Bernard Coard Bernard Coard Bernard Coard Bernard Coard Winston Bernard Coard was born in Grenada on 10th August 1944. Coard studied at the Grenada Boys Secondary School where he met Maurice Bishop . As a young man Coard developed an interest in politics and in 1962 joined with Bishop to form the Grenada Assembly of Youth After Truth. Twice a month Bishop and Cord led debates on current events in the Central Market Place in Grenada. Coard moved to the United States to study economics and sociology at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. In 1967 he moved to England and studied political economy at Sussex University in Brighton . While in England Coard joined the Communist Party . Coard taught for two years at schools in London. In 1971 he published his book How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System. After completing his doctorate Coard moved to Trinidad where he taught at the University of the West Indies. He was also a visiting lecturer at the Institute of International Relations at St. Augustine.

In 1976 Coard returned to Grenada and soon became active in politics and joined the New Jewel Movement (NJM), an organization created by his boyhood friend, Maurice Bishop . Eric Gairy and his Grenada United Labour Party won the elections held on 7th November, 1976. However, opposition leaders complained that all election officials were members of GULP and that they had tampered with the voting papers. As a result of these elections Bishop became leader of the opposition. In 1977 Gairy began receiving advice from General Augusto Pinochet of Chile on how to deal with civil unrest. His police and military also received "counter insurgency" training from the Pinochet regime. Bishop and the New Jewel Movement retaliated by developing links with Fidel Castro and his Marxist government in Cuba . Gairy's state of mind also raised concerns. In October 1977 Gairy addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations . During his speech he urged the UN to establish an Agency for Psychic Research into Unidentified Flying Objects and the Bermuda Triangle. He also called for 1978 to be established as "The Year of the UFO".

In 1979 a rumour began circulating that Gairy planned to use his "Mongoose Gang" to assassinate leaders of the New Jewel Movement while he was out of the country. On 13th March 1979, the NJM took over the nation's radio station. With the support of the people the NJM was able to take control of the rest of the country. Influenced by the ideas of Marxists such as Fidel Castro , Che Guevara and Daniel Ortega , Maurice Bishop began establishing Workers' Councils in Grenada. He received aid from the Soviet Union and Cuba and with this money constructed a aircraft runway to improve tourism. Bishop attempted to develop a good relationship with the United States and allowed private enterprise to continue on the island. Coard, the Minister of Finance, disagreed with this policy. He also disliked Bishop's ideas on grassroots democracy. On 19th October, with the support of the army, Coard overthrew the government. Maurice Bishop and most of his ministers were arrested and executed. President Ronald Reagan , who had been highly critical of Bishop's government, took this opportunity to intervene and sent in the United States Marines .

The initial assault on 25th October, 1983, consisted of some 1,200 troops, and they were met by stiff resistance from the Grenadian army. Heavy fighting continued for several days, but as the invasion force grew to more than 7,000, the defenders either surrendered or fled into the mountains. Bernard Coard, along with Phyllis Coard, Selwyn Strachan, John Ventour, Liam James and Keith Roberts, were arrested on 31st October 1983. The leaders of the coup were put on trial in August 1986. Along with 13 others, Board was sentenced to death. This sentence was commuted to life-imprisonment in 1991. His wife, Phyllis Coard, was also sentenced to life-imprisonment. While in prison Bernard Coard has developed a programme of education for the 300 inmates of Richmond Hill Prison.

Maurice Bishop Biography bishopcopyrighted.html Maurice Rupert Bishop [1944-1983] Photo, Fedon Publishers Maurice Rupert Bishop was the Prime Minister of Grenada from 15 March 1979 to 19 October 1983, the day when he was executed at Fort Rupert. At the same time, he was also Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Grenada; Chairman of the Central Committee of the New Jewel Movement; Minister of Information, Defense and Interior of the People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada. He was known by the following nicknames: &#145Bish, &#145Brother Bish, &#145Comrade Leader, &#145Morris, and in a derogatory manner as &#145Maurice the Red, or &#145Bishop the Red. O'Shaughnessy reports that &#145Bish liked to play cards: &#147Playing cards was one of his [Bishop's] favourite occupations. At one session he was playing his favourite game - Peach*.

The score was being kept and Bishop's points were tallied under the initials PM. &#145Do you know what PM stands for? asked Bishop. &#145Prime Minister, his companions replied. &#145No, said Bishop laughing, &#145It means Peach Master! &#145Bish was 6 3" tall, an excellent speaker; a handsome man with recognized charismatic features of personality. His oratorical style was arresting with adept cadences of timing and silence. He would execute a gesture by raising his arm and moving it in a rhythm in keeping with his text. He would pronounce words with a particularity, causing them to ring singularly in the air. Humor was a mark of his way of derision for he would pull the audience into the absurdity of what he was mocking. Maurice Bishop was known to be pragmatic in that he held that the results of an idea are the best criteria by which to judge its merit. He appeared not to be rigid about this for he kept creativity and hope alive in his vision. He was more a realist in terms of figuring how ideas would work out. He was articulate and warm with people.

