St George’s, October 23, 2013 – Grenadian lawyer Reynold Benjamin, who says he strongly supported the US invasion of Grenada in 1983, claims there was reluctance on using Caribbean troops in the operations.
Internal disagreement in the People’s Revolution Government and the ruling New Jewel Movement party in 1983 resulted in the execution of then Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and other Grenadians on October 19.
Six days later, American forces landed in the country and toppled the Revolutionary Military Council that was set up following Bishop’s execution.
During the 1979-1983 Grenada revolution, Benjamin was based in Trinidad and said he “maintained a meaningful relationship and dialogue with the American Embassy there’’.
In October 1983, he was vice-president of the Grenada Democratic Movement that included Grenadian nationals at home and abroad.
“Because of my relationship with the Americans, I received a briefing at 9.00 am on Monday 24 October, at the Holiday Inn, Barbados, informing me that President Reagan had made the decision to go into Grenada and that by 5.00 am next morning troops will be on the ground in Grenada,’’ Benjamin said in an open letter to Grenadian journalist Lincoln Depradine.
Depradine, in a commentary on this year’s 30th anniversary of the 1983 events in Grenada, had written that to get to the complete truth of the crisis, “there must not only be a telling of the events but Grenadians themselves also must commit their experiences to paper, especially in authoring books. Through cross references and the comparing of notes and information, we may reach a convergence of truths and facts’’.
Benjamin said the “briefing’’ he received from the Americans on October 24, 1983, “was personal but can be supported by persons in whom I had to confide. Those persons are: Dr Francis Alexis (Grenada), James Herry (New York), Beryl Caracso (St Lucia), Jocelyn “Fly” Sylvester (Grenada), Phillip Gittens (Grenada) and Dr Vernon Scoon (Trinidad)’’.
Benjamin said in meetings in the build up to the invasion, there was unwillingness to include Caribbean forces that were described as ill-equipped for the pending operations.
However, he said he insisted that, “when the world press gets into Grenada they must see Caribbean forces guarding all our public places”.
The Grenadian lawyer said in discussions with late Dominica Prime Minister, Dame Eugenia Charles, enquiries were made about how to get in touch with Sir Paul Scoon, who was Grenada’s Governor-General at the time.
A decision was taken to use Archbishop Anthony Pantin of Trinidad and Bishop Sydney Charles of Grenada as possible channels for contacting Sir Paul.
“I have no knowledge of whether contact was established with Sir Paul through Bishop Charles; but subsequent events, down the years, leave me in doubt of such connection,’’ said Benjamin.
