Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, April 06, 1983, Page 2, Image 2

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    Grenada celebrates Revolution's fourth year
Grenada celebrated the fourth an­
niversary of its revolution on March
13th.
Under the leadership o f Prim e
Minister Maurice Bishop, Grenada
has made significant economic
gams.
When the New Jewel Movement
look over in 1979, the country had a
$41 million deficit; unemployment
was 51 percent and illiteracy 43 per­
cent There was widespread malnu­
trition while the country's resources
went to foreign countries.
Since the revolution 3,000 jobs
have been created, reducing unem­
ployment to 14 percent. Last year
the government set aside $134 m il­
lion for investments, 27 times more
than in the last year of the dictator­
ship.
The U.S.-controlled International
M onetary Fund recently acknow ­
ledged that Grenada has registered
more than a 2 percent growth and a
significantly low rate o f inflation.
There have been gains in agricul-
lue, nutmeg being the major export
crop, and in construction, fishing,
tourism and other sectors o f the
economy. Internal construction in­
cludes highways, repair of ports and
the much publicised airport.
It is Grenada’s new international
a irp o rt, still under construction,
that has been the greatest target of
the Reagan administration. A num­
ber o f studies ha drecommendcd
It is Grenada's new international
a irp o rt, still under construction,
that has been the greatest target of
the Reagan administration. A num­
ber o f studies had recommended
building a new a irp o rt, including
one by the W orld Bank. Grenada
approached the U.S. for assistance,
but turned down the mere $3,000
the U.S. offered.
The 9,500-foot runway, which re­
quired fillin g a portion o f Hardy
Bay, is being constructed by 600
construction workers from Cuba
and 450 from Grenada. Completion
is set for March of 1984.
President Reagan recently cited
construction of the runway as evi­
dence of "Soviet-C uban" m ilitari­
zation" of the liny island nation of
110,000 persons. "Grenada doesn't
even have an air force. Who is it in­
tended for?” Reagan asked, show­
ing an aerial photograph of the air­
port.
Reagan did not explain that a l­
though Cuba is most heavily in ­
volved in the airport construction
aid came from a dozen nations in ­
cluding Canada, Mexico, Venezue­
la. and Algeria, and that British and
U.S companies are involved.
A Miami company, Layne Dredg­
ing L td ., working with Cuban en­
gineers. recently completed a $2.9
m illio n dredging contract and
another U.S. firm designed the fuel
storage tanks.
G renada's old airp o rt w ith its
5,200-foot runway could not handle
modern commercial jets so tourists
had to change to smaller planes in
Trinidad and Tobago or in Barba­
dos.
Responding to Reagan's charges,
a spokesman for the Grenada Em ­
bassy explained that many other
Caribbean nations, some o f them
smaller than G renada, have ru n ­
ways o f 9,300 to 11,000 feet in
length. He also mentioned that the
airport is open to the public and it
was not necessary for Reagan to use
aerial photographs.
Bishop recently announced this
year's goals will include improving
administrative structures, setting up
systems o f financing, planning and
control, and im proving profits of
state-owned enterprises. Unemploy­
ment is to be eliminated within three
years.
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U.S. wages war
(Continued from page I column 2)
Events have moved rapidly
The clearest signal that events
toward an explosion in the weeks
have taken a new turn was sounded
following the Orlando speech. On
on March 21, when the government
March 9, daily policy-making for El
o f Nicaragua announced that a
Salvador was reportedly transferred
force of up to 2,000 counterrevolu­
to the National Security Council;
tionaries had penetrated to within
K irkpatrick and national security
60 miles o f its capital, M anagua,
advisor W illiam Clark became the
from camps in Honduras. Managua
dominant shapers of Central Amer­
accused the United States and Hon­
ica policy, while the State Depart­
duras of aiding the invasion.
ment was compelled to defend the
At virtually the same moment, the
new approach.
largest government military o ffen­
On March I0, "Operation Read-
sive to date has opened in El Salva­
ex" began: Over 40 U.S. Navy ves­
dor. Even Costa Rica, which has no
sels participated in combined Carib­
arm y, has been put on a state-of-
bean maneuvers with Great Britain,
alert while its police force is m o­
scheduled to last through A pril 2.
bilized along the border with Nicar­
The message was not lost on Cuba
agua. I f the Honduran government
and Nicaragua; Am erican naval
attempts to aid the anti-Sandinista
power would be ready to interdict
contingent inside Nicaragua, the si­
aid from Havana.
tuation could easily escape control.
