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July 30, Vanuatu and Lini and Jimmy Stevens

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On July 30, 1980, the Pacific Islands nation of Vanuatu gained independence — it had previously been a French-​English colony, New Hebrides — with foreign government aid from a variety of First World nations, placing as prime minister the very statist Walter Lini. Lini’s first act was to send troops to crush the Nagriamel secessionist movement on the island of Espiritu Santo, imprisoning its leader, Jimmy Stevens (pictured), in August.

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