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DE RUEHGR #0018/01 0752148
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 162148Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY GRENADA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0543
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHGR/AMEMBASSY GRENADA 0624

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 
 
GRENADA 00000018  002 OF 002 
 
 
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