interview with a Swedish nurse working in Grenada. was done by telephone from Sweden to St. George's on October 22-23, two days before the U.S. invasion.
The text of the interview was published in the October 27 issue of Internationalen, paper of the Swedish section of the Fourth International, from which we have taken it.
From ST. GEORGE'S, GRENADA:
What are your reactions? What has happened?
It's ghastly what happened. It started as a simple conflict in the Central Committee of the party, and nobody in the party knew what it was about. Information was sent to no one outside the Central Committee before Bishop was put arrest for not going along went so far people liberated Bishop and took him to Fort Rupert, where the soldiers more or less put aside their weapons because they were happy to see him freed. was for Bishop; they shouted anti-Coard
Those who spoke for Coard thought that Bishop was not left enough. When Bishop was freed, the military intervened and apparently executed members of the government.
Did they shoot back at all? Did Bishop fire on the soldiers?
A. I don't know. But it's said that they took out weapons to give to the militia men who supported Bishop up in the fort. It's possible that they started shooting, but I don't know.
But it's quite clear that they shot Bishop at the end. Bishop's mother was as well as Norris Bain's wife. They were taken off afterward.
After that, when the crowd had disthere was shooting again, two bursts of fire, up in the fort. probably when Bishop was shot. none of the government leaders shot were brought into the hospital.
I was at the hospital. The wounded were brought in. I saw 59 wounded.
Q. It was the people shot at the fort who were brought in?
A. Yes, and three of them were dead They were mainly civilians. dead or wounded came in later. Now it has been reported that 17 people were killed outside Fort Rupert. None of the government figures executed were among the wounded.
Today the military regime has given an idea of how it intends to proceed politically. It is to the right of Bishop.
Q. To the right of Bishop?
They say they are going to install a civilian government including representatives of all the social classes. They are going to stress tourism, guarantee private initiative, strengthen ties with the U.S. and so forth.
On the radio Bishop was blamed for the fact that the incident ended in shoot-
That is supposed to be Bishop's fault. In the evening after that happened, they imposed a four-day curfew and said
Q The policy that was presented by Stroude does not represent Coard's thinking, if we have things right. Coard was supposed to stand to the left of Bishop. This policy is to the right of both of them.
A Those that I have talked to who seem to have some inside knowledge say that Coard had been placing his own people in key posts from some years back. At the same time, elements that were not with him, such as Jacqueline Creft and Kenneth Radix, had left. That enabled Coard's people to get a majority in the Central Committee. They were very inexperienced. They have no support whatsoever among the population. The military junta is made up of twentyyear-old "Marxist-Leninist" nincompoops, who have gained power overnight.
Q. I don't see how things fit together. Wasn't it Coard who pushed his people into party posts?
A. Yes. That's right.
Q. But it isn't his line that is being
The situation allowed the military to take over.
Q. As a sort of third force?
They have formed a 16-member three or four Marxists. lieutenants and the like.
Where does Selwyn Strachan stand
A. He was for Coard. He was the only minister that backed Coard, other than Phyllis Coard. When Bishop was put under house arrest, he went out on the square and around workplaces. people locked the doors and wouldn't let him in. He said that Coard was the new premier, but people didn't want to hear about it.
International Viewpoint 14 November 1983
Q. Is there any sign that resistance is growing to the military government?
A. In the days before Bishop was freed, there were signs. He was put under house arrest on Tuesday evening.
On Saturday, I was in the square, and the state prosecutor, got up on a statue and said that Coard has plotted against us and that we had to free
A demonstration developed then, but it ran out of steam. started on Monday again. At that time Radix was arrested. It is said that he is still alive.
Bishop was freed on Wednesday morning. On that day, the entire people was mobilized.
I have never seen anything like it before. These were demonstrations for Bishop against Coard. No one was ready to give up. Everybody wanted to fight.
It was fantastic. was freed, a crowd of thousands of unarmed people went to his home and overpowered his guards. Now everybody is
[This refers to the curfew clamped down to suppress mass can't see anything, but the people are bitter.
Do you think that the people will fight against the government now?
A. Yes. But it's going to take some time before the people can mobilize. All the leaders have been shot.
It is terrible. I talked with a youth who was a party member. He admitted that he was completely demoralized, and only wanted to cry. Another person - a reactionary neighbor of mine - said that he would go out and fight. The mood is contradictory. Another neighbor said that he wished the Americans would come in.
