All language subtitles for Secret.Wars.Uncovered.S02E06.1080p.WEB.h264-BAWD_Subtitles01_Unnamed

NARRATOR: June, 2012.

The Grenadian government is trying
to locate the remains

of its former prime minister,
Maurice Bishop.

His body mysteriously disappeared
in October 1983,

after he was executed in a coup
by the country's armed forces.

Maurice Bishop was the leader of
the Communist faction in Grenada,

called the New JEWEL Movement,
or NJM.

He was overthrown on his return
from a tour of Eastern Europe

by his deputy, Bernard Coard.

- Coard was ambitious, power hungry

and he claimed that the reason
for the coup

was that Bishop was unable
to get international support.

NARRATOR: Troops loyal to Coard
took Bishop prisoner

and executed him by firing squad
on October 19th.

Some of his closest collaborators
suffered the same fate.

On October 25th, 1983,

troops from the United States and
a coalition of six Caribbean nations

invaded Grenada to restore order.

- The United States was
very cognisant

of the fact that the Caribbean,
especially the West Indies,

had become a place where
in some measure

the battle, let us say,
the broad battle

between the United States
and the Soviet Union

was taking place through proxies.

NARRATOR: But how did Grenada,

a tiny nation in the middle of
the Caribbean,

become the focus of a bloody
superpower struggle

at the height of the Cold War?

NARRATOR: Located in
the southeastern region

of the Caribbean, Grenada is part of
the Lesser Antilles;

an archipelago that includes
the sovereign dependencies

of the United States, Venezuela,

France, Great Britain
and the Netherlands.

By the late 1940s,
as Cold War tensions began to pit

the United States and the Soviet
Union against one another,

Grenada was still under
British rule.

- Britain was not very interested
in Grenada.

Grenada is a small country,
100,000 people,

like three city blocks in London.

This was a country of very limited
importance, no-one cared about it.

NARRATOR: Grenada had a small
agricultural economy

based mainly on the nutmeg industry,

which was exported to
the United States

by international companies
established on the island.

In 1951, Eric Gairy, a 29-year-old
Grenadian schoolteacher,

organised the country's first
general strike,

aimed at improving working pay
and conditions under the British.

The success of the movement
led Gairy

to found the Grenada United
Labour Party, or GULP,

which soon won
its first legislative seats.

With a groundswell of support
among the Grenadian working classes,

Eric Gairy began his political
career with dizzying success.

- He was a kind of national hero

who had worked his way up
through the trade unions,

through the ranks, and was famous
for having nationwide strikes

to put pressure on the government.
But he was also quite controversial.

NARRATOR: Having been appointed
Minister of Finance,

Gairy was dismissed in 1957
for embezzlement of public funds.

But that did not stop the Labour
Party from quickly becoming

the second biggest political force
on the island.

Meanwhile, another nearby Caribbean
nation

was entering the geopolitical game
of the Cold War.

- The 1959 Cuban revolution

installed the first Marxist regime
in the hemisphere.

It also came in the midst of an
expansion of Soviet presence

in the Americas.

The United States has always guided
its foreign policy

through what some people call
strategic denial of foreign powers.

That was essentially the logic of
the Monroe doctrine,

"We don't want any European powers
involved in the Americas.

By the same token,
in the 20th century,

it was denying the presence of
the Soviet Union in particular

in our hemisphere.

NARRATOR: In 1961,
whilst instructing the CIA

to mount covert operations in Cuba,

John F Kennedy's administration
launched a programme of assistance

to the Caribbean nations

called the Alliance for Progress.

It was an initiative that hid
its true objectives

behind economic, political
and social aid.

- The Alliance for Progress entailed
giving Latin American governments

economic aid, but there was also
a hard-nosed military component

to that as well. The US poured in
military aid

and sent thousands of US Special
Forces, Green Berets,

to work with Latin American
militaries

to track down guerrilla
groups and so-called subversives.

NARRATOR: Washington continued to
orchestrate secret operations

against the Castro regime

until, in October 1962,

the installation of Soviet missiles
in Cuba

triggered the greatest crisis
of the Cold War.

