US government spun a web of lies over killings, say human rights group
Bernard Coard, aged 62 today has been in prison for 23 years
 Assumptions have been made about certain things and we’ve tried to correct that. We have also published stuff about the trial itself, which was pretty much a kangaroo court.
Alan Scott, Secretary of CHRGUK
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Hope may be on the horizon for Bernard Coard, aged 62 today and the other members of the Grenada 17 who have spent the last 23 years imprisoned for the deaths of former Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and other members of the government in 1983.
The Committee for Human Rights in Grenada (UK) (CHRGUK) raised several thousand pounds following an appeal last year to enable the case of the Grenada 17 to be taken to the Privy Council in London. Funds have now been sent to the Caribbean Council and the case is due to be heard just before Christmas.
CHRGUK is made up of individuals from Grenada including Richard Hart, who was the Attorney General in Grenada at the time of the Revolution and people from the UK; having been formed shortly after the US invasion in 1983. It’s Secretary, Alan Scott spoke to Black Britain about what hope the Privy Council might offer the Grenada 17. He said:
“What we’ve never been able to do is to get the case away from the Caribbean system…they are desperate that these people are not released. I think it’s partly a political decision.”
Bernard Coard and 14 other former members of the Grenadian government in 1986 were convicted of the murders of the then Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several others including the foreign minister Unsion Whiteman. They were sentenced to death while three others were convicted and given long prison sentences.
Over the years they came to be known as the Grenada 17: Bernard Coard, Phyllis Coard, Hudson Austin, Ewart Layne, Selwyn Strachan, Liam james, Leon Cornwall, Dave Bartholomew, John ‘Chalkie’ Ventour, Colville Mc Barnette, Christopher Stroude, Lester Redhead, Calistus Bernard, Cecil prime, Andy Mitchell, Vincent Joseph and Cosmos Richardson.
The convictions followed the US invasion of Grenada on October 25 1983 led by US forces joined by several Caribbean countries including Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia and St Vincent. Over 7000 troops descended on the tiny island defended by Grenada and Cuba, with small numbers from North Korea, Libya, East Germany, Bulgaria and the Soviet Union.
CHRGUK has continued to publish information about the invasion to counter what it claims has been US propaganda and “lies” about the events leading up to the death of Maurice Bishop. He told Black Britain: “Assumptions have been made about certain things and we’ve tried to correct that. We have also published stuff about the trial itself, which was pretty much a kangaroo court.”
Coard, along with 10 other prisoners allege that they were tortured. Scott told Black Britain that in many instances, the US government did not even carry out the tortures themselves but brought in people from other Caribbean islands.
“We have a series of affidavits which sets out how most of them were tortured… It was quite shocking,” he said. According to Scott, the US government was “desperate to get people to blame the Central Committee members for what had happened.” He said that there was “no evidence” about what had happened, so the US Government “manufactured some.”
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