It's contradictory and there is a lot of confusion. But nobody is for the govern-
The new regime will never dare ment. hold a parish council meeting.
Are you going to leave Grenada in the morning?
We want to stick it out. We want to talk to people and see what happens, and follow up what happens. But at the same time we have a chance to leave
We don't know if there will be strikes or whether the water and electricity may be cut off. And the
Swedish Foreign Ministry has said pretty plainly that if we don't take this chance, they cannot take any more responsibility
We Swedes have been in a quandary The inclination now is to leave on Monday and stay in Barbados.
We have to come back here anyway because we can't take our baggage with us.
I would stay if I were alone, but we have
Q. Have you been threatened or anything? A. No. We haven't been, but if the
U.S. invades.
Q. What's the feeling about that?
International Viewpoint 14 November 1983
WORKERS OF
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THE INVASIL
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• CREADIAN REVOI
Nicaragua support rally in Grenada (DR)
We haven't talked to very many people since the curfew, but we reckon that the U.S. is going to come in. In that event anything can happen.
military dictatorship, we don't know if we want to continue working here.
The situation seems terrible aitogether.
Yes. I just want to cry. For us foreigners who can go home, the situation is grim enough, but it is particularly terrible for the Grenadians.
What's the state of things like now
There are threats from all sides.
The countries that be-
We feel trapped.
long to CARICOM have threatened to invade. The propaganda over the radio is so fierce that you can't help being affected
How are the rank-and-file New
Jewel members reacting happened? What do they think?
A. Right now they're all in hiding. It was a small party after all.
On Monday evening, before the coup,
Victory Burke, a planning secretariat in in the Ministry of Finance and a party member, tried to defend Coard at a meeting with groups from the women's organ-
Most boycotted the meeting.
Only ten people were there.
Three young women close to the party
The others, ordinary young women who furious and told Burke to "go back to hell where you belong"
The ones who were at the meeting and defended the line are not at home now.
They have gone into hiding. One of them lives near us. She is a housewife and has gone underground now.
So, you don't see the military council as a successor that will continue the New Jewel's line?
I can't think that they are going to continue the New Jewel's policy.
line put forward on the radio has nothing to do with the line that Burke explained to the women's organization.
Before Bishop was shot, while he was under house arrest, Burke talked about a
He said that there was a decline in the women's organization, the party, and the youth organization, that there was a crisis in the country, and that the leadership had to be twice as strong. He said that Bishop's policy had to be opposed, that Bishop was far too friendly toward the petty bourgeoisie.
Bishop had opposed shutting down the bourgeois paper Torchlight. Bishop had opposed arresting the 26 persons. Bishop was altogether too liberal, according to Burke and the Central Committee.
Moreover, Burke said that the Central Committee would be the leading organ and that the government would be subordinated to the Central Committee.
But now the military council is saying that it is going to appoint a civilian cabinet. This obviously is not the same line.
But I don't know how the people in general see this.
Q. Do you think that all of this was tied up with a showdown inside the
A. Yes, it started as a showdown between Coard and Bishop. smarter and put his supporters in the key positions. And now it has degenerated into a military regime, and it seems as if the military is going to set up an ordinary bourgeois democratic government.
Have they said so?
A. No, but that's how it seems to me. They have said that they are going to install a cabinet in which all social classes will be represented. They haven't said anything about parish councils and zonal councils or that people would work in the mass organizations.
Q. Are any of the three or four Marxists in the military council in the Central
Committee?
A. Cornwall might be. But I'm not sure. Burke could not talk about who was in the Central Committee; that is secret.
So, it isn't clear what sort of a regime this is?
No. But it will show its colors.
At the moment it itself probably does not know what it is.
Q. What sort of reactions have there been to the threat of military intervention?
On the radio they are saying that there is going to be an invasion tonight A.
from the CARICOM states.
Is the military calling up the Q people's militia?
They are calling up the militia.
But they are going around and bringing A.
people in, because the militia members are not coming in.
Q. They are not coming in? A. No. Not voluntarily. And the militia has no weapons of its own.
Q. Do you think that they are going to arm the people?
A. No. I don't think so. 9
an element of affected by also was
There is a more criticritical thinking.
cal attitude now about how the 1976 coup came about and who was respons-
Strange as it may seem, the Radical said in an election