Aueyar ds, a high Chilean military officer came to
eewada to arrange for the aid. The Chilean training
ship, the Esmeralda, famous for being used in the
torture of followers of Allende after the coup in 1973,
visited Grenada, distributing literature from the Chi-
lean Junta to the people. Later, Grenadian Defense

Force officers were sent for training to Chile while’

Chilean military supplies were shipped in.

On March 13, 1979, the New Jewel Movement
overthrew the dictator Gairy by attacking and con-
quering his main military barracks and then calling
on the people to come out against the regime.

The Jewel Movement — Joint Endeavour for Wel-
fare, Education, and Liberatiori— came into being in
1972. In 1973 it merged with another group — The
Master Assembly for the People— and the new organ-
zation called itself the New Jewel Movement.

The slogan of the New Jewel Movement is ‘‘Let
those who labor hold the reins.” In its Manifesto, the
New Jewel Movement stated that “real indepen-
dence”’ for Grenada means not just formal indepen-
dence but ‘‘better housing for our people, better cloth-
ing, better food, better health, better education, bet-
ter roads and bus service, more jobs, higher wages,
more recreation— in short a higher standard of living
for workers and their children.’’ The Manifesto also
states that “we need to construct an entirely new eco-

nomic system where the lust for money, power, and . -

individual selfish gain are no longer the motivating
factors.” es Za

Soon after the overthrow of Gairy, the U.S. am-
bassador to Grenada made veiled threats to the re-
‘volutionary government. As Prime Minister Bishop
described it in a speech, ‘the ambassador stressed
the fact that his government will view with great dis-
pleasure the development of any relations between

our country and Cuba. The ambassador pointed out

that his country was the richest, freest, and most
generous country in the world, but as he put it, ‘We
have two sides.’ We understood that to mean that the
other side was the side that stamped out freedom and
democracy when the American government felt that
its interest was being threatened.”’ The ambassador
also made threats about Grenada losing its tourists.

Bishop’s answer was clear. ‘‘From day one of the
revolution we have always striven to have and
develop the closest and friendliest relations with the
United States, as well as Canada, Britain and all our
Caribbean neighbors...(But) Grenada is a
sovereign and independent country although a tiny

speck on the world map . . . No country has the right -

to tell-us what to do, or how to run our country, or who
to be friendly with . . . We are not in anybody’s back
ard.” ;
‘ There are many signs that the U.S. government is
quietly laying the groundwork for action to overthrow
the People’s Revolutionary Government. Last May,
the U.S. ambassador to Grenada sent a cable to the
secretary of state and to U.S. embassies in Guayana,

Cuban ship, Palm Isiand,

arrives in St. George's harbor lat last year with 250 construction workers and $30 million worth of

Jamaica, Britain, Canada, and Trinidad, and to the
U.S. mission to the United Nations, a copy of which
has been reproduced in the Grenadian newspaper The
New Jewel. The cable talks about ‘‘political prison-
ers’? and “serious human rights violations”’ in Gre-
nada and under the heading ‘‘Action requested”’
states: ‘‘We repeat our suggestion that efforts be

‘made to interest human rights organizations in mak-

ing inquiry into this situation.” The “‘political prison-

- ers” the cable is talking about were members of

Gairy’s ‘‘Mongoose Gang.”’ The U.S. government
never spoke out about the Gairy dictatorship and the
crimes committed under it by this gang, but now it is

-calling for a “human rights” campaign against Gre-

nada.
Soon after the signal from the U.S. went out,

things began to happen. The Grenadian newspaper,
Torchlight, continuously highlighted the case of the
detainees on its front page and several other Carib-
bean newspapers, picked up the campaign.

Then there are the attempts to create shortages,

the same as in Chile. For example, the government

has given more licenses than usual for the import of
onions and potatoes. But somehow, mysteriously,

shortages in these items have erupted.

And-then there are rumors — organized cam-
paigns of malicious rumors having no basis in fact.
One is that the government is going to pass a law
preventing people between the ages of 18 and 40 from
leaving the country, another that meat will soon be
rationed, etc. :

For anyone who has ever lived in a country whose
government the CIA is trying to overthrow, as I have,

. the meaning of such a pattern of events is clear — the"

trade mark of the CIA is there.

The actions of the U.S. government against Gre-

nada are part of a broader series of measures. Last
fall, the United States, using the false pretext that
there were Soviet combat troops in Cuba set up a
“Caribbean Task Force.’’ What is this task force sup-

posed to do? One of its tasks is to assist.in action ~

against progressive and revolutionary governments
in the Caribbean.

Exactly what form forcible action to overthrow
the people’s Revolutionary Government will take
cannot, of course, be said with certainty. In
November a plot to make a coup was aborted and
-more than 40 persons were arrested. It is not unlikely
that a U.S.-supported invasion by mercenaries will be
mounted. Gairy has been talking on the radio from the
United States and exuding sublime confidence that he
will return. :

The People’s Revolutionary Government has not
allowed the threat from U.S. imperialism to deter it
from a principled course. Grenada has established
close, friendly relations with Cuba— much to its bene-

fit. Last July Cuba sent a team of 12 doctors and

dentists to Grenada. This number makes a big differ-
ence in such a tiny country. The Cubans, of course,

equi

‘ueipuy ISOM 8814

epeuain

ipment.

“‘No country has the
right to tell us what to do, or
how to run our country, or
who to be friendly with.” -
Prime Minister Maurice
Bishop

treat their patients free. I ate at the same hotel and
made friends with them. They are great péople. They
were willing to be separated from their families —
wives, husbands, children — to help out in Grenada.

Cuba is contributing $25 million toward the build-
ing of a new international airport in Grenada. Two
hundred and fifty Cuban construction workers have
come to Grenada to help with the construction and to
teach Grenadians how to use the modern construction
equipment Cuba has sent. Cuba has also given Gren-
dad a trawler for training fishermen and has prom-
ised additional trawlers when the crews are trained.

The leaders of the Grenadian revolution are ex-
tremely alert to the dangers from U.S. imperialism.
They have carefully studied the imperialist opera-
tions in Chile, Cuba, Jamaica, and elsewhere. Not
only that, but they are promoting knowledge of what
happened in these countries among the people. I was
amazed at how many among those I met talked know-
ledgably about the counterrevolutionary role of the
newspaper El Mercurio in Chile, comparing it to
Torchlight in Grenada.

The leaders are also firm and decisive. When
Torchlight, on top of many other things, repritned an ~
obviously false story from a West German publication
to the effect that ‘‘a naval base for Russian ships” was
being built in Grenada, the government shut it down.
Freedom of speech does not give the right to know-
ingly, deliberately print malicious lies.

A revolutionary consciousness is a-building
among the people of Grenada. Take the dock workers
whom I had the great pleasure of giving a talk to one
morning. As a matter of revolutionary consciousness
and international solidarity, these workers unloaded
the Cuban equipment for the airport without pay,
working through rain and shine for six days.

I am sure, from what I have seen, that the leaders
of the Grenadian revolution and the people of Grenada
will give an excellent account of themselves in the
struggle that lies ahead. It is up to all progressive
people in the United States to do all they can to keep
U.S. imperialism from killing the Grenadian revolu-
tion.

The people of Grenada deserve the chance to de-
termine their own destiny.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 15, 1980—Page 7