Issue Date: November 04, 1983 U.S. Declares Grenada Hostilities Ended; Troop Withdrawal Begins, Cubans Returned
• Interim Government Planned • U.S. Ships Leaving Grenada • Sporadic Fighting Continues • Coard, Austin Captured • U.S. Forces Reduced • Marines Search Carriacou • Hospital Bombed in Error • Conciliatory Messages Confirmed • Adams Reveals Invasion Timetable • Caricom Ends Grenada Sanctions • Cuban Documents Cited • Estimate of Cubans Reduced • Cuban Wounded Returned • Death Threats Reported • Scoon Pledges Interim Government • Scoon Cuts Soviet, Cuban Ties • U.N. Council Condemns Invasion • Firm Rejects Military Airport Theory Interim Government Planned
AFP/Getty Images Approximately 600 Cuban soldiers are detained at Point Salinas near the Grenada airport. The U.S. Nov. 2 declared that hostilities in Grenada had ended and began withdrawing its forces from the island. The first Cuban prisoners were returned Nov. 2. Bernard Coard and Gen. Hudson Austin, who had been instrumental in ousting Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, were arrested Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, respectively. [See 1983 U.S., Caribbean States Invade Grenada...World Leaders Condemn Action] The White House confirmed Oct. 26 that it had received conciliatory messages from Grenada assuring the safety of U.S. citizens prior to the invasion. Prime Minister Tom Adams of Grenada Oct. 26 revealed that a possible invasion had been discussed as early as Oct. 15 and said that Great Britain and the U.S. had been informed. Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations ended sanctions against Grenada Oct. 30, but differences of opinion over the invasion threatened relationships between member nations. The United Nations Security Council Oct. 28 condemned the invasion and the General Assembly Nov. 2 approved a similar resolution. Governor General Sir Paul Scoon Oct. 29 announced the formation of an interim government and broke relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba Nov. 1. U.S. Ships Leaving Grenada The U.S. Defense Department Nov. 2 declared that hostilities in Grenada had ceased. The six-ship Independence aircraft carrier battle group and a five-ship amphibious assault group that had taken Marines to Grenada left the same day. The 1,900 Marines in the assault group who had participated in the initial invasion of Grenada were to resume their original orders to relieve Marines in Lebanon. The Independence left en route for the Mediterranean. In declaring the hostilities ended, the Defense Department said, "Secretary of Defense [Caspar] Weinberger has informed the President that the military commanders in Grenada have informed him that in their determination all hostilities have ceased there." The statement said U.S. troops would be withdrawn "within a few days" and that Cuban prisoners would soon be returned. The U.S. troops would probably be replaced by troops from Commonwealth countries. Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and other Commonwealth nations had said they were willing to contribute to a peacekeeping force. A senior U.S. official said Nov. 2 that the administration's goal was to bring home all the U.S. troops "as soon as possible," but that it might take weeks to replace them. A U.S. military spokesman in Grenada said that one-third of the remaining troops in Grenada would be deployed around the capital, St. George's, and that the rest would sweep the north of the island to flush out any remaining resistance. The spokesman, Maj. Douglas Frey, said no military contact had been made with opposing forces in the last 24 hours. He added that U.S. troops were still holding 642 captured and uninjured Cubans and about 40 Grenadians. The same day, Nov. 2, the Pentagon said that 18 U.S. troops had been killed in Grenada since the invasion and that 91 had been injured. Pentagon officials said they could give no exact figures of Grenadian dead because some bodies had already been buried. Marine Gen. George Crist said U.S. troops had killed 59 opponents, mostly Cubans. In response to a call by Governor General Sir Paul Scoon, 306 members of the People's Revolutionary Army of Grenada and 138 militia members gave themselves up Nov. 2. They were released by the end of the day but ordered to report to the authorities Nov. 4. Also Nov. 2, the Pentagon announced that Vice Adm. Joseph Metcalf 3d, who had commanded the invasion, had handed over responsibility for the U.S. task force in Grenada to Maj. Gen. Edward L. Trobaugh, the commander of the 82d Airborne Division, and to Brig. Rudyard E.C. Lewis. Lewis, a Jamaican, was the commander in charge of the Caribbean forces in Grenada. The Pentagon said the two officers would coordinate their efforts through the office of the new U.S. ambassador-designate to Grenada. Sporadic Fighting Continues Although all major pockets of resistance had been wiped out by Oct. 27, sporadic fighting occurred over the next few days. Artillery fire could still be heard Oct. 27 around the Point Salines airport in the southwest, according to reporters allowed to visit Grenada for the first time. An Army spokesman said the U.S. was