Bishop's charisma and his democratic sensibilities, though, proved not to be a substitute for wielding authority and leadership. Born on 29 May 1944 in [Dutch] Aruba, he moved to Grenada from Aruba in 1950 with his late Grenadian parents Rupert and Alimenta Bishop, along with his sisters Ann and Maureen. He attended his first school in Grenada when he was six years old, the Wesley Hall Primary School and in the next year passed on to St. George's Roman Catholic Primary School. ï¿½2002, photo by Ann Elizabeth Wilder Maurice Bishop went on scholarship (one of 4 government scholarship students) to the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers' College in 1957. Presentation Boys College (PBC), as it is also known, includes an older section, as in the photograph above, where Bishop attended classes. He also studied in the newer and current building. At this secondary school, Bishop won the 1962 Principal's Gold medal for &#147outstanding academic and overall ability. Bernard Coard and Maurice Bishop did not attend the same secondary school.

Bernard Coard went to Grenada Boys Secondary School [GBSS] and Maurice Bishop went to Presentation Boys College [PBC]. At Presentation he attained his Senior Cambridge and Higher School Certificates. He was President of the Students' Union, President of the Debating Society, foundation member and President of the Historical Society. Bishop was the editor of the school magazine at Presentation College called the &#145Student Voice.&#146. He received the 1962 Principal's Gold Medal at Presentation College. He was co-founder in 1963, with Bernard Coard from the Grenada Boys Secondary School, of the Grenada Assembly of Youth After Truth. This organization was designed to enable the students of both institutions to address the important questions of the day. Maurice Bishop graduated from Presentation Brothers' College in 1962. After secondary school graduation, for about nine months, Bishop and Coard continued the "Grenada Assembly of Youth After Truth" while Bishop was working at the Registry in Grenada. This organization's purpose was to attempt raising the consciousness of Grenadian youth, especially among and between the main secondary schools in St.

George's - The Grenada Boys Secondary School (GBSS), Presentation Brothers' College (PBC), Convent and High School. The organization held meetings every other Friday in the Central Market Place of St. George's. They would speak in public of current events. According to Dujmovic' dissertation, Bishop talk in 1963 at a [Catholic] lay leader's meeting was on "The Catholic Viewpoint on Re-Armament." "The Grenada Assembly of Youth After Truth" dissolved after nine months. Maurice Bishop left for Great Britain in December 1963 to study law, and Bernard Coard went to Brandeis University in the United States to study economics. In 1963, at the age of 19, Maurice Bishop left the island to follow a legal career in London studying law at the Holborn College of Law, London University. He enrolled in post-graduate studies at King's College and also achieved a L.L.B. degree - University of London Gray's Inn, one of the four Inns of Court which admit students wishing to become barristers. Bishop became a barrister (lawyer) in 1966.

He was President of the West Indian Students Society at London University. Putting his law studies into practice, Bishop co-founded a legal aid clinic for the West Indian community in Notting Hill, London. He was also active, during the 1960s, in a group called the Standing Conference of West Indian Organizations and in the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD) in the United Kingdom. CARD, a multi-racial organization, was formed in 1964. By 1969 CARD was breaking up over disputes about ideology and white participation. It is interesting to speculate whether or not Maurice Bishop knew Walter Rodney and attended a Malcolm X lecture during this period. In 1966, he married a nurse, Angela Redhead, and that same year was called to the Bar in London but never completed his post graduate studies. By 1967, though, Bishop had accomplished the requirement for practicing law in Lincoln's Inn. His law studies were complete in 1969. Bishop worked in the civil service as a surtax examiner until 1970, He also involved himself with voluntary work with the Legal Aid Clinic in Notting Hill Gate.

During Bishop's time based in the United Kingdom, he traveled to Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Sandford & Vigilante state that Bishop read "Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and C.L.R. James" who Sandford & Vigilante note as "an influential Trinidadian Trotskyite." He was influenced by Julius Nyerere's "Arusha Declaration" issued in 1967 and the Tanzanian socialist leader's book "Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism" published in 1968 by Oxford University Press. Having passed through Trinidad, Bishop was back in Grenada by February/March, 1970 after 7 years in England. He set up a private law practice. In Grenada, Bishop was associated with the Trinidadian National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) circa March - September 1970. Caribbean left-wing movements began to contact and support each other. In Grenada on 10 May 1970, Bishop led a demonstration of favorable approval for the black-power uprising in Trinidad, including support for &#145Grenadian brothers on that neighboring island.

