The Grenada Revolution by Grenade Wendy C.;

Author:Grenade, Wendy C.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2015-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Bernard Coard’s Mea Culpa

According to the Trinidad and Tobago Express of Monday, September 14, 2009, Bernard Coard says, in interpreting the causes of the Grenada crisis, “What happened was vengeance. It was a moment of pure vengeance. . . . We were amateurs, we were arrogant and intolerant. And all our mistakes came home to roost.” Coard admits to “many errors of commission and omission which contributed to the overwork/overloading of party members throughout the process . . . during the crisis of September–October 1983.” He holds other NJM-PRG leaders responsible for major mistakes, listing among the most serious errors of his personal judgment “not going to the airport on October 8 to meet Bishop on his return.” He also regrets having failed to overrule the “caution of security officials” who advised him to remain in his residence for his personal safety. He considers “far worse” his “failure (during the October 8–11 period) to . . . go next door, to Bishop’s home, and talk things out with him.” He mentions his “failure to propose . . . the abandonment of the Party’s decision on Joint Leadership,” given what was happening inside and outside of the country. He adds his “failure to foresee the likely consequences of the house arrest of Bishop,” which he considers the “single gravest error of the crisis prior to October 19 itself.” He also regrets underestimating the role “of Cuba in the crisis—until it was far too late” (Coard 2002, 72–73).

Coard adds the “rumors,” “reactions from the population,” Bishop’s “going with the crowd and seizing Army HQ,” the “role played by [the United States] and their regional ‘allies,’” the “Party and Army’s actions and reactions,” and other factors that compounded the uncertainty and instability as events got out of control. He stresses that authoritarianism shaped Grenada’s political culture, which was marked by “fratricidal conflict resolution” that produced “a highly dangerous mixture.” He acknowledges that authoritarianism was evident in the destabilizing influences “in the political system under the PRG” and the access both sides had to “military means for conflict resolution” that produced the “perfect cocktail for October 19, 1983” (Coard 2002, 73).

Coard’s mention of “pure vengeance” suggests that sane minds did not prevail to stave off an avoidable disaster; therefore he was no less authoritarian than Bishop, who asserted that he was “just as tough” as his Central Committee adversaries. Tom Adams, leader of the opposition in Barbados in 1970, when the Errol Barrow administration introduced the Public Order Bill to counteract Black Power demands for redress of economic inequality and racism in Barbados, spoke as follows about the authoritarian nature of colonial and postcolonial law and practice:

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