The political career of Edward Seaga must be understood as a cornerstone in a tandem project of imperial control orchestrated by the United States and the United Kingdom. Their goal was to ensure that a nominally independent Jamaica remained firmly within their sphere of economic and political influence, a continuation of colonial rule by other means.

This agenda was executed through Seaga and his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), who acted as willing collaborators. Declassified CIA files and the revelations of whistleblower Philip Agee confirm that Seaga and the JLP were assets in a concerted campaign to destabilize the democratic socialist government of Michael Manley. This campaign, supported by both US and British intelligence, involved propaganda disseminated through media outlets like The Gleaner—which had significant British editorial influence—arms smuggling, economic sabotage, and the instigation of violence against civilians.

Guided by the ultra-conservative Reagan administration in the US and tacitly supported by the Thatcher government in the UK, Seaga was ushered into power to implement a radical economic shift. He dismantled social programs and ushered in a “modern-day plantation” tourism model designed for foreign profit. This model, exploitative by nature, continues to privilege foreign investors and a local white elite at the direct expense of the Black majority.

Seaga’s identity was central to this project. That a white, American-born man could be installed as the leader of a Black-majority nation exposes the profound and rampant white privilege that underpins the racist and imperialist agendas of both the US and UK. It demonstrated that Jamaica’s independence was in name only, as the old colonial power structures simply adapted, finding a compliant local leader who embodied their interests.