- To a large extent,
while the Cold War began

really after World War Two,

you could argue that the missile
crisis was a threshold moment

that defined the future of
the Cold War.

NARRATOR: In 1962, to stop US
interference against his government,

Fidel Castro suggested placing
Soviet intercontinental

ballistic missiles in Cuba.

Nikita Khrushchev, in a secret
meeting between the two leaders,

accepted. After all, he reasoned,

it was no more of a threat to the US

than the US Jupiter missiles
based in Turkey were

to the Soviet Union.

When an American Air Force
U2 spy plane

captured clear photographic evidence
of launch sites

for the missiles being assembled,

Kennedy gave the order
to blockade the island.

For 13 days, the whole world held
its breath,

not knowing if an agreement between
the two Cold War enemies

would be reached,

or whether the world was headed for
nuclear annihilation.

- Castro and Khrushchev were
engaging in activities

that brought the world very, very
close to nuclear holocaust.

NARRATOR:
Despite Castro's opposition,

Moscow and Washington agreed
to withdraw weapons

from strategic positions.

Russian missiles left Cuba and
American missiles left Turkey.

- After the missile crisis,
the United States tested the Soviets

and they tested the United States,

but indirectly, through surrogates,

through client states,

they did not ever engage again
in a direct confrontation,

as they did in 1962
during the missile crisis.

NARRATOR: The Cuban regime, having
now been sidelined by the Soviets

and contained by the US,

began to rethink its position
on the international stage.

- After the Cuban Missile Crisis
in 1962,

Cuba felt very threatened
and isolated.

It did not believe
President Kennedy's promise

that the United States
would not invade Cuba.

NARRATOR: Tensions between Cuba
and the United States

intensified over the decades.

It would only be a matter of time

before their soldiers faced each
other on the battlefield.

Surprisingly, however,
this would not be in Cuba,

but in Grenada.

From 1967 onwards, Grenada became
an Associated State

and self-governing country.

A new constitution was introduced
and elections called.

As leader of
the United Labour Party,

Eric Gairy was elected Prime
Minister in the middle of that year

and then re-elected in 1972
for a second term.

This was a stunning victory for
Gairy and his Labour movement,

now the country's leading
political force.

Gairy's second term in government,
however,

was marked by an increasing
use of violence

against his political opponents.

He used his personal guards,
known as the Mongoose Gangs,

to suppress any dissent.

- They were almost
a paramilitary group.

They were violent.
They'd use terror tactics

to try and keep any sort of
political rivals in their place,

putting pressure on them

to make sure they didn't say
anything negative about Gairy.

NARRATOR: As a result of these
harsh, unconstitutional methods,

opposition to Gairy's government
grew rapidly.

On the 11th of March, 1973,

the young lawyer Maurice Bishop
founded the New JEWEL Movement,

a Marxist coalition of several
left-wing factions

opposed to Gairy's policies
and methods.

- Maurice Bishop was educated
in England and in the Caribbean,

in his own country, Grenada.

He came under the influence,
the sway

of the Cuban Revolution of
Fidel Castro.

NARRATOR:
As Bishop's popularity grew,

he aspired to forge strong
ties with the Cuban government

and with its powerful patron,
the Soviet Union.

- They're linked in with Communism
and Marxism,

and what Bishop wants to do is
to take Grenada

from being closely tied to the US
and its former colonial power,

the UK. Remember, the Queen is
still head of state at this point,

and he wants to move them towards
Russia and also towards Cuba.

NARRATOR: The small Caribbean Island

was about to step onto the playing
field of the Cold War,

with devastating consequences.

NARRATOR: In the early 1970s,

the emergence of a leftist movement
in Grenada

was not a major concern
for Washington.

Instead, the US government was
keeping its eyes firmly

on South and Central America;
in particular on Chile,

where a military coup was brewing

against socialist president
Salvador Allende.

Although the White House
would deny it for decades,

the Nixon administration feared
the influence

of Allende's Chilean-style socialism
in the region...

..and was determined to stop it
in its tracks.