strafing enemy positions near the airport. Fighting also continued at Calivigny Point, about two miles (3 kilometers) east of the airport. Calivigny Point was the site of a military barracks. U.S. forces Oct. 28 battled Cubans and Grenadians around St. George's and between the two airports. Some U.S. officials estimated that 200 Cubans remained. One major described fighting as "intense." U.S. Defense Secretary Weinberger predicted that fighting would continue because the Cubans "did not seem to have any communication with Cuba and have not yet apparently heard that they've been ordered to cease fire." He said there were still "three of four small pockets [of resistance]." Adm. Wesley M. McDonald, the commander in chief of the U.S. forces in the Atlantic, said in a news conference Oct. 28 that 500 or more Cubans were still at large and that he assumed they had fled to the hills. He said Cuban and Grenadian soldiers were retreating to central and northern areas of the island where "militia camps were known to exist." McDonald claimed that evidence of a terrorist base had been discovered, as well as evidence to show that Cuba planned to increase its presence in Grenada to 6,800. He said that increased presence had already begun with the overthrow of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. McDonald said that 638 Cubans, including a colonel, were being held prisoner at the Point Salines and Pearls airports, and that 17 Grenadians had been captured to date. Metcalf said the same day that 36 opposition forces had been killed and 56 wounded. A Pentagon source said Oct. 28 that all U.S. citizens who wanted to leave Grenada had done so. As of early Oct. 28, about 360 Americans had been airlifted out. Also Oct. 28 some of the 700 Army Rangers who had participated in the invasion began pulling out. Pentagon officials reported sporadic fighting again Oct. 29. A Marine helicopter encountered antiaircraft fire, and ground patrols ran into some snipers. U.S. helicopter gunships were in action east of the Point Salines airport, circling and firing into the densely vegetated hills there. The air operations backed up Ranger "search and destroy" missions on the ground. By Oct. 29, most of the original Marine and Ranger force had been replaced by more than 5,000 members of the Army's 82d Airborne Division. (The Rangers, specially trained for small-unit combat and to undertake surprise raids in any kind of terrain, were too lightly equipped for sustained combat.) Security duties in St. George's were turned over to members of the Caribbean security force. Metcalf said Oct. 29 that 69 enemy troops had been killed in combat but gave no indication of how many were Grenadians or Cubans. Coard, Austin Captured Bernard Coard, Bishop's deputy prime minister and finance minister, was captured by U.S. Marines Oct. 29. Coard was captured with his wife, Phyllis, and two leading Marxists said to be instrumental in the military takeover that ousted Bishop. They were Selwyn Strachan, Bishop's minister of information and national mobilization, and Lt. Col. Lionel James, who had been deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, which took power after Bishop's death. Nothing had been heard of Coard since the time of the coup. [See 1983 Grenadian Prime Minister Killed in Power Struggle; Military Council Takes Over] According to one of the Marines who arrested Coard, he repeated, "I'm not responsible, I'm not responsible," as he gave himself up. Coard was arrested while hiding in a house on the outskirts of St. George's. Local residents tipped off the Marines regarding his whereabouts. Gen. Hudson Austin, the leader of the Revolutionary Military Council, was arrested Oct. 30. He was captured at Wetherhaven, a small peninsula in the southeast, by soldiers acting on information from an informer. Both Coard and Austin were reportedly taken to the assault ship Guam prior to being handed over to a new government. U.S. Forces Reduced A Defense Department spokesman said Oct. 30 that U.S. troops on Grenada had been reduced to 5,300 from 6,000. The 700 Rangers had withdrawn completely and were returning to U.S. bases. Most of the 1,200 Marines in the initial invading force were standing by, ready to leave for Lebanon. All U.S. Marines had been replaced by troops from the 82d Airborne Division by Oct. 31. The soldiers fanned out to search out any remaining snipers, but Pentagon officials reported that sniper fire was only occasional. The Caribbean Broadcasting Corp. said that a new sweep had been mounted. Journalists returning to Barbados that evening said there were no signs of fighting around the capital. One soldier was reported wounded in an explosion when he opened the door of a Grenadian military vehicle that had apparently been booby trapped. Pentagon officials Nov. 1 confirmed earlier reports that several deaths and injuries had resulted from accidents. Four members of the Navy Seals drowned in an accident on the day of the invasion, some Rangers were killed and several wounded when two U.S. helicopters collided in a later incident, and 14 soldiers were hurt when a U.S. air strike was called on the wrong location. The Pentagon