Havana, March 13 (Prensa Latina) The permanent validity of the legacy of the Granada Revolution and its leader Maurice Bishop was exalted here today, on its 45th anniversary, by Cuban and Caribbean researchers and diplomats.
Before almost a hundred attendees gathered at Havana's Casa del Alba, the speakers agreed to highlight the figure of Bishop, murdered in 1982, shortly before the United States military invasion of that Eastern Caribbean island.
In summarizing the interventions, the Grenadian ambassador Glen Noel highlighted the “profound global impact of the Revolution, despite having only lasted four and a half years” and cited in this regard the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, in the sense that It was a “great revolution in a small country.”
For his part, the ambassador of Saint Lucia, Charles Isaac, maintained that the Granada Revolution was the result of the struggle during “three centuries of domination, extreme exploitation and indignation”, from slavery, for universal suffrage, nationality and independence.
George Goodwin, ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda, in turn, recalled “the courage and determination of the Grenadian people, who stood up against oppression and fought for justice, equality and self-determination.”
Three Cuban panelists highlighted, for their part, Cuba's good relations with Grenada and with the other member countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and provided testimonies about their presence on that island before, during and after the Revolution.
Gastón Díaz, a diplomat there in the last period, detailed the achievements of the Bishop government, especially highlighting the construction of a new international airport with massive Cuban collaboration, and extensive benefits for workers, women, young people, the unemployed and the most poor people of Granada.
Jorge Luna, Prensa Latina's correspondent in the Caribbean at that time, described the Caribbean political context in which the Granada Revolution emerged in 1979 and highlighted the intelligence, courage and popularity of Bishop, whom he interviewed for his book Granada; The New Jewel of the Caribbean (1982).
Likewise, Otto Marrero, who was an official of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba in charge of attention to Granada, delved into the last period of the Granada process, of division and political crisis, the arrest and subsequent release of Bishop and, finally , his assassination, followed by the American invasion.
Representatives from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica and Venezuela also participated in the event, as well as Ambassador Rafael Dausá, Director General of Latin America and the Caribbean of the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
jha/jl