- The Caribbean and Latin America

have always been
Uncle Sam's backyard.

The American presidents
and American Congress

has always been really concerned
about what happens in that region.

They were behind the coup against
Allende in Chile with Pinochet.

So it's always been hugely
in the United States' interests

to have compliant governments
in Latin America.

- The whole logic of it was to
contain the expansion of Communism

and in some measure,
through whatever means necessary.

NARRATOR: But whilst the US would
willingly provide covert support

for right-wing groups and leaders in
South America,

such as General Augusto Pinochet
in Chile,

none of these methods were
yet deemed necessary

in the small island of Grenada.

In 1973, it remained in the iron
grip of Erick Gairy

and his Mongoose Gangs.

On February 7th, 1974, however,

Grenada finally achieved
independence from Great Britain.

The transition was marked by
violent demonstrations

against Gairy's regime.

Strikes and protests ensued.

Nevertheless, it was Gairy,

who, backed by his party's
parliamentary majority,

was anointed
the first Prime Minister

of the newly independent nation.

Bishop's New JEWEL Movement

increased their parliamentary
representation

in the 1976 elections,

but again lost out to Gairy's
United Labour Party.

In October 1978, Sir Paul Scoon
was appointed by Queen Elizabeth

as Governor-General of Grenada,

representing Commonwealth
interests in the island.

- Britain always had
a Governor-General,

because Grenada was part of
the Commonwealth.

So all the Commonwealth countries
had a British agent.

They're essentially representing,
beyond the ambassador,

representing British interests.

NARRATOR: The following year,
in March 1979,

relations between Grenada, the
United Kingdom and the United States

soured due to an unexpected turn
of events.

This occurred when Gairy was out of
the country,

pursuing a special interest
of his own.

- Eric Gairy was an aficionado
of UFOs,

Unidentified Flying Objects.

And he was attending a conference
in New York on UFOs.

NARRATOR: Gairy was convinced
that beings from other worlds

existed on Earth.

He even managed to raise the issue
at the United Nations in New York

and proposed that the organisation
open a commission to investigate.

On March 13th, 1979,

while Gairy was in the US
urging his fellow leaders

to investigate the possibility
of extra-terrestrial lifeforms,

Maurice Bishop
and the New JEWEL Movement

launched a coup in Grenada.

The People's Revolutionary
Government of Grenada,

as the New JEWEL
now proclaimed itself,

turned the eyes of the world
on its leader,

Castro protege, Maurice Bishop.

- His accession to power, violently,
it was a violent undertaking,

it was a surprise both to Cuban
intelligence

and to American intelligence.

He was very, very much influenced

by Fidel Castro
and the Cuban Revolution.

He made it very clear once he was in
power in office

that he wanted to pursue
Marxist-Leninist methods,

political methods
and economic methods,

he wanted to impose central
planning on the economy

of that small country.

NARRATOR: Grenada,
a small island in the Caribbean,

was now in play in the international
game of the Cold War.

As soon as the new Marxist Grenadian
government was installed in power,

it sought an alliance with Castro
in Cuba and with Moscow.

- Bishop had gone to the Soviet
Union, asking for assistance,

and he wasn't getting any.

The feeling was, he wasn't radical
enough,

that's why the Soviets
wouldn't support him.

- The Soviet activities in the
region were far, far less

and much more peaceful than what
the Cubans were doing.

- It was quite clear that there was
a Cuban support

for the New JEWEL Movement,

that there was an extraordinary
amount of, let's say, coincidence

between Maurice Bishop
and Cuba above all.

This sent, of course,
some very, very significant...

I would say more than anything else,
signs of concern

in American intelligence.

NARRATOR: In 1979, just as Bishop
was taking power in Grenada,

a revolution was underway
in Nicaragua,

led by the Sandinista National
Liberation Front

and its charismatic military
commander, Daniel Ortega.

Like Bishop, Ortega was close
to Fidel Castro

and after years of fighting the
right-wing dictatorship

of Anastasio Somoza,

they had forced their way to power.