He was inspired by the Black Power Movement and Black dignity. During December 1970, a gathering called the 'Rat Island Black Power Conference' was held off St. Lucia. At the Rat Island conference, Bishop and Unison Whiteman met the late George Odlum of St. Lucia, Trevor Munroe of Jamaica, and other West Indian intellectuals. Out of the &#145Rat Island Conference came the group known as &#145Forum, closely aligned with the National Action Front (NAF) in Grenada. Maurice Bishop, undated, Photo courtesy of PERPET Regional intellectuals from St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada took on consolidation in a Caribbean association of political groups called &#145Forum. &#145Forum, active in Grenada in June-July 1970 had a newspaper of the same name. Forum primarily protested the policies of Eric Matthew Gairy and discussed issues of black nationalism.

In Grenada, &#145Forum joined with &#145Cribou in 1971 to uphold International Solidarity Day, sponsored by the &#145Pan-African Secretariat in Guyana, and a &#145National Conference on the Rights of Black People, a group protesting racism in Great Britain. Barristers Maurice Bishop and Kenrick Radix, went to the defense of striking nurses from their legal office at Cockroach Alley, St. George's. The Nurses Strike occurred in November-December 1970, protesting conditions at St. George's General Hospital. The Forum group, along with nurses, school children, students, trade union officials, and members of the GNP, and other opposition groups, organized a large December protest. Bishop was arrested with about 30 others. They all were acquitted after a lengthy trial of seven months. A secret conference held on Martinique in February 1972 [possibly delayed to 31 March - 3 April 1972] which Bishop helped organize. The conference was to set up a &#145new Caribbean society based on socialist principles. Its members discussed and strategized actions for liberation movements.

Maurice Bishop, Franklyn Harvey, Kenrick Radix and a few other urban professionals were the leaders of Movement for Assemblies of the People (MAP) from St. George's. Out of &#145Forum grew Movement for the Advance of Community Effort (MACE) in 1972 and &#145MAP a few months later. Emerging shortly after elections of 1972, MAP people, primarily Bishop, Radix and Jacqueline Creft were interested in the philosophy of Julius Nyerere and Tanzanian socialism. MAP also claimed itself as a political organization, "which advocated the construction of popular institutions" centered in villages. The aim was to "allow for the regular democratic participation of the broad masses in the country's affairs." In January of 1973, Maurice Bishop took the lead at La Sagesse in St. David's of the large gathering protesting the locked gates to the beach at Lord Bronlow's estate. Bishop was an early leader New Jewel Movement (NJM) leader in 11 March 1973 when MAP and JEWEL merged. He was Joint Coordinating Secretary of the NJM along with Unison Whiteman.

The publication of the NJM Party, the New Jewel, was issued weekly. A major event in the escalation between Gairy forces and the New Jewel Movement was Bloody Sunday, 18 November 1973 A second major event in the escalation between Gairy forces and the New Jewel Movement was Bloody Monday, 21 January 1974 The afternoon before Independence Day celebrations of 6 February 1974, Maurice Bishop was charged with seeking to assassinate others The 60 or so police said they found, according to an official report, at his home supplies of "arms, ammunition, equipment for erecting [unclear], specially made dungaria (sic) uniforms, a blue-print to assassinate the Prime Minister at his Night Club and documents containing lists of names of guerilla camps and their members." Bishop spent Independence Day incarcerated and was released on bail 8 February. Soon after, Bishop made a trip to North America. Upon returning he went to Guyana, attending a meeting of the Regional Steering Committee of the 6th Pan African Congress held 26-29 March 1974.

Later in the year, on 4 October 1974, Bishop acted as legal counsel for Desmond 'Ras Kabinda' Trotter, accused with Roy Mason of the murder of a white American tourist earlier in the year. The trial was held 7 October 1974. Bishop was a NJM Bureau member May of 1975. In October, Bishop addressed a seminar, titled "Fascism: A Caribbean Reality?" in Trinidad organized by the Oilfield Workers Trade Union. Bishop also represented the Nutmeg Board as solicitor in High Court. In November of that year, a NJM Political Bureau meeting formed a Grenada-Cuba Friendship Association. Bishop was one of the initial leaders. In 1976, Bishop was St. George's Popular Alliance elector to Parliament, representing St. George's South-East. A first visit to Cuba for Bishop was in May of 1977. Bishop and Unison Whiteman, fellow Co-Ordinating Secretary of the NJM, were sponsored by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with People (ICAP). Bishop could carry on a conversation in Spanish.