By March I9 , the counterrevolu­
The White House has made no ef­
tionary Incursion in to Nicaragua,
fort to disguise its hostility toward
supported by m ortars and rocket
Nicaragua in the past, but until re­
launchers, was deemed serious—
cently the Reagan administration in­
and new—enough by the Sandinista
sisted that its strategic aim was lim­
government to warrant real alarm.
ited to containment—curtailing the
The situation was described as "po­
export of revolution. Thus, in 1982,
litically c ritic a l," although M an a­
it was disclosed that the C IA had
gua also asserted that matters were
been given the task of destabilizing
under control from a military stand­
the Sandinista government, while
point.
not attempting to overthrow it. To
In Tegucigalpa, the Honduran
that effect, numerous counterrevo­
capital, the rebel Democratic Nica­
lutionary groups established in
raguan Force (F D N ) announced the
camps in Honduras were given rela­
creation o f a provisional govern­
tively open U.S. support.
ment-in-arm s on M arch 21. Its
likely aim is to move into " lib e r­
Then, in the third week of Decem­
ate d " territory inside Nicaragua,
ber, the counterrevolutionary forces
and subsequently to request diplo­
began to field more extensive opera­
matic recognition from friendly
tions inside Nicaraguan territory.
governments such as Honduras. El
They had an agenda of their own—
Salvador, G uatem ala, C hile and
not simply to destabilze, but to seize
Haiti. Military assistance could then
power. Where destabilization ended
be provided to the insurgents under
and the struggle for ultimate power
quasi-legal conditions, much as the
began has since become increasingly
organizers or the Bay of Pigs inva­
academic.
sion o f Cuba in 1961 anticipated.
The change in Washington's posi­
The key question in the short term
tion is said to have crystallized in
is whether the expeditionary force
February, following a lour of Cen­
can hold onto territory before open­
tral America by U .N . Ambassador
ly receiving supplies from Honduras
Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Several days a f­
or elsewhere. If the Nicaraguan mil­
ter Kirkpatrick reported to the Pre­
itary succeeds in encircling and de­
sident, he delivered an exceptionally
feating the invasion, the power of
hardline speech in Orlando, Fla. Up
the Sandinistas could well be consol­
to then, American policy toward N i­
idated as fully as that of Fidel Cas­
caragua continued to center on
tro after the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
economic isolation and limited co­
Should the expeditionaries man­
vert action. In El Salvador, Wash­
age only to survive and form gueril­
ington followed a " tw o -tr a c k "
la groups, it may take years to re­
course— strengthening the Salva­
move them from the mountains.
doran military while quietly explor­
However, if territory is clearly se­
ing some kind of political solution.
cured, a provisional government es­
Now the administration appears
tablished and assistance provided,
to have implemented a much tough­
then war between Nicaragua and
er policy, one that relies essentially
Honduran air superiority could
on firepower In content, the new
smash the Sandinista governm ent-
strategy is identical for both coun­
assuming the Cubans do not enter
tries, although the forms of applica­
the picture.
tion differ. The implication is that
It is this assumption which may,
the White House believes there can
in the end, be most critical o f all.
be a military victory after all. In El
For should it prove false, the
Salvador, the United States seeks
possiblity of a superpower confron­
thereby to destroy a guerrilla insur­
tation looms in the shadow of an ex­
gency; in Nicaragua it seek to fos­
panded Central American war.
ter one.
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