<P> The Caribbean Basin Initiative ( CBI ) was a unilateral and temporary United States program initiated by the 1983 Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act ( CBERA ) . The CBI came into effect on January 1 , 1984 , and aimed to provide several tariff and trade benefits to many Central American and Caribbean countries . It arose in the context of a U.S. desire to respond with aid and trade to democratic movements that were active in some countries of the region , such as the guerrillas in El Salvador and the Sandinista government in Nicaragua . Provisions in the CBERA prevented the United States from extending preferences to CBI countries that it judged to be contrary to its interests or that had expropriated American property . </P>
the caribbean basin initiative of the 1980s sought to
to provide several tariff and trade benefits to many Central American and Caribbean countries