TNAG-0834-FCO40-1042-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-Office-seminar-on-the-future-of-Bri-1979 — Page 81

Background Note

GUAM

1. General background. The US territory of Guam is the largest and most densely populated of the Marianas Islands in the North Pacific. It is the only island of the group with a natural harbour for large ships. Discovered by Magellan in 1521, Guam was colonised by Spanish Jesuits in 1668. Under Spanish rule the island was administered as part of the Philippines. It was captured by American naval forces during the Spanish-American war of 1898 and subsequently ceded to the US. It has remained a US possession ever since, with the exception of the period of Japanese occupation during World War II. It was retaken by the US in July 1944.

2. Political. Owing to its strategic position in the Pacific, Guam was developed as a major naval base by the US. In 1950 Truman brought in a bill granting US citizenship to the Guamians and establishing self-government. Although Guam has a non-voting delegate in the US Congress (a characteristic it shares with the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico) the Guamians do not vote in US national elections and do not have an elected representative in the US Congress. The executive branch of the Guam government is under the general supervision of the US Secretary of the interior. In November 1970 Guam elected its first governor

Carlos Camacho, as

well as a 21-man legislature.

3.

Independence moves. There is little evidence that Guamians want independence of the US. So far most of the pressure for change in the island's status has come from outside. For example the UN sub-committee on Colonialism urged (in September 1964) the US to take

In its "urgent and adequate measures" to give independence to Guam. late report the sub-committee reaffirmed the rights of the Guamians to self-government and the UN Special Committee on Ending Colonialism endorsed this in November 1964. In response, the US delegate said that the US government wished to reserve its position on the report. In October 1968 the UN sub-committee reported that the existence of military bases on Guam was incompatible with the UN Charter and called for increased efforts to ensure the political and economic independence of Guam (as well as American Samoa and the Pacific Trust Territories). However, given the strategic

/importance