In the years before the coup d'etat travel to Cuba and studies related to Cuba and radical politics was a major theme, and included a Grenada/Cuban Friendship society. During 1978, the NJM published Exposure. M. Bishop, G. Louison & others, Photo, The Resource Center Vincent Noel & Maurice Bishop, Photo, The Resource Center &#145Operation Apple, the code name for the coup d'etat of March 13, 1979, marked the official beginning of a new government, based on years of preparation. Bishop became Prime Minister of Grenada on 15 March 1979, at 34 years of age. His oratorical dynamism and facility with words and phrases were vital skills for the mobilization of a nation. In a 25 March 25 rally, Maurice Bishop announced his own Ministry of Home Affairs, External Affairs, Security, Information and Culture, and Carriacou Affairs. He appointed Lyle Bullen to be Secretary for Carriacou Affairs, responsible to Minister Bishop. During most of his Prime Ministership, Bishop's office was on promontory at St.

George's, seen from any spot on the Carenage. The building, named Butler House, dated from 1943 and was formerly the Islander hotel. Butler House was demolished during the US intervention and the ruined walls stand to this day. Bishop personally owned, according to Adkin, at least three houses at Parade, plus four apartments at the Quarantine Station. His official residence in Mount Wheldale was across the road from the home of Bernard and Phyllis Coard. Two arguments exist about the political ideology of Maurice Bishop: One argument runs that Bishop was going to replace restrictive measures of government control with ideals based on enabling the people decide - as in matters of a genuinely free press, free elections, a Constitution formed with input from the people. The second argument runs that Coard was the man of strong-arm tactics and a rigid Marxist-Leninist. Bishop and his supporters stood in his way with their lax attitudes; therefore they were ultimately to be eliminated. One of the early times of note, before the infusion of hard Left political thought, was during a time Bishop was out of the country - July and much of September 1979, spending EC$12,912.38.

Rumour was Bishop was not happy about the taking over of the Coke Factory and the closing down of the Torchlight newspaper, among other enacted decisions. Rumour speculated an overthrow of Bishop's leadership with Bernard Coard as the new leader. Bishop knew about these rumours. There is little evidence in print that Maurice Bishop, who signed off on all orders, including detention orders as Minister of Internal Affairs, and major reports, differed much in his political ideology from the rest of the NJM, including the so-called &#145Coard faction&#146. The talk was in how political ideals were to be set in conrete, as it were. Commander-in-Chief Maurice Bishop was a member of the Ministry of National Security along with Selwyn Strachan, Ewart Layne, Hudson Austin and the Minister of Security Liam James, who made arrest recommendations to Bishop and then carried them out after Bishop signed off on the order. Sometimes Bernard Coard would sign off on arrest and detainee orders.

One can read the Manifesto of the NJM of 1979 or Line of March (1) for the Party plus Line of March (2) for the Party plus Line of March (3) for the Party from 1982 to be informed of what Bishop believed. Try to locate the book, titled Forward Ever! Three Years of the Grenada Revolution; speeches of Maurice Bishop. Included in this book is an interview by Grace Dana that appeared in the July 12, 1981, issue of the Cuban English-language GRANMA Weekly Review The interview is We'll Always Choose To Stand Up. Bishop speaks directly to difficult questions and challenges facing the government. Maurice Bishop and Others, First International Conference in Solidarity with Grenada, held in Grenada, 23-25 November 1981 - Photo courtesy of PERPET Bishop supported incarceration of detainees, the closing down of newspapers, and was commander of the massive militarization of the country. He was Commander-in-Chief during the &#145dark episodes like the death of Strachan Phillip, the rasta round-up and camp in Hope Vale, and the various excesses of the People's Revolutionary Army.

Nevertheless, even if the ideology between Coard and Bishop was exactly the same, the difference was narrow. Even if the difference was of degree, in that Bishop wanted grass-roots democracy and Coard wanted highly, centralized control, within the grand scheme of things, these differences are minor compared to the unfolding of events. Other&#8212more ominous&#8212forces of human nature were at play. In Bishop's own handwriting - a notation on his official biography, he appeared to summarily itemize the principles for which he stood: Black Power - Nationalism Anti Imperialism/Non Alignment/Striving for genuine Pol & [unclear] Independence World Peace - Caribbean a Zone of Peace/Caribbean integration Struggle for Workers Rights Fight against Racism - Southern Africa (CALD) Genuine democracy - Grass Roots structure for real participation & involvement of all the masses NOTE: There is an curved arrow line originating between number 8 and 7 with the arrowhead pointing towards 2. Six is missing. Maurice Bishop is survived by his two sisters Maureen and Anne, and his ex-wife Angela and their children: John born in 1971, and Nadi or Nadia born 1969.