said Oct. 31 that 704 U.S. citizens and others had been evacuated. Officials of the St. George's University School of Medicine said the whereabouts of all the school's students were now known. In St. George's, schools and government offices reopened Oct. 31. Marines Search Carriacou U.S. Marines searched the small island of Carriacou Nov. 1, but found no Cubans there. Some 300 Marines went to the island, 15 miles (25 kilometers) northeast of Grenada in search of Cubans but met with no resistance and found only a cache of weapons, according to a military spokesman. (The Pentagon said 17Grenadians believed to be members of the People's Revolutionary Army had been found on the island.) Once the Marines had returned to their ships, Pentagon officials reported, they were replaced by members of the 82d Airborne Division. Prior to the invasion, the Pentagon had reportedly speculated that Cuban antiaircraft batteries and a radar station had been located on the Grenadine island. The Defense Department said Nov. 1 that a nine-ship task force led by the U.S.S. America had been ordered to begin exercises in the Atlantic. The Pentagon said the exercises were unrelated to events in Grenada. Hospital Bombed in Error The U.S. Defense Department Oct. 31 admitted that a Navy plane had bombed a civilian hospital in the early hours of the invasion Oct. 25. Defense Department officials said at least 12 people had been killed in the bombing. Reporters who had visited the site had said they were told at the scene that about 50 people had been killed. White House spokesman Larry Speakes Oct. 31 denied that so many had died. The defense officials said that the hospital, a mental institution, was part of the Fort Frederick military complex and was not marked as a hospital. They added that the hospital's director had told them that troops belonging to the Grenadian People's Revolutionary Army (PRA) had been inside the hospital at the time of the air strike and that a PRA flag had been flying outside the building. The officials said the PRA troops had armed some of the patients and staff. U.S. troops on a mission to rescue Sir Paul Scoon had been fired on from inside the military complex, the officials said, and had called in an air strike to suppress the fire. [See 1983 U.S., Caribbean States Invade Grenada...World Leaders Condemn Action] At the time of the strike, 180 patients were at the hospital. More than 40 remained unaccounted for but were thought to have fled. Undertakers said they had buried or cremated 15 bodies and helped dig out a further five Oct. 31. Conciliatory Messages Confirmed The White House confirmed Oct. 26 that it had rejected messages from the Revolutionary Military Council guaranteeing the safety of U.S. citizens in Grenada. Maj. Leon Cornwall of Grenada had met with a U.S. embassy staff member in Grenada Oct. 23 and assured him of the safety of American citizens. That official later told reporters that he had not subsequently advised U.S. citizens to leave the island. Cornwall had told the official that the airport would be opened Oct. 24. Gen. Austin, the head of the council, sent a note to the U.S. embassy in Barbados Oct. 24 confirming his assurances about the safety of U.S. citizens. The U.S. response to his note was sent by commercial telex late Oct. 24, when the decision to invade had already been made. Speakes said the U.S. administration had not believed the military council's assurances and said the government in Grenada was "a floating crap game." He said, "the fact remained, no commercial or chartered aircraft was allowed in or out." (In fact, several planes did leave Grenada Oct. 24. [See 1983 U.S., Caribbean States Invade Grenada...World Leaders Condemn Action] Further contributing to doubts that concern for the safety of the U.S. citizens had been the major reason for the invasion, U.S. officials had reportedly abandoned a plan to evacuate the citizens by ship. The Cunard liner Countess had been due in Grenada Oct. 25, and at the request of U.S. officials, its captain had agreed to evacuate the U.S. citizens. The plan was inexplicably abandoned. (The chancellor of the St. George's University School of Medicine, Charles Modica, said Oct. 25 from Long Island (N.Y.) that the safety of the students had been assured and that the invasion was "unnecessary." He said arrangements had already been made with the U.S. embassy and the Grenadian authorities to evacuate any students wishing to leave. He confirmed that some Americans had left Oct. 24. Modica changed his mind after a State Department briefing Oct. 26. Modica said after the briefing that he had been given new information suggesting that the people he had been dealing with in Grenada were not necessarily running the government and that charter arrangements had not been set up as he believed.) Adams Reveals Invasion Timetable Prime Minister Tom Adams of Barbados Oct. 26 said that the U.S. had been involved in discussions on Grenada as early as Oct. 15. [See 1983 U.S., Caribbean States Invade Grenada...World Leaders Condemn Action] U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz had said on the day of the invasion that the U.S. involvement