30 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF GRENADA'S COUP D'ETAT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GRENADA 000018

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV GJ
SUBJECT: 30 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF GRENADA'S COUP D'ETAT


1. (SBU) Summary: March 13, 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of
the 1979 coup led by Maurice Bishop that started Grenada down
its four year revolutionary path. Radio and television stations
are dusting off old footage of Maurice Bishop's fiery speeches.
An apparent trial balloon to gauge public reaction to a possible
release from prison of the remaining members of the `Grenada 17'
failed due to public backlash. The government in late February
fumbled the announcement that the Point Salines International
Airport will be renamed the Maurice Bishop International
Airport. Public reaction has been decidedly mixed. Prime
Minister Maurice Bishop was assassinated on October 19, 1983,
bringing to an end Grenada's brief flirtation with revolution.
End summary.

Revolutionary Anniversary


2. (SBU) This year's observance of the 30th anniversary of the
March 13, 1979 coup that toppled Prime Minister Eric Gairy's
government has been more openly pro-revolution than in previous
years. The current National Democratic Congress (NDC)
government has more former revolutionaries in politically
sensitive and powerful positions than previous New National
Party governments did. Several mainstream radio and television
stations have been playing old footage of Bishop addressing
Grenadians. Normally only one local radio station focuses much
attention on this anniversary by playing Bishop's speeches all
day on the thirteenth. Grenada Broadcast Network (GBN) framed
their March 10 presentation as demonstrating that Bishop's words
hold solutions for today's crises, including the global economic
downturn (after which they played a segment of Bishop arguing
that taking power by force was legitimate and justified by what
happened to Chile's Allende after he was legitimately elected).
With Bishop's co-ruler, Bernard Coard, still in prison, the
pro-Bishop faction is getting a virtually free run to promote
Bishop as the savior of Grenada, cruelly cut down in his prime.


3. (SBU) Several prominent Grenadians have pointed out
publically that Bishop was no saint and that he was responsible
for the imprisonment of over 3000 (about 3 percent of the
Grenada's population of around 90,000 at the time),as well as
the deaths and disappearances of an unknown number of Grenadians
during the four year revolution. One contact told the Charge
d'Affaires that shortly after the revolutionaries took power,
his mother was warned by Bishop to flee Grenada after he signed
the order to have her and members of her family killed. As a
nurse, she had cared for Bishop when he was badly beaten in the
70's by members of Grenada's army, on orders of the Gairy
government. The family left the country within days for Port of
Spain and only returned to Grenada years after the revolution
ended.

Possible Prisoner Release


4. (SBU) The release of Coard and the other nine members of the
Grenada 17 who are in Grenada's Richmond Hill prison remains a
contentious issue. When an apparent trial balloon about such a
release (as part of a larger Independence Day prisoner release)
was floated during the week of February 2 by GBN, it was seen by
many, both pro- and anti-NDC as the consummation of a secret NDC
campaign pledge to the prisoners to release them quickly. On
balance, however, public reaction was negative and within days
the government had backed down, denying it ever intended to
release any prisoners. The Grenada Bar Association later
revealed that five prisoners were actually released on February
9, but none were members of the Grenada 17.

PSIA to be Renamed


5. (SBU) It appears that Grenada's Point Salines International
Airport will soon have a new name: the Maurice Bishop
International Airport, though local reaction has been decidedly
mixed. Grenadians do not talk openly about the history of the
revolution. Supporters and opponents continue to jockey over of
the proposed name change, as well as over who should get credit
for the idea of building an airport at Point Salines. The idea
appears to have originated with the Gairy government in the
mid-1970's but did not become a reality until Bishop lined up
Cuban money and labor. A third group wonders why the name needs
to be changed at all, arguing there is nothing wrong with Point
Salines International Airport.


6. (SBU) Prime Minister Tillman Thomas hedged his response in a
February 24 press conference when asked about the possible name
change. However, on the same day Foreign Minister Peter David
announced there would be a definite name change during his trip
to Cuba. Local press coverage of David's announcement was
nearly unanimous that the FM should not have said anything in
Havana. Thomas shrugged off being upstaged by his minister, but
David's action has revived local rumors that he and Finance
Minister Nazim Burke are gunning for the Prime Minister in order
to take power themselves. David lost out to Burke in a bid for
the deputy political leadership of the NDC, forced by party

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leaders to drop out to avoid an ugly floor fight at the NDC's
March 1 convention.

Comment


7. (SBU) Editor of the newsweekly The Grenadian Voice, Leslie
Pierre, and lawyer and political gadfly, Lloyd Noel, have raised
their voices against the effort to make Maurice Bishop into a
martyr. As they point out, he had his good and his bad
qualities and was very much a part of the revolutionary attacks
on real and perceived enemies. Pierre, who was imprisoned by
the Revolutionary Council order signed by Bishop, swore that he
will never fly out of an airport named after "that man". Bishop
signed off on many of the orders to detain, kill, or otherwise
threaten Grenadians who did not do as they were told. By openly
flouting Thomas' authority and announcing the airport name
change in Havana before the government admitted to Grenadians
that it was in the works, Peter David appears to have finally
stumbled badly in his urgent quest for political power. Even
strong NDC supporters are decrying his actions as a sign of
disrespect for the PM. While the conversation has been
uncomfortable for many, if it becomes the basis for further
sharing of stories of what happened during the 1979-1983
revolution, Grenada could finally put its history into
perspective and move forward. The country and many families
were split by the political divisions. Willfully ignoring the
wounds has not helped the country move forward; rather it has
led to repressed anger and continuing feuds that everyone
appears to know about, but no one will address.
MCISAAC