The secret story of Grenada’s independence

Abstract

Using declassified British government files at the National Archives, the author shows how the US invasion of Grenada in 1983, which overthrew the radical government of Maurice Bishop and the New Jewel Movement, was not the first time that such an invasion was contemplated in Grenada’s recent history. The UK had had an almost identical plan to land a battalion of troops on Grenada a decade earlier, on the very eve of independence, to ensure the continuation in power of the dictatorial Eric Gairy, should the widespread unrest across the island lead to his ousting.