It is rumored he had a son with Jacqueline Creft who was executed at the same time as Bishop. The son Vladimir Lenin Creft was born December 1978 and died July/August 1994. He was murdered by other youths in a nightclub in Toronto at age 16. A major event occurred 29 May 2009 honoring Maurice Bishop. The Point Salines International Airport [PSIA] was renamed the Maurice Bishop International Airport [MBIA]. Bishop spoke of the airport often. These speeches reflect his vision - Together We Shall Build Our Airport and The New Tourism . A major, in-depth biography of Maurice Bishop is yet to be written and published. Such a book is past due. *Peach is the name of a card game, known by many other names in the Pitch or All Fours, even Trinidadian All Fours genre. According to C.P. David "Peach (or Pedro) is played in the same way as All Fours, except some minor differences.

In Peach the 5 (in the main suit) is the high (principal) card." Peach is in the "Seven-Up" card game family, which includes the game of "All Fives." A variation in this family is an "Auction Pitch" card game called "Set Back." Maurice Bishop During Rally, circa 1981 Photo by Jim Rudin, Grenada Trinidad Express Newspapers: | Exclusive interview with Bernard Coard Exclusive interview with Bernard Coard Walks from prison after 26 years for killing Grenada's Prime Minister Maurice Bishop Published on Sep 13, 2009, 12:01 am AST Updated on Feb 5, 2011, 7:33 am AST (BI) Feedloader User An exclusive interview with Bernard Coard Bernard Coard was 'in a meeting', I was informed, when I phoned him in Grenada early Tuesday evening. I was asked to call him back in about an hour. And when I did, I was given another phone number to reach him.

It occurred to me that only a few days after being released from serving 26 years in jail for the murder of Maurice Bishop and other members of the leadership of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) in October 1983, here was Coard taking up where he left off. I could just picture him huddled with his old political cronies. But he quickly disabused me of that notion when finally I got on to him late that night. Swearing that he will never get involved in politics again, Coard said he was meeting with someone 'who helped to save my life.' Q: Tell me, Mr Coard... A: Hey, Raoul! What is this 'Mister Coard' business? We go back too far for that. The only 'Mister Coard' I know is my father and he died a long time ago... Okay, Bernard. How does it feel to be a free man? I'm elated. Just elated. That's the bottom line. And what was life like in prison for all those years? The first eight years were really brutal. The man in charge of the prison at that time was from Barbados and he was really mentally ill.

You didn't need a psychiatrist to tell you that. He could easily have run one of those concentration camps during World War Two. And the whole trial was a sham. Initially we refused to cooperate because there were all sorts of wrong things going on. We were tortured... What kind of torture..? We were sporadically beaten to force us to sign certain statements. Sometimes they would wrap a pipe in a wet towel and beat some of the guys on the stomach. I was not one of them. But medical reports produced in court testified to this kind of treatment. Apart from that, in the middle of the trial, there were all kinds of irregularities. It was well choreographed. At one point, the judge decided that a new panel of jurors should be picked. There were certain rules to be followed in that selection. And we subsequently discovered that at least 11 members of the new panel could not possibly have been on the jury. This was just one of some 200 irregularities that took place. We refused to co-operate. We chanted them down....Then when (Trinidad lawyer) Karl Hudson-Phillips took over the prosecution he suggested a different approach to get us to co-operate. But the torture continued.

I was beaten about my head, my neck, I was bleeding from my ears. My injuries were superficial. But a medical report on my condition was three pages long. And in the cells, there were 100 Watt bulbs being used on a 24/7 basis. All the other cells had 60 Watt bulbs. There was no sheet for the bed or blankets, there were no toothbrushes, the cells were full of cockroaches. We had no clothes, except the short pants and shirts we were wearing. This went on for eight years. Eventually the man from Barbados in charge of the prison had a stroke and he returned to Barbados and subsequently died. Then a Grenadian took over running the prison and he was the best person. He made it one of the best-run prisons in Grenada, encouraging education and so on. Did you also face hostility from other prisoners, who were sympathetic to Maurice Bishop? Initially. But this changed very quickly. Callistus Bernard (a former member of the NJM who was also imprisoned) has written a book on his experience, titled They Can Only Kill Me Once. It's been published in the United Kingdom but isn't yet released in the Caribbean.

So what are your immediate plans for the future? I plan to write my memoirs... Tell me, do you feel any remorse over the killing of Maurice Bishop and other members of the NJM? Oh Lord, yes! I've written a paper on this, titled 'Reflections And Apologies'. It was issued on February 8, 1997. In it, we apologised unreservedly to the Grenadian people. A lot of good things happened in the Grenada revolution, the new international airport, people were being better educated. And so on. But we took moral and political responsibility for what happened. We did so many things that were wrong. And we've apologised. We don't apportion blame. We take collective responsibility for everything that went wrong. We accept full moral and political responsibility for all of it. And I am still traumatised by it. It's not just a question of remorse. I've written 70 pages on this issue. Ask John 'Chalkie' Ventour to e-mail it to you... What, really, did lead to the split between you and Maurice Bishop? I believe you were deputy Prime Minister at that time...?