The Communist influence
in Latin America

had suddenly expanded dramatically.

- The CIA knew that the Cuban
government provided the Sandinistas

with massive amounts of military
support,

which made it much more
likely for them to win power,

which they did in the revolutionary
struggle

against the previous regime.

So, suddenly, by the end of 1979,

there were two Marxist-sympathetic,

Cuban-inspired, Cuban-supported,

Marxist-Leninist
revolutionary regimes,

one in the Caribbean
and one in Central America.

And a second revolutionary
Marxist-Leninist regime

threatened to win power
in the country next to Nicaragua -,

El Salvador.

NARRATOR: The US feared the rise
of these Communist governments

in its backyard,

and from 1981 onward, after Ronald
Reagan had entered the White House,

tensions increased.

- (fires gun)

- While there were plenty of members
of Congress during the 1980s

that saw Soviet incursions
or the rise of Marxist parties

within this region as not
a direct national security threat

to the United States,
for the Reagan administration,

that combination of Communism and
proximity was wholly unacceptable.

NARRATOR: The first years of
Bishop's government in Grenada

were especially difficult.

Bishop needed to pull the country
out of its economic crisis.

Despite his political affiliations,

he contacted Washington
for economic assistance.

- Maurice Bishop articulated
a position

that was very, very critical of
the United States.

Yet at the same time, Maurice Bishop
understood that to survive,

he couldn't be too antagonistic
once he achieved political office.

And of course the response that
he received

from a Great Cold War president
like Ronald Reagan was,

was one that essentially conditioned
US support

for a separation from
that relationship,

that budding relationship
with Cuba.

NARRATOR: But central to Bishop's
political philosophy

was his relationship to Cuba
and to his fellow Marxist regimes,

and he wasn't about to
jeopardise them for economic aid.

- From the Reagan administration's
perspective,

and even the Carter administration,

this created...for the United States
a strategic threat,

because the Caribbean is seen as
a major sea lane of communication,

and if Grenada is in a position in
the southern portion of that

and you have Cuba in the northern
portion of that,

it was perceived to be a strategic
threat to the United States.

REAGAN: ..the spirit of free men
and women...

NARRATOR: Reagan promised military
and economic assistance

to right-wing freedom fighters

in the face of what he saw as Soviet
expansion and aggression.

This led to support and funding of
anti-Communist movements

in Cambodia, Lebanon, Angola

and, most importantly for US
national security,

in South and Central America.

In order to correct the inaction of
previous administrations,

several covert CIA operations
were initiated.

In Nicaragua and El Salvador,
an operation was orchestrated

to funnel arms to opposition
paramilitary groups.

This would eventually be exposed
in the American press

as the Iran-Contra affair.

The operation involved the sale of
arms to Iran,

in exchange for the return
of US hostages,

the proceeds from which were
funnelled to right-wing militias

like the Contras in Nicaragua,

to further the fight
against Communism.

In 1983, while Washington was
secretly plotting

to curb Communist influence
in the Caribbean,

Maurice Bishop was blissfully
unaware

that the conspiracies that would
seal his fate

were already in motion

and would come from within
his own party.

NARRATOR: Since Maurice Bishop's
ascent to power in Grenada in 1979,

ties between his Marxist
Revolutionary government

and the Castro regime in Cuba
had strengthened,

alarming Washington.

In 1980, Bishop asked Cuba for help

in building a new airport
on the island.

- The idea was, Grenada wasn't
getting enough tourism.

They had an old airport that could
only accommodate very small planes

and it was on the opposite side of
the island from all the beaches.

So Grenada took the plans
that US-AD had developed

for a new airport near the beaches,

and then Cuba agreed to do
the construction

cos they didn't have
construction workers.

NARRATOR: But the US mistrusted
Bishop's intentions

and his Cuban and Soviet partners.

According to US intelligence,

the proposed runway of
the new airport was too large

to be used solely for commercial
purposes.

Washington suspected that the new
airport would be used

to receive Soviet weapons

that could then be destined
for the Marxist regimes

in Cuba,
and South and Central America.

