during the 1990s that Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador were cooperating to rebuild the canal, the USAR sent a delegation to investigate. The USAR's position was that since the Republic of Panama had ceased to exist, the South Americans served as the legal successors to its government. As long as the South Americans honored the 1977 treaty between Panama and the US, the Remnant would hold up its end as well and drop its claim in 1999. As a sign of good faith the USAR contributed a small contingent of troops to help defend the city of Colón, thereby restoring the US military presence in the Canal Zone. Some US troops continue to serve there as paid mercenaries of the South American Confederation.

America's history came back to haunt the remnant when it came to the tiny uninhabited isle of Navassa, which was 200 miles off the coast of Haiti which had claimed the island ever since its independence in the nineteenth centurey. In order to permanently re-inforce this claim, the Atlantic Remnant turned the rocky isle into a inhabited outpost which was a military and economic asset. By using dynamite to blow up several of the steep cliffs, they made it easier to access the interior of the island. In 2001, the civilian outpost of New Lulu Town was born on the ruins of old Lulu Town, and the lighthouse was used as the center of a military outpost. All of this, however, was to resume mining the guano on the island which could be used for anything from fertilizer to gunpowder which could be a huge economic boost to the Remnant.

The USAR's success on the political and economic field often brought them to a friendly rivalry with the ANZC-Associated states of Hawaii and Alaska.

Military
Though under the authority of the ECF Armed Forces, the American troops are afforded the autonomy to protect and defend Americans as their first duty. The government in Charlotte Amalie has maintained mandatory conscription of all citizens from the age of 18 (or 22 for those in school) to 35 since its inception. This conscription, though, is only valid in actual American islands. All others, in order to enjoy American citizenship, must register for a draft in case of any major crisis that might arise.

Economy
The economy of the East Caribbean Federation is greatly enhanced by the presence of the American diaspora and its government on St. Thomas. The capital of Charlotte Amalie was the premier port city of the Caribbean and has remained a hub for a thriving import of foreign goods from all over the world. As contact in recent years has increased, the former US Virgin Islands, along with their neighboring "British" Virgin Islands, have seen an increase in tourism to what remains a tropical "paradise" unmatched by anything outside of the ANZC. In addition to the imports, the exports in abundant tropical fruits and cane sugar have made the American islands the richest among those of the Caribbean. The fishing industry also exports some of the best seafood available in the Atlantic. The chief exports of the Atlantic Remnant are textiles, rum, pharmaceuticals, and refined petroleum. In refining much of the crude oil from Venezuela, the government in effect is able to maintain its Naval forces.

Culture
For the most part, the culture of the Atlantic Remnant reflected the conservative social mores of the US military of the 1980's. As the leaders of the Remnant movement worked among the Caribbean islands (including Bermuda), the survivors that had been stranded in exile held tenaciously to their American heritage. They were saddened that the government had fled to Australia, but were determined that the USAR leadership had made the right decision in preserving the last known vestiges of civilized America in the land that Columbus had discovered.

Entertainment was largely tied to movies and video-taped television from pre-1983, played in American "ghettos" all around the ECF. VCR recordings and players became a must in the homes of thousands. In the US Virgin Islands, the "native" Islanders continued their own culture, though a cross over into the white (or Euro) population was not uncommon in the former US territory. After a time of humanitarian runs to the US mainland, the cruise ships began running tours of the islands for the ECF and eventually for SAC tourists as well. The upper class of Americans, as well as the middle class who worked on the ships, helped to return a pride to Americans far and wide.

The primary sport played throughout the islands was baseball. In fact, by 2000, even some games were played with Cuba as the USAR government opened to the economic reality that they needed to trade with the island. Even the turmoil in Haiti had not kept the spirit of baseball from flourishing there. Though the nation had no teams of its own, many Haitians ended up playing for Jamaica and the Virgin Islands. Puerto Rica, it turned out, had a nationalistic pride that assured that no Haitians, or even Dominicans, were recruited for their teams.

Over the decades, the small non-native black populations (African-Americans born on the continent and their descendants) began to assimilate into the African-Caribbean culture. Only a few pockets of "typical" American blacks remain in the present day. This has resulted in a distinct white culture that by default is segregated. As much as the milittary leadership has tried to encourage racial diversity, the blacks in that culture have largely assimilated into the majority culture. American whites, for the most part, accept this. The majority of the blacks, though consider their assimilated kin as "oreos" or even "Uncle Toms."

International Relations
By the time that the League of Nations had formed in 2008, the Remnant was the only known American body left apart from those associated with the ANZC. And so, against the advice of former US President Bush, the USAR was granted observer status. This status, however, will be absorbed into the foreseen membership of the USA, assuming that the USAR joins the USA as a new state. As the only remaining American territory under an American government, the USAR has seen tension with the continuing Communist government of Cuba. <--!They still claim Guantanamo Bay, in a way similar to how Cuba claimed it before Doomsday.--> However, relations with Puerto Rico have remained strong, as many of the Puerto Ricans have taken dual citizenship in order to remain in the new nation. Relations with the SAC vary with the individual nations, but overall the political climate remains cool as the USAR sees the growing power of South America.

In mid-December 2010, President Campbell of the newly re-instituted United States of America met with the governor in Charlotte Amalie to discuss the process of bringing the USAR into the nation as the state of the Virgin Islands. Town hall meetings began in January 2011 to discuss the proposal among citizens in all the islands. State-wide elections in all the islands will be held in May in hopes that the reunion can be made official on July 4th.

The American Spring
To mark the official first day of spring in 2011, impatient citizens lead by the CRUSA, began to stage co-ordinated demonstrations throughout the islands. On Navassa Island, the local government called on the military to keep the peace as the civilian minority was especially hostile to a perceived miltiary government. Jamaican officials were called to be on alert for any potential uprising.

Meanwhile, on St. Thomas, organizers were more successful in co-ordinating the demonstrations near the capital. Though military units were visible, the speakers of the unionists were allowed free speech as they called on support of the overtures from president Campbell of the USA. The mood among the white minority was especially positive, though the native population of the Virgin Islands remains divided as to the course of the reunion.

The populations of the provinces ceded from the free state of Puerto Rica are reported to be ecstatic. Word from the leadership of those islands is that reunion with the USA, when reconstituted, was assumed in the treaty that created the provinces. Across the way in Puerto Rico, the American expatriots who live and work there are at a quandery as to what their protectors in Charlotte Amalie have in mind for them.