tpkq@charm.UUCP (11/01/83)
~ Recent U.S. news reports have suggested that the Cubans supported or even sponsored the coup which provided the pretext for the U.S. invasion of Grenada. The following is an excerpt from a declaration issued by the Cuban Communist Party on October 20, the day after the murder of the leaders of the New Jewel Movement, and five days before the U.S. invasion of Grenada: ". . . It has still not been possible to determine the actual way in which Bishop and the other leaders died. Bishop was among the political leaders who most enjoyed sympathy and respect among our people, for his talent, his simplicity, his revolutionary sincerity and honesty, and his proven friendship for our country. Besides that, he enjoyed great international prestige. The news of his death stirred the leadership of our party, and we render the deepest tribute to his memory. "It is most unfortunate that the differences among the Grenadian revolutionaries climaxed in this bloody drama. No doctrine, no principle or position held up as revolutionary, and no internal division justifies atrocious proceedings like the physical elimination of Bishop and the outstanding group of honest and worthy leaders killed yesterday. The death of Bishop and his comrades must be clarified, and if they were executed in cold blood the guilty ones deserve to be punished in an exemplary way. "Imperialism will now try to make use of this tragedy and the grave errors committed by the Grenadian revolutionaries in order to sweep away the revolutionary process in Grenada and subject it once again to neocolonial and imperial domination. The situation is most difficult and complex. Only a miracle of common sense, equanimity, and wisdom on the part of the Grenadian revolutionaries, and of serenity in the reaction and response of the international progressive movement, can still salvage the process. "No step must be taken that would aid imperialism in its plans. In Grenada many Cuban doctors, teachers, technicians of various kinds, and hundreds of construction workers are collaborating in providing essential services to the people and in the development of projects that are vital to the economy. Though profoundly embittered by the events, we will take no precipitate step with regard to technical and economic collaboration that could affect essential services or economic interests vital to the people of Grenada, for whom we have sincere and deep feelings of admiration and affection. "After the tragic outcome yesterday, we will continue following the development of events closely. We will maintain the strict principle of not involving ourselves in the internal affairs of Grenada, and we will take into account, above all, the interests of the Grenadian people in matters of economic and technical collaboration if that is possible in the new situation. But our political relations with the new figures in the Grenadian leadership will have to be subjected to serious and profound analysis. Nonetheless, if the Grenadian revolutionary process manages to be preserved, we will do whatever is possible to help it. "Let it be hoped that the painful events that have taken place cause all the revolutionaries of Grenada and the world to reflect deeply, and that the concept that no crime must be committed in the name of the revolution and freedom."
tpkq@charm.UUCP (11/06/83)
~ I have seen no evidence posted to this network or in any newspaper to support the contention that the Cuban government sponsored the coup which overthrew the Grenadian government. In the period between the coup and the invasion, the Cuban government described its relations with the new regime as "very strained," and the Cubans denied its request to send troops to repel the invasion. Speaking to reporters in Barbados, Don Rojas, Maurice Bishop's press secretary and the highest ranking member of the toppled regime to speak since the invasion, said that before he was killed, Bishop had asked him to tell the world that Cuba had nothing to do with the regime's internal dispute and that no outside intervention was warrented. Rojas also reported that Bernard Coarde, who he says led the coup, refused to receive the Cuban ambassador, Julian Torres Rizo, who was concerned about the detention of the Prime Minister by the Coarde faction.