U.S. threats against Grenada
DOMINICA
MARTINQUE S
The escalation of U.S. threats against the Central American revolution, marked by a major stepup of military attacks on Nicaragua by CIA-backed counterrevolutionary forces and the Honduran army and by an aggressive speech by Reagan on March 23, have included increased threats against the tiny island of Grenada, which lies off the coast of Venezuela, far from both Cuba and Nicaragua.
In recent weeks, the Grenadan government has ordered an alert against a possible U.S. landing. The island has a population of just over a hundred thousand and remains essentially economically integrated in the western Antilles. There is no way it could represent a threat to the United States or its allies except on the political level, by the example of a government that represents the people and their interests.
Correspondingly, there is no way Grenada can be defended in the last analysis except politically, by exposing the falseness of the U.S.'s claims that it represents a a military threat to the United States or anyone else and by mobilizing against the proclaimed intention of Washington to trample on the aspirations of the Grenadan
On the scale of the island, the U.S. has already begun an intervention similar to the one in Nicaragua. Reactionary groups have been supplied with arms, ammunition, and explosives. In a terrorist attack carried out by one such group, three members of the Grenadan women's organization have been killed.
On U.S. TV, commandos being openly trained in Florida declared that an invasion of Grenada was planned to "restore order."
In August 1981, the U.S. carried out the largest NATO maneuvers ever staged in the Caribbean. The exercise included an intervention on a Caribbean island given the code Amber. This operation called for a rehearsal of overthrowing the island's government, establishing a new one, and stationing troups there until "general elections were held."
It is not known whether the large U.S. naval exercises in the southwestern Caribbean in the past few weeks included such an operation. If they did, it could have been a dress rehearsal this time. R. ELIASSON and Veikko SAARINEN
There is no way that military inmeters.
stallations could be
### SI LUCIA
BARBADOS
SE VINCENT A
GRENADAS TOBAGO TRINIDAD VENEZUELA In the Caribbean south of Puerto Rico, the U.S. has 36 warships, including aircraft carriers, 22 destroyers, and 3 nuclear submarines. large American warships. Two of them are stationed on Trinidad, two on Barbados, one on Dominica, and one on Antigua. On Barbados, there is also a force of Harrier planes.
Military activity in the region has sharply increased. South of Puerto Rico, units of the U.S. fleet are staging large-
ST. GEORGE, GRENADA - In a from the tourists or the local people. meeting that dealt with American investments in the Caribbean, U.S. president Reagan made a new threat against revolutionary Grenada.
In front of a group of businessmen, he declared that Grenada represented a danger to the national security of the United States. West Indies.
The U.S. president has also given the go ahead for a stepped up "destabilization campaign" against Grenada with the aim of overthrowing the government of the country.
These statements about the military installations on Grenada are nothing new. Ever since the revolution here in 1979, there have been stories about Soviet submarine bases, Cuban training camps, spy centers, and so forth. These accusations have always proved without foundation.
In most cases, these stories have tallen apart because of their own internal contradictions.
Nonetheless, the scare-story campaign has not abated.
In making these claims, the U.S. has two objectives. On the one hand, this is part of the destabilization campaign, a campaign to create chaos. Such statements, for example, help discourage tourists from coming to Grenada. On the other, these stories create an image of the country that could justify a military intervention in the future.
Under, President Carter, immediately after the Grenadan revolution, the CIA worked out a plan of action to destabilize the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) headed by Premier Maurice Bishop.
The plan included a propaganda campaign, economic sabotage, and other unspecified actions. On a number of occasions, the Reagan administration has said that it intends to "get to the root of the problem," that is, to smash the three states that according to the Pentagon are causing all the unrest in Central America - Cuba, Nicaragua, and Grenada.
The U.S. has brought a strong naval now six scale maneuvers. Thirty-six warships are involved, including three aircraft carriers, 22 destroyers, and three nuclear submarines.
The Grenada government thinks that it is hardly an accident that these maneuvers started around the time of the celebration of the fourth anniversary of the revolution on March 13.
It is no accident either that Reagan's new threatening speech came at the same time as the publication of the report on economic growth in Grenada since the revolution.
When the budget was being discussed, it could be noted that the Gross National Product had increased by 5.5 percent, while unemployment dropped from 50 percent to 14 percent at the turn of the year. Finance Minister Bernard Coard has even forecast a shortage of labor power within three years.
But the continued gains of the revolution have gone hand in hand with increased pressure from the imperialists.
The Grenadan government has declared that increased solidarity and support is extremely important now for all the people struggling for freedom in Central America and the Caribbean.
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