The U.S. Reagan administration has trot- ted out a number of lies in an attempt to bolster its unpopular invasion of Grenada, said two British Columbians who spent 23 months on the tiny island state in the East Caribbean. Sue Mitchell and Harvey Totten, who taught Grenadians nutritional and agricultural skills as workers for Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO), a non-governmental organization, said they were in no danger from the recent turmoil that preceded the U.S. invasion. And they said Canadians and others should be outrag- ed at the destruction of the Grenadian revolution by the U.S. military. “‘T feel very strongly that there has to be a gigantic protest around the world,” said Totten in a joint interview the two CUSO workers gave to Vancouver’s Co-op Radio and the Tribune. It was only during the invasion itself, when Mitchell and Totten spent five days crouching in a house while U.S. warplanes buzzed overhead, raining death on those who resisted, that there was any danger, they said. Mitchell and Totten noted that since they went to Grenada in late 1981, after the suc- cessful revolution in which the New Jewel Movement ousted then-Prime Minister Eric Gairy and his corrupt regime, they had no means of comparing the living and working conditions of the pre- and post- revolutionary periods. But they found what Mitchell called a ‘“‘stimulating environment”’ for their work. Trotten recalled, ‘“There were no shackles placed on you. You merely had to sug- gest a project, and the go-ahead was granted.”’ Most observers now know the basic background of events that led to the death of Bishop and some 30 supporters at the Fort Rupert headquarters of the People’s Revolutionary Army, including Bishop’s house arrest and his release by a demonstra- tion of some 3,000 Grenadians led by cabinet ministers Unison Whiteman, Kendrick Radix and labor leader (and visitor to Van- couver last year) Vincent Noel. Mitchell and Totten were eyewitnesses to some of these events, and noted that Bishops’ house arrest was ordered by the central committee of the New Jewel Move- ment, which had accused Bishop of ignoring an earlier, unanimous decision that. the governing of the island be shared with the central committee. From the CUSO workers’ testimony, one thing seems clear — that many Grenadians, while having strong loyalties to Bishop, were unaware of the scope of the movement he represented. “By Wednesday (Oct. 19), there were rumors coming out that Bishop had been ar- rested by the central committee. People kept asking, ‘Who is this central committee?’,”’ said Mitchell. Totten described the events, during which the crowd surged forward, ignoring the war- ning shots of PRA guards, and released Bishop, as ‘‘very emotional.” “They kept chanting, ‘We have we leader, we have we leader,’ ”’ said Mitchell. What followed next remains unclear. Either Bishop’s supporters armed themselves, or attempted to do so. Either they fired on troops, who responded in kind, or they were lined up against the wall and ex- ecuted. Whatever happened — according to Tot- ten, a nurse who examined the bodies reported shrapnel-like wounds, indicating that a fight rather than an execution, had en- sued — the tragic incident, and the rift in the New Jewel Movement, seemed to indicate CIA involvement. Totten discounted this theory. Christianity plays a dual role in South Africa: on the one hand it’s “‘been used a tool of oppression;’? on~ the other, representatives of the religion have always played a leading role in the move- ment against the racial oppression legaliz- ed in the hated system known as apar- theid. That’s the word from Father Michael Lapstey, an Anglican monk and representative of the African National Congress, the 71-year-old liberation movement that has been led by several church people. “The first three presidents of the ANC were ministers of religion. There has always been a Christian presence in the congress, but it also brings together peo- ple of all beliefs — Christians, Hindus, Moslems, athiests — in the struggle for freedom and justice,”’ Lapsley, in town last week on the first leg of a Canada- wide tour, told the Tribune. Achaplain for six years at the Universi- ty of Lesotho, the tiny nation surrounded by South African that was the subject of a commando type raid by South African troops early this year, the New-Zealand born Lapsley decided to join the ANC and its armed struggle in 1979. “Because I’m a priest, I have a par- ticular concern for the mobilization of Christians inside South Africa to support the aims of the ANC. I explain to the Christian community why we have taken up arms,”’ said Lapsley, who left Lesotho following the raid and the killing of ANC activists. : He explains “‘The option for arms is in fact an option for peace. If we hadn’t ‘The choice was arms or death:' ANC priest ~ Reich, the Anglican cleric noted that taken up arms, there would have been no check on the apartheid regime’s terror.’’ Comparing the -U.S.