- President Reagan claimed that this
was intended as a stopping point

for Soviet bombers on their way
to the United States.

He used photos, satellite photos of
the airport construction

that were similar to photos that
President Kennedy displayed

during the Cuban Missile Crisis,

to make it seem like we had to take
these photos secretly.

In fact, it was a tourist site.

You didn't need a satellite
to take pictures of the airport.

You could have taken with your
Instamatic camera.

So this was a pretext.

NARRATOR: In 1983,
tensions between the US and Grenada

were at an all-time high.

Reagan,
an implacable Cold War warrior,

would do anything to combat
what he considered

to be Soviet interference
in the Caribbean.

- We know that what he wants to say

is the fact that we have chosen
a new socio-economic

and political path of development
that they do not like,

that they feel somehow
threatened by,

that they think will be a bad
example for our neighbours,

and therefore they feel
they can crush us.

NARRATOR: In the middle of the
diplomatic escalation with the US,

in October 1983, Bishop left for a
tour of Czechoslovakia and Hungary,

to lobby for Soviet support.

He'd left his government
in, he thought,

the safe hands of his deputy
prime minister, Bernard Coard.

Little did he know that
it would be Coard

who' d lead a coup d'etat
in his absence.

- The reasons are not clear.
Even today they're not clear.

There are various explanations
that I'm aware of.

One that certainly was part of
the reason

is that Coard was jealous of
Bishop,

because Bishop was very charismatic,

he was very popular with the people
in Grenada

and he had an impact
internationally.

But perhaps Coard was more aligned
with Moscow, with the Soviet Union,

and less aligned with Cuba.

It's possible that Coard wanted
to get Grenada

closer under the wing of the Soviets
and less under that of the Cubans.

NARRATOR: Upon his return from
Eastern Europe,

Bishop was placed under immediate
house arrest.

Sir Paul Scoon, the Governor-General
appointed by Queen Elizabeth II,

was also arrested.

Bishop was released by
his supporters just days later,

but was almost immediately
re-arrested

by General Hudson Austin, the
military leader of Coard's faction.

Coard quickly realised that if
he was to be successful

in his power grab, he couldn't
afford to let Bishop live.

- Bishop was executed,

his female partner was executed
at his side,

two ministers of his government,
maybe three, were executed.

A total of seven of them were
all lined up at the execution wall

and shot in cold blood.

The news of that spread across
the island...and chaos erupted.

The people in the island,

they much preferred Maurice Bishop.

He was charismatic.
He was close to the people.

Coard and Austin, General Austin,
were not.

So there was an upheaval
in the streets.

NARRATOR: News of Bishop's
assassination

and the resulting chaos in Grenada,
quickly reached the White House.

- Reagan was informed,
but he knew.

He had known well in advance.

There was a medical school
on the island of Grenada.

And there were approximately 500
or 600 American students

at this medical school.

There was chaos on the island

and Reagan was convinced that those
American students were in danger.

Reagan almost immediately
made it clear

to Secretary of State Schultz

in the very first meeting that they
had about Grenada,

that...he would favour
an invasion...

..to rescue the Americans.

LOUDSPEAKER: 'All Grenadians, report
immediately to militia bases.'

- Sunday, October 23rd,

the United States received
an urgent formal request

from the five member nations

of the Organisation of
Eastern Caribbean States

to assist in a joint effort
to restore order and democracy

on the island of Grenada.

We acceded to the request to become
part of a multinational effort

with contingents from Antigua,
Barbados,

Dominica, Jamaica,

St Lucia, St Vincent
and the United States.

NARRATOR: On October 25th, 1983,

just six days after the
assassination of Maurice Bishop,

forces from the United States,
Jamaica, Barbados

and members of the Organisation of
Eastern Caribbean States

began Operation Urgent Fury;

the military invasion of Grenada.

- President Ronald Reagan referred
to it as a rescue mission

to justify the intervention.

And for all intents and purposes,
it was successful

in evacuating US civilians.

- Bishop had already been
assassinated

when the operation began.

