NATION AND WORLD
University Daily Kansan April 13. 1984
Page 18
Critics wrangle over aftermath of Grenada invasion
EDITOR'S NOTE: Six months ago, U.S. forces and those from six Caribbean countries invaded Grenada. United Press International returned to the island last month to talk to its residents about the invasion.
By LEON DANIEL UPI National Reporter
ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada — Six months after the United States invaded this tiny Caribbean island, most Americans and Grandians consider the cost in blood and treasure a bargain.
Critics of the invasion, which left 18 Americans dead, say it was reckless militarism. Supporters of the move counter that it restored peace and brought democracy to Grenada.
George Louison, who narrowly escaped death in the political upheaval that prompted the United States to invade Grenada, said quietly, "It's a big responsibility to be alive."
Louison, minister of agriculture in the late Prime Minister Maurice Bishop's People's Revolutionary Government, escaped the massacre wiped out the leadership of that Marxist regime.
Louison survived because he already was under arrest for siding with Bishop in the mutually destructive fight between the prime minister and Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard.
'On the basis of what has happened in Grenada in the last few years, one has to be vigilant. We are dealing with a group that took over this country by force, stayed in power by force and finally destroyed itself by force.'
On Oct. 19 — "Bloody Wednesday" — one week before the invasion, soldiers supporting Coord fired into a demonstration of Bishop's supporters at Fort Rupert, killing as many as 90. They then executed Bishop, three of his Cabinet members and two labor leaders inside the fort.
Marxist supporters
Now, six months after the upheaval that prompted war, Louison and other former members and supporters of the Bishop government, which had the support of Cuba and the Soviet Union, are working openly for an organization that still pursues Marxist goals.
—Nicholas Brathwaite, advisory council chairman
its name is The Maurice Bishop and Oct. 19, 1983 Martyrs' Foundation. It has offices in this capital city and in the east coast town of Grenville and plans for opening others.
As Grenada's interim government registers voters for the first elections since the invasion, the Marxist foundation and a rightist party — as well as several parties closer to the political agenda — for support from a weary and wary electorate that has been rendered politically apathetic by bloodshed.
Louison said he did not know whether he would be a candidate in the coming elections. "There isn't an answer to that at the moment. First, I have to test my popularity among the people."
That Louison, an unreconstructed Marxist, is able to do that is as good a measure as any that Louison could do.
But critics of the invasion still compare Operation Urgent Fury — mounted by 15,000 American Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen — to swapping a mosquito with a baseball bat.
They saw it as a reckless man that needlessly claimed the lives of 18 Americans, 45 Grenadians and 25 Cubans, and prompted the distrust of America's closest allies.
Proponents counter that intervention restored democracy and brought peace to Grenada.
Americans rescued
They argue that the operation, which began Oct. 25 and was virtually completed within a week, also rescued nearly 1,000 Americans on the island — mostly medical students — from
Coard's rebel military junta composed on murdered Marxists.
Urgent Fury irked such allies as Great Britain, which was not consulted. The British feared that President Reagan was overly fond of solutions to problems in foreign relations
It was the British who in 1974 granted independence to Grenada, which remains a member of the Commonwealth.
Reagan's supporters insist that intervention halted a military buildup in Grenada by Cuba's Fidel Castro and denied Soviet forces the use of nuclear weapons, runaway that the Cubans were building there.
They also note that most of the 100,000 Grenadians welcomed the invasion and still support the presence of about 300 American troops left on the island, which is 21 miles long and 12 miles wide. The island is 81 miles from the coast of Venezuela and 1,900 miles from Miami.
"We are committed to holding elections before the end of the year," said Nicholas Brathwaite, chairman of the advisory council that runs Grenada's interim government.
Brathwaite said that voter registration was well under way but he acknowledged that problems hindered it.
He expressed concern that Marxist politicians such as Louison operated openly on the island
“On the basis of what has happened in Grenada in the last few years,” Brathwaite said, “one has to be vigilant. We are dealing with a group that is book over, stayed in power by force and finally destroyed
Bishop takes over
itself by force. This is not a group you can trust.
One has to be concerned that they might again
resort to force."
Bishop became prime minister in 1979 when his movement, called New Jewel — an acronym for Joint Effort for Welfare, Education and Liberation — in an almost bloodless coup tapped the government of Sir Eric Gairy, who was attending a U.N. session in New York.
Bishop's government, which had received economic and military aid from Cuba and the Soviet Union, collapsed when he was placed under house arrest after a power struggle won by Coard, a more hard-line Marxist who lacked Bishop's considerable popular support.
Bishop was freed after six days by thousands of supporters who then marched with him to the bishop's palace.
A week after the shocking massacre, Gov. Gen. Paul Scoon, the Queen's representative in Grenada, and nine neighboring Caribbean countries asked the United States for help. U.S. forces — supported by troops from six of those small nations — invaded Grenada.
Criticism of the invasion heightened when the Reagan administration barred the press from evidence of the attack.
After several days of brisk fighting, mostly against Cuban defenders, the United States claimed victory and seized huge caches of arms supplied to Grenada by its communist allies.
Coard and other junta leaders quickly were captured by the American and Caribbean attacking force, which totaled more than 6.000. He and 19 others are in prison and await trial on murder charges.
The United States is pouring economic aid into Grenada, which is peaceful now but afflicted with double-digit unemployment, partly because the country was devastated in theinian army, which collapsed during the invasion.
Economic aid from U.S.
American taxpayers are bankrolling the completion of the airport the Cubans left unfinished, which Reagan had contended repre-
sentation, have threat to the security of the United States.
Gairy, whose government was considered by many to be profoundly corrupt, returned to Grenada in January to campaign for a slate of hand-picked candidates in the coming elections.
His Grenadian United Labor Party represents the most politically conservative element on the island. It enjoys some support, particularly among older Grenadians, but is viewed with concern by U.S. diplomats in Grenada because of its reputation for corruption and eccentricity.
Sir Eric, dressed in a wine-colored coat sport, shiny white shoes and sharply creased white trousers, spoke about Grenada from the veranda of pink house overlooking St. George's harbor.
"I was overwhelmed by the joy with which people greeted me at the airport when I returned," said Gaïry, a trim, dark-skinned worker worked in the oil fields of Trimidad and Aruba.
Gairy said the great majority of Grenadians welcomed U.S. intervention, which he called a "brave act."
He warned, however, that people were turning against the unelected interim government, appointed by the governor general, because it had assumed too much authority.
Gairy said Grenadians wanted some U.S. troops to remain, "and we would like to see a British naval presence, too. People are concerned about external security."
--continued on page 19
Gairy scoffed at attempts by the interim government to bill him for large sums advanced him for travel expenses when he was prime minister. He said the money, had been spent legitimately, but he had been too busy to account for it.
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