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.