But the real core belief on the part
of the Americans

was that the assassination of Bishop

was actually going to precipitate
Cuban involvement,

that the US had to be in place

to prevent the Cubans
from fully taking over.

NARRATOR: The military incursion
involved the rapid deployment

of around 8,000 US
and allied troops.

The airport under construction
near St George's University,

where the 600 American students
were based,

would be the focus of the operation.

- The invasion itself was swift
and effective.

The US cordoned off the island.

They sent in Marines to take
the port and the airport,

and then they parachuted in
US Army personnel

to go and take an airport
that was under construction

by hundreds of Cubans.

NARRATOR:
The invading troops clashed

with more than 1,000
Grenadian soldiers

and about 800 Cubans,
mostly construction workers,

although the US would later claim
they were Cuban Special Forces.

Despite the undoubted numerical
superiority of the Americans,

the Cubans and Grenadians put up
stubborn resistance.

There was very intense fighting
between Cuban and American forces.

Most of that fighting took place
on the first day, on October 25th,

the first day of the invasion.

And it's interesting that it's the
only time in history

since 1959 until now,

that American and Cuban
military forces

actually were in combat
with each other.

25 Cubans were killed
in the conflict.

And 19 Americans died
in the conflict.

NARRATOR: In one of the most
memorable incidents of the conflict,

American Special Forces attempted
to exfiltrate

the British Governor-General,
Sir Paul Scoon, and his wife.

- They spent the night
defending the mansion.

They made sure Scoon and his wife
were safe.

They kept them in the centre
of the building

to make sure they weren't vulnerable
to rocket-propelled grenades

that were being sent in.

The troops themselves created
a perimeter,

they were around ten to 20 yards
between each other,

and they fought off
advance after advance.

They called in airstrikes,
they called in attack helicopters,

and they survived the night
until their Evac helicopter

came in the morning to take them all
away and take Scoon to safety.

NARRATOR: The battle lasted for days

as casualties mounted
on either side.

In the midst of the fighting,

Fidel Castro issued an extraordinary
rallying cry.

- Fidel Castro personally told
his forces on Grenada

through radio messages
and radio broadcasts,

"You must fight to the death
against the Americans.

None of you should surrender
to the Americans."

NARRATOR: The fighting was intense

and despite overwhelming
American force,

the fate of Grenada now hung
in the balance.

NARRATOR: On November 2nd, 1983,

four days after the US military
incursion in Grenada began,

US troops declared victory over
the Grenadian-Cuban forces

and took control of the island.

The war had ended with dozens dead
and hundreds wounded on both sides.

It was an extraordinary
and unprecedented US intervention,

and all of it was for the first time
captured in glorious technicolour

on CNN.

- Grenada, a tiny island
in the Caribbean.

In 1983,

because of the New JEWEL Movement

and a very left-wing government,

the United States went into
a British Commonwealth country

and took it over and overthrew
the government,

because they were worried about
increasing Marxism

and Soviet influence in the region.

NARRATOR: British Prime Minister,
Margaret Thatcher,

was furious at having had no advance
warning of the US military incursion

from her great friend and ally,
Ronald Reagan.

- It's said that Margaret Thatcher,
the Prime Minister at the time,

didn't know about the specifics of
the US invasion into Grenada

to restore power.
This had massive consequences

for Thatcher herself, who was left
out of that decision-making process.

There was meant to be
this very special relationship

between her and Reagan.

Of course, this raises massive
questions in Parliament,

because Grenada, well, the Queen is
the head of state.

This is something Thatcher should've
been kept in the loop about.

NARRATOR: After the American
victory,

and partly to placate Thatcher,

Sir Paul Scoon was appointed
to head up an interim government

and ensure the return
of parliamentary democracy

to the island.

Paul Scoon chaired the advisory
council left in charge of Grenada,

until elections were held
in December of the following year.

It would have the support of
the British Crown,

and Scoon would continue to serve
as Governor-General of Grenada

until 1992.

- Scoon was seen as
a favourable figure

because he had sworn allegiance
to the Queen.

So this was somebody that the US
is in direct allegiance with.