resulted from a request for aid from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Oct. 22. Adams maintained that a Barbadian military official had been "tentatively approached" by a U.S. official Oct. 15. The official offered to provide transport as part of an effort to rescue Bishop, then under house arrest. Adams said Barbados decided to proceed, but while the cabinet was giving its approval to the measure Oct. 19, reports came of Bishop's death. The rescue plan was being discussed "in collaboration with east Caribbean countries and larger non-Caribbean countries," Adams said. Adams said he called John Compton, the prime minister of St. Lucia, Oct. 20 to propose intervention in Grenada. Compton and Adams decided to invite all Caribbean nations to participate, Adams said. The OECS met Oct. 21. Adams claimed that he told a representative of the government of Trinidad that he would not be able to attend a meeting of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) the next day because the OECS invasion was being planned. According to Adams, he met the British high commissioner Oct. 21 and told him that Great Britain would be invited to participate in the invasion. (British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had said earlier she was not informed of the plan until the day before the invasion, Oct. 24.) Adams said a similar message was given to the U.S. ambassador. Canada was informed of the invasion but not invited to join it, Adams said. (President Reagan's decision to divert to Grenada ships traveling to Lebanon was made Oct. 20.) Adams said that late Oct. 21 the OECS nations invoked Article 8 of their treaty, the article cited by Shultz Oct. 25 as justification for the invasion. Adams said Great Britain and the U.S. were formally asked to participate in the invasion. Adams said that no reply was received from the U.S. at first but that staff and planning talks between the general office of the U.S. Marines and Caribbean security officers had taken place. Adams said that he was told Oct. 22-23 that Reagan had not yet come to a decision. (Shultz had said the OECS request was received Oct. 22 and that a major general had been sent to Barbados.) Caricom leaders were told of the invasion plan Oct. 22-23, Adams said. He maintained that the press had learned of the invasion plan through someone at the Caricom meeting, but failed to say who. Adams said Scoon's views had been sought on the invasion well before it occurred. (The Miami Herald said in a story Oct. 27 that the Grenadian Revolutionary Military Council knew of the invasion two days before it occurred. The story cited a Grenadian official who said that a message sent to the U.S. Oct. 23 reaffirmed that the government would ensure the safety of Americans and that a civilian government would be formed within two weeks.) Prime Minister Edward Seaga of Jamaica Oct. 27 said that a U.S. State Department official "in ambassador title" was in Barbados Oct. 21 and that the U.S. had been involved in the discussions prior to that date. The U.S. State Department Oct. 27 denied that U.S. officials had suggested the invasion operation a week before it took place. However, a spokesman said the first approach was made to the U.S. by eastern Caribbean countries Oct. 15. The spokesman, Alan Romberg, said the approach "took the form of Caribbean leaders relaying to the U.S. through normal diplomatic channels their increasing concerns and apprehensions about the breakdown of order and growing violence and their belief that direct action might be necessary to prevent more deaths by a tyrannical illegal government." When a reporter pointed out to Romberg that no deaths had occurred by Oct. 15, he amended his statement to refer to the deaths that took place on Oct. 19. Caricom Ends Grenada Sanctions The member nations of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) agreed Oct. 30 to end restrictions against Grenada that had been imposed a week earlier. After the assassination of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, Caricom had voted Oct. 23 to suspend Grenada indefinitely, withdraw trade privileges, cut air and sea links and instruct the East Caribbean Central Bank not to send currency supplies to the island. The possibility of military intervention had been discussed, but was opposed by Guyana, Belize, the Bahamas and Trinidad. The decision of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and Jamaica and Barbados to send troops to Grenada had caused tensions within Caricom, particularly between Trinidad and Barbados. Prime Minister Tom Adams of Barbados Oct. 28 asked Prime Minister George Chambers of Trinidad to recall his ambassador to Barbados. The request was made after Adams stated publicly that the ambassador was "an outright liar" for denying that Chambers was informed of the invasion plans. Trinidad's minister for external affairs, Basil Ince, Oct. 30 confirmed that Chambers had not known of the invasion in advance. Chambers was the chairman of Caricom. His political rivals had attacked him for his refusal to go along with military intervention in Grenada, charging that he had embarrassed the nation. President