The seeds for what happened on October 19, 1983 (the day Bishop, among others, was killed) were sown by some of the things we did when we took power. People look on it as a 'split' but there were many, many dimensions involved. Any such catastrophe must have more than one cause. A lot of media people in the Caribbean have consistently got it all wrong. And let me say this: you can take this as an exclusive interview because I have the highest respect for you. You are a distinguished journalist of the highest standing and the only reason I am doing this interview is because I have always respected you. You are the only Caribbean journalist I'm prepared to talk to... Well, I appreciate that but back to the question of the 'split', if that is what it was, that led to the breakup between yourself and Maurice Bishop... We had taken a decision that there should be joint leadership of the New Jewel Movement (NJM). This was discussed at a Congress of the party and it was agreed that there should be joint leadership. But then there was the Cuban influence in which they insisted, based on their own political experience, that there should be a maximum leader.

They sought to introduce that model in the NJM. Bishop, who had contested the idea of joint leadership, said he wanted to give the whole thing some more thought. And despite the fact that it had been agreed on by a Congress of the party, we decided to invite the entire membership of the party to discuss it. So a general membership meeting was convened. And Bishop was told 'we love you. We can't do without you.' But we also pointed out his weaknesses. We all felt that joint leadership was the way to go. It was a mistake. Because life is also about human emotions and feelings. And we failed to take that into account. Bishop initially agreed to the idea of joint leadership. But he went on a short trip abroad and after passing through Cuba on his way home, when he got back he said he had changed his mind. And there were rumours circulating that we wanted to kill Maurice Bishop. And like the fools we were, we put him under house arrest. And the whole thing got out of hand... Well, that is putting it mildly. What subsequently happened amounted to a virtual civil war with murderous consequences... Not initially.

Bishop supporters demonstrated in the streets on October 12 right through to October 19 (1983). Apart from a couple traffic policemen, there were no policemen or soldiers on the streets during those demonstrations. And anybody who was there will tell you that there was no lawlessness, no destruction of property. The demonstrations were highly vocal but they were disciplined. And the high command decided not to intervene because we felt that would only make things worse...The first half of the demonstration for Bishop on October 19 was in the same vein: very vocal but very disciplined. In the second half, people found out where Bishop was being detained and they stormed the place and took him away. We thought, well now they'll call a general strike and heighten the protest. Instead, they headed for the army headquarters, seized the building and began to arm themselves and distribute arms. Even at that stage, we were hoping things would calm down and we wouldn't have to intervene. But you did intervene! When we realised that weapons were being distributed, we sent three armoured cars to recapture the fort. The armoured cars were meant as a show of force. There was no intention to use force.

One eye-witness said when he saw the armoured cars heading for the fort, there were soldiers sitting on top of the vehicles. That would not have been the case if their intent was to engage the demonstrators with arms. The prosecution at our trial said the intent was to massacre the people. But that was never the intent. It was some of the demonstrators who opened fire on the armoured cars. The first people to die in that fateful day of October 19 were four soldiers. Were there any witnesses to this? (The late Grenadian journalist) Allister Hughes was at the fort on October 19 and he sat in court during our trial and never said a word. But in his last days, he called in a few close friends, like Leslie Pierre, who swore to this in an affidavit that was presented to the Privy Council. Hughes told Pierre that the crowd was the first to open fire. And after that happened all hell broke loose. But what about the execution of Maurice Bishop and Unison Whiteman, among others? Wasn't that a direct order? No, no. American soldiers, with hundreds of years of military experience, have run amok in some countries.

The British army, with a thousand years of military experience, has done the same thing. We had four and a half years of military experience in Grenada. What happened was vengeance. It was nothing we ordered. And it can never be justified. It was a moment or revenge. Pure and simple. But everyone of us in the leadership take moral and political responsibility for what happened. If we hadn't committed so many errors...we were amateurs, we were arrogant and intolerant and all our mistakes came home to roost.... I've seen it reported that you intend to give up politics. Is that true? Or are you going to get back in poilitics? Are you crazy? Absolutely not. So what does the future hold in store for you? I'm not sure yet. I'm going to spend some time catching up on my writing, working on my memoirs. I understand you plan to move to Jamaica? Well, I am a Grenadian citizen. But my wife is a Jamaican and she is in very poor health. My son is also up there. My main duty and responsibility now is to her.

