Today in Labor History October 25, 1983: Under orders of President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. invaded the tiny Caribbean country of Grenada in order to “protect” U.S. citizens. In reality, the attack was intended to topple the left-leaning government and to test the waters for future U.S. invasions. According to one American official, the United States needed to prove that it was still a powerful nation, after its defeat in Vietnam and the more recent debacle in Lebanon. “What good are maneuvers and shows of force, if you never use it?” Eight years later, the Wall Street Journal called it an “invasion of banks,” as Grenada’s capital city now had 118 offshore banks, one for every 64 local residents or. Or, as is much more likely, one for every few foreign billionaires needing to hide assets.
At the time of the invasion, there were very few U.S. nationals living in Grenada and they were under no threat by the government, or by anyone else on the island. Yet just a few years prior, Salvadoran death squads, trained and supported by the U.S., had murdered four U.S. nuns. The U.S. not only didn’t invade that El Salvador, where U.S. lives were demonstrably in danger, it continued to fund the terror by its right-wing government.
During the 8-day war, 19 U.S. soldiers, 45 Grenadian soldiers, and 24 Cuban soldiers (there to support the Grenadian revolution) were killed. 2 Soviets were injured. 24 civilians were killed, as well, the majority of whom dying when the U.S. bombed a mental hospital.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #imperialism #grenada #reagan #soviet #cuba #coldwar