Forbes Burnham of Guyana Nov. 1 said that Guyana had to be on alert against its Caribbean neighbors. Burnham, the head of a leftist government, called those regional governments that had supported the invasion of Grenada "satellites and puppets" of the United States. Burnham was reportedly suspected by other nations in the region of having warned Grenada of the impending invasion. Burnham had predicted the breakup of Caricom as a result of ill feelings between member nations as a result of the invasion. Cuban Documents Cited Kenneth W. Dam, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, said Oct. 30 that U.S. forces in Grenada had found a "treasure trove of documents," including three Soviet supply agreements and separate supply agreements with North Korea and Cuba. In the preceding days, U.S. officials had cited evidence from the documents to justify the invasion and confirm Cuba's intention of taking over the island. However, none of the documents had been made available to the public and press. The documents were said to include "secret treaties" involving Grenada, Cuba, the Soviet Union and North Korea. One treaty was said to provide for the training of Grenadians in the Soviet Union and also reportedly indicated that a terrorist training camp had been set up on the island. U.S. officials had said initially they thought the camp was near Calivigny military barracks but subsequently suggested it might be near the Cuban barracks at the Point Salines airport. Adm. McDonald Oct. 28 had based his estimate of 500 Cubans still at large partly on the documents. He said also that they showed that Cuba was planning to send 341 additional officers and 4,000 reservists to Grenada in the near future. He alleged that, from the evidence of the documents, Cuba planned to take over the island and install its own government. Administration officials had also cited the documents to show that Cuba and Grenada planned to hold U.S. citizens hostage. Estimate of Cubans Reduced Pentagon officials Oct. 29 said they had reduced their estimate of the number of Cubans in Grenada to between 700 and 750 from the 1,100 reported days earlier. [See 1983 U.S., Caribbean States Invade Grenada...World Leaders Condemn Action] The lower estimate tallied with the number of Cubans President Fidel Castro had said were on Grenada the day after the invasion began. Earlier in the day the Cuban ambassador to Barbados told reporters that 784 Cubans had been on Grenada, including 22 military advisers. This raised by 84 the total number of Cubans reported by Castro to be on the island. The ambassador said it was "absurd" to suggest that Cubans were still fighting the U.S. troops. [See 1983 U.S., Caribbean States Invade Grenada...World Leaders Condemn Action] U.S. administration officials had cited the higher number in claiming that Cuba intended to turn Grenada into a military bastion. The new figure was based on information contained in captured documents and meant that only a few snipers were now left to face more than 5,000 U.S. troops. At least 638 Cubans had been reported captured, in addition to those killed. The ambassador, Ivan Cesar Martinez, maintained that the arms found near the Point Salines airport by U.S. troops had been supplied to Cuban airport workers by the late Maurice Bishop in case of an attack. He said the airport workers were civilians with training in Cuba's own militia, and not combat units, as the U.S. charged. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon had said Oct. 28 that although Bishop had supplied the Cuban airport workers with light arms, any other weapons stored by the Grenadian army and militia had nothing to do with the construction workers. He denied any knowledge of the source of the weapons. Cuban Wounded Returned Fifty-seven wounded Cubans were returned to Havana Nov. 2, along with 10 wounded Cuban medical personnel and some women and children from the Cuban embassy in Grenada. A U.S. State Department spokesman said the bodies of Cubans killed in the fighting, believed to number about 50, would be shipped to Cuba when arrangements being made by the International Committee of the Red Cross had been worked out. The returning wounded were greeted at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport by President Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, the armed forces minister and most members of the Communist Party Politburo. Earlier in the day, the Cuban government had said that in a meeting that morning between the Cuban ambassador to Grenada and the U.S. ambassador-designate, the U.S. had refused to supply figures on the exact number of dead and wounded still in U.S. custody. A U.S. military spokesman in Grenada said the same day, however, that 642 Cubans had been captured unharmed and were still being held on Grenada. These did not include the 67 returned to Cuba. The return of the Cubans had been a source of irritation between Cuba and the U.S. Cuba Oct. 27 had said it had accepted an offer from Colombia and Spain to mediate the return of Cuban prisoners from Grenada. The previous day, Oct. 26, the U.S. State Department had sent a note to Cuba offering to arrange with