INVASION BY U.S. LED TO CHAOS, CANADIANS SAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85M00364R001502590030-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 30
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

vU MH NOVEMBER. 1. 1983 13
invasion by U.S.
led to chaos,
Canadians say
By JEFF SALLOT
Globe and Mail Reporter
OTTAWA - The invasion of
Grenada by heavily armed U.S.
Marines was strongly de-
nounced esterda b six Cana-
dian international aid workers
who watched the political a
military conflict unfold on the
island.
The. CUSO workers, who
returned to Canada on Sunday
night on a Canadian Forces
flight, said yesterday that life
was returning to normal on
Grenada last week after a mili-
tary coup and there was no
need for a U.S. invasion.
"Our lives only became
endangered at five o'clock (in
the morning) on Tuesday, Oct.
25, when the marines began
landing in Grenada and when it
became impossible for us to
leave the island," CUSO work-
er Barbara Thomas of Toronto
told a news conference.
The six CUSO workers, along
with 15 other Canadians, in-
cluding families with young
children, were able to get off
the. island only at the end of last
week.
Miss Thomas, who had lived
on the island for two months
before the invasion, said she
discounted U.S. claims that the
marines were sent in to restore
order. "We saw a total disinte-
gration of law and order" as a
result of the invasion, she said.
The marines brought with them
an end to any "civil or moral
authority."
By last Thursday the situa-
tion in St. ,George's, the Grena-
dian capital, was so chaotic
that marines stood by as hun-
gry citizens, unable to find food
elsewhere, looted stores, she
said.
A Grenadian friend reported
to the CUSO workers he had
seen another Grenadian who
was supposed to be in prison on
a murder charge out roaming
the streets. The way the CUSO
workers got the story from
Grenadian, the marines re-
leased criminals from the jail
sometime on Wednesday or
Thursday and the convicts
were leading the looting of
stores and private homes on
Friday.
The CUSO workers said they
are concerned for the personal
friends because the marines
.have startto as ues ions
about who on the e island a
suppoortedththe Marxist regime.,
The big blood-letting could
very well start now," said
Harvey Totten of British Co-
lumbia. He and the other CUSO
workers said they doubted free
elections could be held so long
as U.S. troops were on the is-
land.
They said the Canadian
Government should take up the
idea of participating with other
Commonwealth countries in a
peacekeeping . or observer
force.
Sue Mitchell, a food and nu-
trition worker who has served
in Grenada for almost two
years, said the CUSO group
became concerned on Wednes-
day, Oct. 19, when a Grenadian
military council executed
Prime Minister Maurice Bish-
op and other senior Cabinet
ministers and imposed a cur-
few throughout the island of
110,000. By the next morning,
however, the initial fear began
to abate as the CUSO workers
observed that Grenadian were
travelling the streets without
being fired upon by the mili-
tar%.
That Friday the curfew was
lifted long enough for people to
go to the stores for food. Grena-
dian troops loyal to the new
regime kept out of sight during
this four-hour period.
The military council seemed
to be softening its position and
during a radio broadcast on
Sunday night, Oct. 23, it was
announced the curfew would be
lifted again the following morn-
ing. People were to resume
their normal business activities
and some form of interim gov-
ernment would be established,
said Marlene Green, a CUSO
field staff officer who ha
worked in the region for four-
ears.
Miss Thomas said that while
Grenadians were shocked by
the assassinations of the previ-
ous week, by Monday they felt.
there was a chance to peaceful-
ly resolve their own internal
problems and went about their
ordinary business.
The CUSO workers also
maintained that resistance
faced by the U.S. troops came
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