Former Deputy P.M. gives up quietly

Press, 31 October 1983, Page 6

Former Deputy P.M. gives up quietly

By

DAN SEWELL

of the

Associated Press (through NZPA)

St George’s Assault rifles and pistols had been aimed at United States Marines yesterday as they surrounded the house of the former Deputy Prime Minister whose drive for power precipitated Grenada’s bloody coup.

“Come out, or we’ll blow the house up,” one Marine had warned. Bernard Coard, a hardline Marxist, walked out with his wife, Phyllis, their two children, and a former Cabinet Minister, Selwyn Strachan. They gave up without a struggle but Mr Coard had uttered a comment “that’s not worth repeating,” said Captain David Karcher. Mr Coard’s capture was described to the third group of reporters flown from Barbados to Grenada in as many days, after the United States-led invasion on Wednesday.

United States forces encountered only scattered sniper-fire yesterday. Military sources indicated that they planned to “starve out” the remaining 200-300 Cuban defenders and an unknown number of Grenadan soldiers who have scattered into the mountain jungles.

Marines said that an informant had pointed out the house where Mr Coard was hiding in the suburbs of St George’s.

Mr Coard and the others had been taken to Queen’s Park, where hundreds of Grenadans chanted: “C is for Coard, Cuba, and Communism” and, “give us Phyllis; we deal with Phyllis,” said Kenneth Kerr, owner of a snack shop.

Mr Coard’s Jamaica-born wife was a Vice-Minister and head of the National Women’s Organisation in the former Government. The Foreign Minister, Unison Whiteman had said that after the Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, was put under house arrest on October 12, Mr Coard and his wife were “running the show” in Grenada.

Mr Whiteman was killed, along with Mr Bishop, in the coup one week later that

brought General Hudson Austin’s “Revolutionary Military Council” to power and set the stage for the invasion by United States and Caribbean troops. Captain Karcher said that the Marines had had to protect Mr Coard from the growing crowd.

“We want to take him apart piece by piece,” said Martin Henry, a bartender.

Vice-Admiral Joseph Metcalf, commander of the United States task force that invaded Grenada, declined to say where Mr Coard was being held. “I’m not . going to tell you what we’re going to do with him. We’re not going to give him a good-conduct medal,” Admiral Metcalf said.

Mr Coard, aged 39, a political scientist and economist, apparently felt that Mr Bishop was not radical enough. Two days after Mr Bishop was confined to his home, Mr Strachan, the Information and Mobilisation Minister, announced that Mr Coard had become Prime Minister. Later that day Mr Coard announced his resignation, saying that he wanted to quell rumours that he and his wife were plotting to assassinate Mr Bishop.

Mr Bishop was freed by a crowd of supporters on October 19, but he and three of his Cabinet Ministers were killed in the resulting

confrontation with the Army.

Mr Kerr, who said that he had been in the crowd that freed Mr Bishop from house arrest, recalled: “He was weak, he told the crowd, ‘Don’t push me, I’m tired.’ He said he hadn’t eaten because he was afraid they’d poisoned his food.”

Mr Kerr said that he was in a crowd that followed Mr Bishop to Fort Rupert, where some of his Cabinet Ministers were being held. Without warning, two rocket launchers fired into the crowd, he said. “Everybody started running. They kept shooting. None of us had guns. Most of them were schoolchildren,” Mr Kerr said.

He said that George Louison, the Agriculture Minister, had fallen to the ground, wounded. “I saw them put a gun in his mouth and kill him,” Mr Kerr said. He believed that Mr Bishop and others who went inside Fort Rupert had been executed. He estimated that at least 60 people had died, including some who fell over a cliff.

Mr Kerr, a Bishop supporter, said that he welcomed the invasion despite a broken arm suffered in fire from United States aircraft.

“We needed them to save us. I’m happy unless I lose my arm,” he said.