the leader of the Cuban forces in Grenada for "an immediate cessation of hostilities followed by the repatriation of Cubans, even armed ones." The note said that it only remained for the officer in charge to "identify himself to us." The note added that the State Department understood that Cubans taken prisoner by the eastern Caribbean states were being taken to Barbados prior to being repatriated. The Colombian and Spanish offer to mediate followed a negative Cuban reply to the U.S. note. Cuba said Oct. 31 that the repatriation of wounded Cubans had been delayed and that the U.S. had delayed a plane expected to arrive carrying some of the wounded that morning. Cuba said a plane sent by the International Red Cross to Barbados had been denied entry into Grenada by the U.S. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon said the U.S. had an obligation under the Geneva convention to return the Cubans, even though "this is not a war." The same day, U.S. State Department spokesman John Hughes said the uninjured captured Cubans--whom he numbered at roughly 650--would not be repatriated until all Cuban resistance on Grenada had ended. He said that sporadic sniper fire still continued. Hughes said Nov. 1 that evacuation efforts were being coordinated with the Red Cross and the Cuban government to repatriate the wounded. He said that any delay was due to "logistical problems" faced by the Red Cross. Death Threats Reported The U.S. Nov. 1 said it had received intelligence reports that death threats had been received against U.S. citizens in Latin America and elsewhere. State Department officials said they had warned Cuba that these reports were being viewed with "the gravest concern." The officials said messages inside Cuba had been intercepted implying that actions were being planned against U.S. citizens in retaliation for the invasion of Grenada. (Bombs had already exploded in Bolivia, Colombia, Martinique and Puerto Rico, but no injuries had been reported.) The officials said U.S. embassies and other installations had been warned to take stringent security measures. Cuba's deputy foreign minister, Ricardo Alarcon, Nov. 1 denied that Cuba was behind any death threats against U.S. diplomatic personnel. He said the charge resulted from "fantasy or panic resulting from the bad conscience of the United States over its crimes, or bad information or one more gross lie." Alarcon said Cuba had received a diplomatic note from the U.S. Oct. 29 warning against any "terrorist action against its citizens." Scoon Pledges Interim Government Sir Paul Scoon made his first radio broadcast to Grenadians Oct. 29 and announced plans for an interim government to rule pending elections. Scoon said plans were in progress for a "representative body" with no politicians. He appealed to Grenadians to return to school and work and to maintain a curfew between the hours of 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. He thanked the U.S. soldiers for their intervention and said the People's Revolutionary Army would be disbanded. Scoon Nov. 1 signed a proclamation to underline his right to exercise executive authority in the name of Queen Elizabeth II of England. He said the proclamation would allow him to appoint an advisory council "in a few days time." He promised to bring to trial those responsible for leading the coup against Bishop. Scoon Cuts Soviet, Cuban Ties Governor General Sir Paul Scoon Nov. 1 delivered notes to the Soviet and Libyan embassies announcing that he was cutting diplomatic ties. The Cuban government said Scoon had ordered all diplomatic personnel to leave Grenada by Nov. 2 and that U.S. troops had surrounded the embassy. The Soviet embassy had also been surrounded. (The Cuban ambassador to Grenada said all but one of the diplomatic staff had been ordered to leave.) Cuba appealed to the secretary general of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, to intervene on behalf of the diplomats Nov. 1. The government said it had ordered its diplomatic personnel not to leave until all Cuba's dead and wounded had been returned to Cuba. Cuba also announced that the U.S. had detained two diplomats from its State Committee for Economic Collaboration. Moscow Oct. 28 formally accused the U.S. of firing on its embassy Oct. 26 and wounding a staff member. The U.S. denied the charge. U.S. State Department officials Oct. 27 had said U.S. forces in Grenada were guaranteeing the safety of the Soviets at the embassy, who were reported to number 49. U.N. Council Condemns Invasion The United Nations Security Council Oct. 28 approved, 11 to 1 with three abstentions, a resolution condemning the armed intervention in Grenada. The resolution was sponsored by Nicaragua, Guyana and Zimbabwe. [See 1983 U.S., Caribbean States Invade Grenada...World Leaders Condemn Action] The resolution "deeply" deplored the invasion, describing it as a "flagrant violation of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Grenada. It deplored, also, the "deaths of innocent civilians" and called for "an immediate cessation of the armed intervention and the immediate withdrawal of the foreign troops in Grenada." The U.N. secretary