Grenadians Stage Peaceful Protest Against US Request to Install Military Radar

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - Grenadians took to the streets here on Thursday in a peaceful protest, urging the government to blank a request by the United States to temporarily install a radar at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) and the deployment of US military assets on or near the island.

Independent legislator and former foreign affairs minister, Peter David, addressing peaceful protest on Thursday (CMC Photo)“We are here demanding that our region be maintained as a zone of peace,”  former foreign affairs minister, Peter David, told the “Peace March”  that was organized by the Grenada Coalition Zone of Peace and Concerned Citizens

David, an independent legislator, told the protest march, “we are not here to fight down anybody…we say Grenada first, the Caribbean first.

“We are here fighting to maintain peace. I have stated my position quite clearly. But we need you, the members of the community, the churches, the trade unions, the political organizations, all organizations,  to come together on this issue.

“This is not a partisan issue, this is an issue of sovereignty and integrity for the people of Grenada,”  he said, adding “we all must be united on this”.

David urged Grenadians to follow the positions adopted by protestors in other country by calling their parliamentary representatives “and let them know where you stand…because it is when you bring that kind of pressure on them that they will stand up”.

David said he wanted people to remove from their minds, the idea that the situation now is a question of Grenada versus the United States, saying, “No it is a particular trend in America with Grenada.

“Seven million people demonstrated last week in the US. If seven million people demonstrated on the same issue in the US, what is a few thousand people in Grenada. We have a right to stand up for the issues that concern us,”  he said, waning against becoming complacent.

“So when you go back to your villages,…say we stand for something and we believe that peace is something worth fighting for, peace is something worth marching for, peace is something we all support.

“This is about nothing else, but maintaining our peace. We have experienced war before. We know what is war and we don’t want war on our territory”.

Suspended Roman Catholic priest,  Father Garrrett Paul told the rally  “there is nothing we should be doing this afternoon…but taking a firm stance”.

He told the rally that what’s taking place is similar to a bully coming to your home and demanding that you leave, but he urged the crowd “to put up a fight.

“And that’s the situation we find ourselves in Grenada. An empire called the United States goes around with wars all over the world…but you know what Maurice Bishop (the island’s first left wing prime minister) used to say, a people united can never be defeated.

‘We are going to unite, we are going to stand up against the mighty United States and give them a good cut tail and send them back to their home”.

Speakers here said that the US request is a precursor to Washington seeking to invade Venezuela and bring about a regime change in that South American country.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister, Dickon Mitchell, said he welcomed the ongoing “raging”  public debate regarding the US request saying that his administration has not yet taken a decision on the matter and that he would be making a statement to the nation in due course.

“Nothing much has changed since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that we were considering the request. We are still doing so. It is a technical matter and requires a lot of technical people to provide us with guidance on what it is we are being asked to accommodate,” Mitchell said during his “DM with the PM” programme on social media and other platforms on Tuesday night.

The Donald Trump administration has been building up a military presence off the coast of the South American country allegedly as part of its fight against the illegal shipment of drugs to the United States. Washington has confirmed that it has bombed several vessels, killing all but two people, in recent times as it puts its policy into action.

Last weekend, the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders had met earlier this month to discuss several issues on the regional agenda, including the security build-up in parts of the Caribbean and its potential impact on member states.

It said that the position at that meeting was not endorsed by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.