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Caribbean Islands Foreign Relations
Historically, Grenada had long manifested a pro-Western foreign
policy. This is not to imply that Grenada's role in the
international arena was an active one in the immediate
preindependence and postindependence period. Its focus during this
period was, first and foremost, a regional one, attended to in such
forums as Caricom and the OECS. Beyond the horizon of regional
concerns, Grenada looked to the Western powers, primarily the
United States and Britain, as its political models, its economic
marketplaces, and its sources of foreign aid and investment.
Foreign Relations under the People's Revolutionary Government
The advent of the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG)
produced a sharp deviation in the previous norms of Grenadian
policy. By the time of Bishop's overthrow and assassination in late
1983, Grenada had been converted from a relatively unassuming
member of the Commonwealth to an incipient Soviet-Cuban client
state with aspirations of playing a larger role on the world stage.
Almost from the inception of the PRG, Bishop moved to
deemphasize traditional ties such as those with Britain and to
build strong ties with the Soviet Union and its allies. Cuba was
the most important of these new associations. It was evident during
his lifetime that Bishop greatly admired President Fidel Castro of
Cuba; after Bishop's death (and the revelations contained in some
of the documents captured by United States and Caribbean forces),
it became clear that he had also shared Castro's revolutionary
ideology. The documents revealed that Grenadian foreign
policymakers under the PRG were highly dependent upon the Cubans
for advice and direction. Despite their trumpeted nationalism, the
Grenadians seemed quite willing to adopt the Cuban (and, by
extension, the Soviet) agenda in international arenas such as the
United Nations, the Nonaligned Movement, and the Socialist
International.
Grenadian relations with the Soviet Union were also
strengthened during this period. Soviet specialists Jiri and
Virginia Valenta have contended that by the end of the Bishop
regime, the NJM was considered a "fraternal" party by the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union and had been referred to in terms of "new
popular-democratic statehood," a characterization that the Soviets
had applied to East European regimes in the late 1940s.
Although the Cubans provided the bulk of the economic aid from
the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance to Grenada, the Soviets
undertook to provide the requisite weaponry for a buildup of
Grenadian military capability and a general militarization of
Grenadian society. Three separate arms agreements were signed
during Bishop's tenure. After the seizure of weapons stocks by
United States-Caribbean forces in 1983, the matériel already on the
island was estimated as sufficient to equip a force of 10,000;
records subsequently revealed that not all the equipment contracted
for had yet been delivered. The presence of such an arsenal on an
island that before 1979 had maintained a police force of little
more than 100 was a matter of concern not only for the United
States but also and more particularly for the neighboring states of
the Eastern Caribbean.
In addition to establishing stronger ties with Cuba and the
Soviet Union, the PRG also established economic and diplomatic
relations with Vietnam, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(North Korea), the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and
Libya, among others. The Libyans were the most generous of the
island's new sources of economic aid during this period.
The events of October 1983 exposed the limitations of the PRG's
policy. The violent action taken by the Coard-Austin faction
apparently took the Soviet Union, the United States, and Cuba by
surprise. Swift military action by United States and Caribbean
forces left little time for the Cubans or the PRA to fortify the
island and provide additional supplies and troop reinforcements,
even if the Cubans had been willing to do so. Castro's remarks
after the intervention indicated that Cuba was not prepared to
commit significant forces to the defense of Grenada. The Soviets
obviously followed the same line of thinking, constrained as they
were by both geography and politics.
Data as of November 1987
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