The True Motives and the Scapegoats

42:40
Jose: And you, what do you get?
Walker: Nothing, a salary from the British Admiralty, a rather modest one.
Jose: And England, what is her part in this?
Walker: Portugal is England's enemy, and if English ships were not in the port of Queimada, the Portuguese would have already returned.

55:00
Walker: Jose what are you going to do with yourself?
Jose: And you?
Walker: I don't suppose you've ever heard of a place called Indochina? Well they're sending me there.
Jose: The, to Indochina
Walker: To those who cut the cane.
Jose: Right, or there'd be no sugar for your tea.

The film Queimada! does an amazing job at looking at the true motives of the European colonizers in the Caribbean. While racial superiority, destiny, and religion have all been used as reasons to colonize, these two scenes show the ultimate reasoning. In the first we see the aftermath of Queimada's liberation. Jose and the rebels have successfully driven the Portuguese lead government off the island. When Jose asks Walker about England's motivation, both for sending him, and the English ships Walker simply reminds him that "Portugal is England's enemy" and that without their help, the Portuguese would have already returned. Jose is right to question the motives of his aid. To the English leadership of the time, Blacks were clearly lesser beings unable to govern or lead. However, here the English have landed without an obvious malicious intent. In the end the people of Queimada have been caught between bickering superpowers. They will treat them however it will serve them best. If slavery is easier, there will be slavery (Portugal). If a faux liberation is easier, that will be allowed to happen (England).

In the second scene Walker is telling Jose about his next assignment in Indochina. We can infer that a similar situation that occurred in Queimada is underway. Here we see the underhandedness of trade superpowers. Just like in Queimada, the native population of an area is rarely ever considered. A Region's importance is determined by the resources able to be extracted. Jose's comment "there'd be no sugar for your tea" hits the nail right on the head. England cannot possibly produce the amount of sugar demanded on the English mainland; it requires colonies to cheaply produce its goods for it. Though, due to costs it could never allow these colonies in question to become too independent.  A slave or pseudo slave workforce is the cheapest workforce possible, thereby costing the company the least possible. This shows the ruthlessness of unmediated laissez-faire capitalism. In the end the fact that the populations are not white simply allow for the public to turn away to the treatment of others.