Was Grenada Justified?

[ElvisL1ves]

@Magiver

They labeled themselves.

Yes, and? :dubious:

[Captain_Amazing]

@ElvisL1ves

Shortly after taking power, the government turned to Cuba for assistance because Bishop was refused aid and a meeting with US President Ronald Reagan.

Interesting, huh?

Given that Reagan was living off his pension as governor at the time and the residuals from his films, I’m really not surprised he didn’t offer Bishop financial aid. Grenada opened up diplomatic relations with Cuba and started accepting aid from them in April of 1979. After Reagan’s election, Bishop did try to reach out to the Reagan administration and was ignored, but Bishop’s relationship with the Carter administration wasn’t much better. In fact, Bishop condemned Carter and the United States in his speech before the UN General Assembly in October of 1979, saying, in part:

These same reactionary elements have been pushing the United States Government to reintroduce “cold war” principles and to create new or strengthen old military pacts, alliances, arrangements or manoeuvres aimed at serving the interests of expansionism and imperialism and/or of trampling upon the struggles of the people against fascist methods and the suppression of democratic rights. These reactionaries have succeeded in their aims in the Caribbean and Latin American area with the recent speech by President Carter.

We view with very grave concern the “cold war” and militaristic steps proclaimed by President Carter in his national address to the people of America on Monday 1st October in which he announced the establishment of a permanent full-time Caribbean Military Task Force with headquarters in Key West, Florida. Such a force will be made up of all the military services and will conduct military manoeuvres in the region. These manoeuvres have in fact, already begun by the deployment of some 16 naval vessels in the Caribbean Sea along with other manoeuvres in Guantanamo Bay on Cuban soil. And mention of Guantanamo Bay should remind us of the absurdity of a country that has bases in Cuba and Panama against the will of the peoples of those countries denouncing another country maintaining troops in Cuba even with the consent of the Cuban people. We note too that of the seven proposals announced by President Carter. Six are of a military character.

In the speech Bishop is referring to, Carter condemned the presence of Soviet troops in Cuba and accused the Soviets of being behind Cuban efforts to destabilize and spread Communism in the Caribbean. In 1979, the US State Department, also, in their annual human rights report, reported that while the Bishop government had decreased corruption and improved social services, most notably reducing school fees and providing a school milk program, that it violated fundamental human rights, like freedom of speech and habeas corpus, and refused to hold elections.

So, the Carter Administration’s relationship with the Bishop government wasn’t much better than the Reagan’s administration. And, of course, the invasion or Grenada didn’t occur under the Bishop government, but after his murder, when Grenada was under martial law, and Austin’s military junta, which was explicitly pro-Soviet and pro-Cuban in character, was arresting and killing people they believed to be Bishop supporters without trial.

I’m not justifying the invasion, but I do think the situation was more complex than you suggest, and while Reagan might have hoped that a quick invasion of Grenada would make people forget about Lebanon, the situation in Grenada had changed quickly in the days immediately preceding the invasion, and the island had become both more pro-Soviet and unstable. If not for the coup, I think the US government would have been content with condemning Grenada and not invaded it.

[elucidator]

Indeed, the Soviets could very well have gained control of Grenada’s crucial strategic reserves of jute and nutmeg.

[Siam_Sam]

@elucidator

Indeed, the Soviets could very well have gained control of Grenada’s crucial strategic reserves of jute and nutmeg.

Well, it’s a slippery slope, doncha know?