Graffiti on wall in support for the US Invasion at Tempe, St George. Photo: John Angus Martin, A-Z of Grenada Heritage
On the morning of 25 October 1983, hundreds of United States troops began military operations in Grenada, with the objectives of securing foreign nationals, primarily American students attending St George’s University (SGU), returning the country to democracy, and eliminating all Cuban/Soviet involvement on the islands.
The violent and bloody events of 19 October led the members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to intervene. Article 8 of the 1981 OECS Treaty, to which the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) was a signatory, provided for member countries to come to the defence of each other in the event of external aggression. Though the charter provided no legal grounds for intervention in the internal affairs of its members, OECS signatories nonetheless used this pretext to intervene militarily. Lacking the resources, they, together with Barbados and Jamaica, requested military assistance from the United States. Constitutional legitimacy was provided by a letter (rumoured to have been backdated, though a verbal request was made) from Governor-General Sir Paul Scoon, requesting that the US and OECS intervene militarily.
Several Caribbean countries, including Trinidad, Guyana and the Bahamas, opposed the military action. Operation “Urgent Fury,” though hastily planned, was billed as a “surgical precision” operation aimed at wresting the island from the grasp of “communist thugs.” Caribbean supporters formed the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force (CPF), numbering 400–450 paramilitary and policemen as part of the Caribbean Multinational Force, of which the US was by far the largest and commanding participant. The major operations were staged at the sites of the new runway at Point Salines (Maurice Bishop International Airport—MBIA), Pearls Airport, Government House to rescue the governor general, and the Richmond Hill Prisons to free political detainees.
By 31 October, US forces secured Grenada; Carriacou and Petite Martinique were secured on 2 November without fighting. Of the Cubans who participated in the fighting, 59 were wounded, and 634 were taken prisoner and later repatriated. A monument to the 24 killed was erected in 2015 at the MBIA. About 40 Grenadians died: 24 civilians, including 16 mental patients who died when the Mental Hospital at Fort Matthew was mistakenly bombed by the US, and at least 14 soldiers (a monument was erected in 2013 at St George’s Cemetery), and 350 civilians were wounded. Of the US casualties, 152 were reported wounded, while 19 were reported as having lost their lives; monuments to them are located on the SGU campus and MBIA.
The invasion sparked widespread protest and debate worldwide, prompting extensive commentary on the revolution, the invasion, and the apparent attempt by the US military to control media coverage during the invasion.
Other names for this event include Operation Urgent Fury, Rescue Mission, Intervention, and Intervasion — the latter coined by journalist Alister Hughes to reflect the ambivalence between invasion and intervention.
Since then, 25 October has been celebrated as Thanksgiving Day.
Excerpted from John Angus Martin, A-Z of Grenada Heritage.
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