general was requested to follow the development of events in Grenada and to report to the council within 48 hours. The resolution recalled the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among states and cited Article 2, (4) of the U.N. charter, obliging member states to "refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any other state." The resolution was approved by France, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Guyana, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Malta, Poland, the U.S.S.R. and China. Togo, Great Britain and Zaire abstained. The U.S. vetoed the resolution. Sixty-three nations had requested to speak in the council debate on Grenada, and among them only a small number of Caribbean countries defended the invasion. Even nations sympathetic to the U.S. argument that the intervention had forestalled a Cuban and Soviet buildup in Grenada reaffirmed the principle of nonintervention. On the third day of the debate, Oct. 27, the U.S. delegate, Jeane Kirkpatrick, defended the invasion. She said it had been necessary as a defense against the "madmen" who had assumed power in Grenada. In answer to charges that the intervention violated international law, Kirkpatrick said, "The prohibitions against the use of force in the United Nations Charter are contextual, not absolute. They provide justification for the use of force against force, in pursuit of other values also inscribed in the charter, such values as freedom, democracy and peace." Asserting that the U.S. had discovered that there was one Cuban present for every 100 Grenadians, Kirkpatrick suggested that foreign intervention had taken place well before the invasion. The British delegate, Sir John Thomson, affirmed that the British government did not support the invasion, the Financial Times said Oct. 29. However, Thomson said Britain understood the concerns of those involved in the action and that he wished that the resolution before the council reflected that understanding. In the midst of the debate, the U.S. had sought to challenge the right of the Grenadian delegate, Ian Jacobs, to sit in the council. Jacobs had been representing Grenada's official delegate, Caldwell Taylor, who had emerged from hiding Oct. 27. Taylor had gone into hiding in fear of his life after the overthrow of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Charles M. Lichenstein of the U.S. said Oct. 27 that the council president had received a letter from Sir Paul Scoon, the governor general of Grenada, questioning the right of Jacobs to represent Grenada. Scoon said that "no person or group is authorized to speak before the United Nations without the expressed permission of the governor general or until a new ambassador is appointed for Grenada." The council president, Abdullah Salah of Jordan, permitted Jacobs to retain the seat pending a decision by the secretary general. Taylor replaced Jacobs in a General Assembly debate Oct. 31. In a news conference Oct. 27, Taylor denounced the invasion, saying, "Democracy is not something you throw down like manna from heaven." He maintained that Grenadians would have ousted Gen. Hudson Austin without an invasion. The U.N. General Assembly Nov. 2 voted, 108 to 9 with 27 abstentions, to approve a resolution "deeply deploring" the invasion. The resolution was approved without debate. The nine negative votes were cast by the U.S., Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, El Salvador, Israel, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The resolution was sponsored by Nicaragua and Zimbabwe and was virtually identical to the one vetoed by the U.S. in the Security Council. The General Assembly added an amendment proposed by Belgium calling for "the holding of elections as rapidly as possible." It also called on the secretary general to report back within three days after assessing the situation. Among those who abstained were Great Britain, Japan, West Germany and Canada. There was no veto in the Assembly, as there was in the Security Council. Governments were not bound to obey the Assembly's resolutions. Firm Rejects Military Airport Theory A British contractor that headed the construction of the Point Salines airport Nov. 1 denied that it was designed to have any military function. [See 1983 U.S., Caribbean States Invade Grenada...World Leaders Condemn Action] The contractor, Plessey Airports, said the construction involved no installations generally associated with a military base such as antiaircraft defenses, dispersal aprons, a reinforced control tower and underground weapon and fuel storage. The company maintained that the airport conformed to international civil aviation standards and confirmed that it was designed to facilitate tourism. Plessey had a $9.9 million contract guaranteed by the British government. The European Community, Libya, Syria and Algeria had also backed the project. © 2011 Facts On File News Services
Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation: "U.S. Declares Grenada Hostilities Ended...Interim Government Planned." Facts On File World News Digest: n. pag. World News Digest. Facts On File News Services, 4 Nov. 1983. Web. 20 June 2011.