(He explains that his wife got colon cancer while she was in prison, had been released because of this and had been receiving chemotherapy treatment which has affected her liver.) It very successfully destroyed part of her liver for which she has to be taking a lot of medicine. She is also a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder. Tell me, is Ken Gordon still in charge at the Express? No, he's moved on, retired. The new CEO is Terrence Farrell. Maybe I could become a correspondent for the Express. A political correspondent? No, no. no. Perhaps an economics correspondent. I never want to have anything to do with politics for the rest of my life. Tags Maurice Bishop Maurice Bishop ▼ Primary Sources ▼ Maurice Bishop Maurice Bishop, the son of Rupert and Alimenta Bishop, was born in Grenada on 29th May 1944. An intelligent pupil, Bishop won a scholarship to the Roman Catholic Presentation Boys College. While at this school he won the gold medal for "outstanding academic and all round ability." As a young man Bishop developed an interest in politics and in 1962 joined with Bernard Coard to form the Grenada Assembly of Youth After Truth.

Twice a month Bishop and Cord led debates on current events in the Central Market Place in Grenada. In 1963 Bishop went to London where he studied law at London University. While at university Bishop became chairperson of the West Indian Students Society and co-founded a legal aid clinic for the West Indian community in Notting Hill. He was also a member of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD). Bishop married a nurse, Angela Redhead, in 1966. Bishop continued to do voluntary work with the Legal Aid Clinic in Notting Hill. In 1969 he qualified as a barrister and the following year returned to Grenada . Bishop soon became active in politics and helped form the Movement for Assemblies of the People (MAP) and the Movement for the Advance of Community (MACE). In 1973 these organizations merged with Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education and Liberation (JEWEL) to establish the New Jewel Movement (NJM). The most important political figure during this period was Eric Gairy , the leader of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) and prime minister of the country.

In 1970 Gairy formed a private army called the Mongoose Gang. On 18th November, 1973, Bishop and two other members of the NJM were badly beaten by this gang. Bishop suffered a broken jaw in the attack and was hospitalized for several weeks. Gairy began argued that Grenada should be granted its independence from Britain. In May 1973 Gairy visited London where he discussed this issue with Edward Heath and it was agreed that Grenada would become independent in February, 1974. Bishop and other members of New Jewel Movement were worried by this decision. It was feared that Gairy would install himself as a dictator after independence. A Committee of 22 was established by the trade unions, civic organizations and the church. On 1st January 1974 the group called a national strike. On 21st January 1974 the Committee of 22 held a protest march. During the demonstration the marchers were attacked by the police. Several people were injured and Rupert Bishop, Maurice Bishop's father, was killed.

Eric Gairy and his Grenada United Labour Party won the elections held on 7th November, 1976. However, opposition leaders complained that all election officials were members of GULP and that they had tampered with the voting papers. As a result of these elections Bishop became leader of the opposition. In 1977 Gairy began receiving advice from General Augusto Pinochet of Chile on how to deal with civil unrest. His police and military also received "counter insurgency" training from the Pinochet regime. Bishop and the New Jewel Movement retaliated by developing links with Fidel Castro and his Marxist government in Cuba . Gairy's state of mind also raised concerns. In October 1977 Gairy addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations . During his speech he urged the UN to establish an Agency for Psychic Research into Unidentified Flying Objects and the Bermuda Triangle. He also called for 1978 to be established as "The Year of the UFO". In 1979 a rumour began circulating that Gairy planned to use his "Mongoose Gang" to assassinate leaders of the New Jewel Movement while he was out of the country.

On 13th March 1979, Bishop and the NJM took over the nation's radio station. With the support of the people the NJM was able to take control of the rest of the country. Influenced by the ideas of Marxists such as Fidel Castro , Che Guevara and Daniel Ortega , Bishop began establishing Workers' Councils in Grenada. He received aid from the Soviet Union and Cuba and with this money constructed a aircraft runway to improve tourism. Bishop attempted to develop a good relationship with the United States and allowed private enterprise to continue on the island. Bernard Coard , the Minister of Finance, disagreed with this policy. He also disliked Bishop's ideas on grassroots democracy. On 19th October, with the support of the army, Coard overthrew the government. Maurice Bishop and most of his ministers were arrested and executed. President Ronald Reagan , who had been highly critical of Bishop's government, took this opportunity to intervene and sent in the United States Marines . The initial assault on 25th October, 1983, consisted of some 1,200 troops, and they were met by stiff resistance from the Grenadian army.