-backed South African government to Hitler’s Third churches readily endorsed the war against Nazi terror. Moral laws take precedence over man-made laws, ‘‘and when a state becomes a tyranny, people are no longer morally bound to obey that state,” he reasoned. The struggle against apartheid, whether within South Africa or in the front-line states that comprise ‘the southern African region, is also strongly linked to the world peace issue, Lapsley pointed out. That’s because the regime, which has significantly not signed the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, is testing its own nuclear weapons, for possible use against anti-apartheid forces, he said, while noting that the South African govern- ment’s nuclear plans were set back somewhat when the ANC blew up a nuclear reactor under construction last year. Lapsley will meet with trade unions, students, peace movement represen- tatives and church people during his tour. As a cleric he is particularly concerned with pointing out to church people, ‘‘if we had not taken up arms, we would have’ become collaborators in our own death.’’ At the same time, the ANC already en- joys considerable church support. Lapsley noted that the convention of the World Council of Churches held here last summer had voted to increase aid to the congress. ‘Only danger from U.S. & troops’ — CUSO team & PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 9, 1983—Page 10 Emotional reunion greets CUSO workers Sue Mitchell and Harvey Totten, who return- ed from Grenada Nov. 1. The pair have denounced the U.S. invasion of the Caribbean state. “In my mind, it was very foolish of Bishop to go to the fort. At the same time, I can’t excuse whoever it was that gave the order to go in (and kill Bishop and his sup- porters). But it was a very emotional thing. There was no conspiracy.”’ One U.S. excuse for the invasion was the -alleged danger to some 1,000 mainly American students at the St. George’s medical school, posed by the subsequent military junta who took power, which the U.S. president has called ‘‘a gang of leftist thugs.”’ But the junta behaved very little like “‘thugs,’’ the CUSO workers reported. Dur- ing the subsequent three-day curfew, when anyone venturing outside their homes sup- posedly risked being shot, children played in the streets and neighbors visited each other, they said. Totten was adamant that Cubans were not among those who waged the resistance that kept U.S. troops busy for 10 days: ‘‘The Cubans did not know the island’s. interior any better than the Americans. It was Grenadians who took a rifle in one hand, and a machete in the other and took to the hills.’ ~ Cubans on the island included doctors and construction workers, and represented only one country — others included Sweden, West Germany and Britain — that provided material aid to the Grenadians, said Mitchell and Totten. The CUSO workers were also incensed over the refusal of the U.S. military to allow a Canadian forces plane to land and evacuate Canadians from the island, and said the Canadian government should have “strongly protested’’ the incident. As to why they thought landing rights were refused, Totten had this to say: ‘‘We had to appear to be held (trapped) on the island. Otherwise, it blew their theory (justi- fying the invasion) all to to hell, didn’t it?”’ All in all, there was a lot less violence in Grenada than during the last election in Jamaica, in which some 700 were killed, not to mention ‘‘a lot less unrest in Grenada than there is in B.C. right now,”’ said Totten. Nicaraguans seek aid ‘*Many of our people didn’t believe there could be an invasion of Nicaragua — but now they’ve seen what happened to Grenada.”’ With those words, two visiting Nicaraguans warned of the danger facing the revolutionary Central American nation during an impromptu press conference at Vancouver International Airport Nov. 2. The visitors — American-born . Justin Liebl, and Eduardo Perez — had taken time out from their busy schedule to welcome Sue Mitchell and Harvey Totten, two CUSO workers returning to B.C. following the U.S. invasion of Grenada. The Nicaraguans represented the seven- group member Coalition of Non- Governmental Organizations, and were on the first leg of a tour of Canada, and some - U.S. and Mexican cities to meet with support organizations and non-governmental agen- cies. They’ll be asking organizations such as CUSO and OXFAM to step up efforts aiding the country, desperately needed due to the damage caused by counter- revolutionary raids, said Liebl. Fears of an all-out intervention have been heightened by a recent meeting in Honduras of the “‘Condeca’”’ group — coinprising heads of the Guatemalan, Honduran and Salvadoran armies — which may lead to 4 formal invitation to the Reagan administra- tion to invade Nicaragua, he warned. Such an action would parallel the invita- tion the Organization of East Caribbean States gave to the U.S. concerning Grenada — but any invasion would be met by full- scale resistance from Nicaragua’s people, Liebl asserted. “*We have a slogan: ‘all arms to the peo- ple.” And even those who were cold on the revolution before have said they’ll fight any invasion,”’ he said. \ Locally, the Coalition for Aid to Nicaragua is sponsoring the third annual “tools for peace’”’ campaign. Those wishing to donate materials or volunteer their efforts should contact CAN at 2524 Cypress St. Vancouver, or phone 733-1021.