Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-03-20
Guionu Swings Into Line

Inc news JnaI french Guiana has
pledged allegiance to General Giraud
is welcome not only for it's local sig
nlficance but even more for what it
portendS. It's detection from quasi
Vlchy rule indicates the likelihood
that the other French colonies in the
Caribbean may soon follow suit thus
solving one of the most vexatious
problems confronting our State De-
partment in the New World.
French Guiana, sometimes known
as Cayenne, is an unpromising bit of
land situated on the northern coast
of South America Almost unde-
veloped and with an unhealthful
tropical climate, it has long had an
unSaVory reputation as Frances
penal colony, where hardened Grim
inals and few political prisoners
were sent to eXpiate their crimes.
Administratively, it is subordinated
to Martinique, the seat of French
colonial authority in tropical Ameri-
lea. AS such, 1t naturally formed
part of the colonial block under the
rule of Admiral Georges Robert, high
commissioner for the Vichy regime.
French Guiana was a potential
danger to us just because of its re-
mote backWardness. It's almost I'M
inhabited coastline of mangrove
swamps intersected by the mouths of
many tropical rivers presented pos
sible hideouts for German subma-
rines, while the wireless at Cayenne,
the squalid colonial capital, might
furnish information of Allied ship
movements in the Caribbean. The
colony was known to harbor numer-
Gus Axis agents, uncontrolled by the
benevolently neutral Vichy authori-
ties. Another source of worry was
the colony's proximity to neighboring
Dutch Guiana with its rich bauxite
mines, valuable source for our
aluminium industry. BY and large.
French Guiana thus had to be close
ly watched to head Off possible trou-
BILE. Unlike the French island COL
onies of Martinique and Guadeloupe,
1t was not susceptible to economic
pressure, because its scanty popula-
ton was self-feeding. Yet an Amer
lean. military occupation would have
precipitated a diplomatic crisis with
Admiral Robert and the Vichy re-
gime which our Government wished
to avoid.
Our intervention in French North
Africa and the rallying of the au-
thorities there to the Allied side,
first under Admiral Darlan and later
under General Giraud in still more
decisive fashion, had inevitable
repercussions on Frances colonies in
the New World Admiral Robert
may thus far have been able to main
tain his pose of continued loyalty to
Marshal Petain in Martinique, which
is directly under his control. But
distant Guiana has now renounced
a policy that meant for it only I'M
1ol tuldtc iSOld blOIl. Lie UlOlIiSS VI
this secession should stimulate the
discomfort of the populations of
Martinique and Guadeloupe, who are
repeatedly suffering keenly from the
economic blockade imposed by our
Government ever since the diplo-
matte breach with Vichy last No
vember consequent upon our land
ing in North Africa
Under these combined pressures
it is doubtful whether Admiral
Robert can hold aloof much longer
from the general trend throughout
the French colonial empire. Either
he must renounce his allegiance to
Vichy and fall in line under General
Giraud or we may anticipate some
popular movement that will sweep
him from power. In either case,
Frances colonies in America will
cease to be the annoying complica-
ton that has existed ever since the
fall Of France nearly three years ago.