However, there was a limit to
Scoon's allegiance to the US.

They tried to make him sign a letter
to approve the intervention,

which he did. But he removed
one aspect of it.

That was where it said,
"Your obedient servant,"

because he was an obedient servant
of the Queen, not President Reagan.

(protests)

NARRATOR: Having accomplished
their mission

and yielding to pressure from
the international community,

US forces finally withdrew from the
island of Grenada in December 1983,

two months after the invasion
had ended.

The US was deeply engaged
in fighting against the Soviet Union

in other scenarios around the world,

in Africa, proxy wars in Africa,
for example.

But for the most part, you know,
this was a clear-cut example

of where the US had decisively
stopped.

Whether it was true or not
didn't really matter,

but it decisively put an end to
an attempted Soviet expansionism.

NARRATOR:
Maurice Bishop's fate, however,

was shrouded in mystery.

Having been executed by
a firing squad on October 19th,

the whereabouts of his body
was unknown.

Rumours circulated for decades

of who might have been behind
his assassination.

Towards the end of 2021,

claims surfaced that,
despite denials,

the US had in fact discovered
Bishop's body,

disinterred it and carried out
a postmortem on his remains.

This was not the only circumstance
to have no clear explanation,

as American troops came across
a shocking discovery in Grenada.

- It turned out, it was discovered
fairly soon after fighting ceased,

that there was a false floor

in the Cuban embassy in Grenada,

a false floor, and under that floor

in the basement of
the Cuban embassy,

there was a huge cache of weapons
and ammunition...

..apparently enough weapons
and ammunition

to support an army of 10,000 people.

NARRATOR: It was never disclosed
why the arms were there.

But what the discovery
certainly confirmed

was Cuban involvement
in the coup that toppled Bishop.

In December 1984,

Herbert Blaize,
leader of the New National Party,

was elected Prime Minister

at the head of a pro-American
administration.

- From the American public's view,

the political point of view, yes,
democracy was restored to Grenada.

There were elections that were held

and Grenada has continued to elect
its prime ministers and its leaders,

its parliament,
in all of the years since.

So I think in Grenada,
in Washington,

just about everywhere,
except in Cuba,

it was considered a great success.

- Some would call this a success

that the United States intervened

and overthrew another government
we didn't like.

But how can we call intervening
and killing people

for not any good reason,
a success?

We have to take a look at the image
projected for the United States,

especially in Latin America,
which was very bad.

The United States was seen once
again as the Goliath from the north,

a country that had to be feared
rather than respected.

NARRATOR: For Washington, Operation
Urgent Fury set a precedent

for similar incursions
in subsequent years.

Not all of them would be
as successful or decisive

as in Grenada.

- Under President Reagan,
instead of saying

"The American people won't tolerate
any American intervention abroad,"

he said, "It won't tolerate
any American military intervention

abroad that A, doesn't succeed,
and B, lasts a long time."

So, the moves he's made have been
short thrust, success or failure.

NARRATOR: Under the presidencies
of George HW Bush

and William Jefferson Clinton,

similar military incursions
were launched in the region.

In 1989, there was an attempt to
overthrow General Noriega in Panama.

And in 1994
an operation was orchestrated

to remove the military regime

which had overthrown the
democratically elected President,

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in Haiti.

- Could interventions be repeated
today by the United States?

Of course. The United States is the
most powerful country in the world.

The United States spends more
on its military

than the next eight countries
combined in the world

spend on their militaries.

And so we have a preponderance
of power.

If we want to invade another
country, we could do it.

Of course, we invaded Afghanistan,
we invaded Iraq.

The militaries in Latin America are
no comparison to those situations.

But would the United States do that?

Would it be wise for the
United States to do that?

It would not be wise.

NARRATOR: Whether Operation
Urgent Fury was a mission

to rescue American citizens

or an operation designed to deter
Cuban and Soviet influence,

is a matter of
continuing conjecture.

What is certain is that
the US invasion of Grenada

created a blueprint of the way
the US could intervene militarily

to enforce its will,

and would continue to do so
for many years to come.

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