Heavy fighting continued for several days, but as the invasion force grew to more than 7,000, the defenders either surrendered or fled into the mountains. Bernard Coard and 13 others were sentenced to death but these sentences were commuted to life-imprisonment in 1991. His wife, Phyllis Coard, was also sentenced to life-imprisonment. While in prison Bernard Coard has developed a programme of education for the 300 inmates of Richmond Hill Prison. Biography: Bernard Coard - Biographical Details - The Education Forum The Education Forum Not recommended on shared computers Sign In February 6, 2005 Bernard Coard was born in Grenada on 10th August 1944. Coard studied at the Grenada Boys Secondary School where he met Maurice Bishop. As a young man Coard developed an interest in politics and in 1962 joined with Bishop to form the Grenada Assembly of Youth After Truth. Twice a month Bishop and Cord led debates on current events in the Central Market Place in Grenada. Coard moved to the United States to study economics and sociology at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

In 1967 he moved to England and studied political economy at Sussex University in Brighton. While in England Coard joined the Communist Party. Coard taught for two years at schools in London. In 1971 he published his book How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System. After completing his doctorate Coard moved to Trinidad where he taught at the University of the West Indies. He was also a visiting lecturer at the Institute of International Relations at St. Augustine. In 1976 Coard returned to Grenada and soon became active in politics and joined the New Jewel Movement (NJM), an organization created by his boyhood friend, Maurice Bishop. On 13th March 1979, the NJM took over the nation's radio station. With the support of the people the NJM was able to take control of the rest of the country. Influenced by the ideas of Marxists such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Daniel Ortega, Maurice Bishop began establishing Workers' Councils in Grenada. He received aid from the Soviet Union and Cuba and with this money constructed a aircraft runway to improve tourism.

Bishop attempted to develop a good relationship with the United States and allowed private enterprise to continue on the island. Coard, the Minister of Finance, disagreed with this policy. He also disliked Bishop's ideas on grassroots democracy. On 19th October, with the support of the army, Coard overthrew the government. Maurice Bishop and most of his ministers were arrested and executed. President Ronald Reagan, who had been highly critical of Bishop's government, took this opportunity to intervene and sent in the United States Marines. The initial assault on 25th October, 1983, consisted of some 1,200 troops, and they were met by stiff resistance from the Grenadian army. Heavy fighting continued for several days, but as the invasion force grew to more than 7,000, the defenders either surrendered or fled into the mountains. Bernard Coard, along with Phyllis Coard, Selwyn Strachan, John Ventour, Liam James and Keith Roberts, were arrested on 31st October 1983. The leaders of the coup were put on trial in August 1986. Along with 13 others, Board was sentenced to death.

This sentence was commuted to life-imprisonment in 1991. His wife, Phyllis Coard, was also sentenced to life-imprisonment. While in prison Bernard Coard has developed a programme of education for the 300 inmates of Richmond Hill Prison. Share this post Jamaica Gleaner News - Elated Coard: speaks of prison, freedom - Sunday | September 13, 2009 Home : News Elated Coard: speaks of prison, freedom Grenada's former Deputy Prime Minister, Bernard Coard, arrives at the Grenada Supreme Court for a resentencing hearing in St George's in 2006. Coard is one of the 13 prisoners who had previously been sentenced to death for killing the southern Caribbean island's premier, Maurice Bishop, four Cabinet members, and six supporters in a 1983 coup that triggered a US invasion. The Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for many former British colonies, ruled that the prisoners must be resentenced as previous sentences imposed in 1986 were never legitimate under the law.

The following is an exclusive interview with the recently released-from-prison Grenadian politician Bernard Coard by noted Caribbean journalist Raoul Pantin for the Sunday Express. Coard had initially been sentenced to death for the 1983 killing of former Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and others. But Coard and his co-accused had their death sentences commuted by the Privy Council before he was freed last week after 26 years in prison. Question: Tell me, Mr Coard ... Coard: Hey, Raoul! What is this 'Mister Coard' business? We go back too far for that. The only 'Mister Coard' I know is my father and he died a long time ago ... . Okay, Bernard. How does it feel to be a free man? I'm elated. Just elated. That's the bottom line. And what was life like in prison for all those years? The first eight years were really brutal. The man in charge of the prison at that time was from Barbados and he was really mentally ill. You didn't need a psychiatrist to tell you that. He could easily have run one of those concentration camps during World War Two. And the whole trial was a sham.

Initially, we refused to cooperate because there were all sorts of wrong things going on. Many years later, we came across declassified United States documents - an American professor had applied for them under the Freedom of Information Act - and they disclosed that the judge sitting at our trial was meeting with the political officer at the United States embassy in Grenada at the time. So was the director of public prosecutions. We were tortured ... . What kind of torture? We were sporadically beaten to force us to sign certain statements. Sometimes, they would wrap a pipe in a wet towel and beat some of the guys on the stomach. I was not one of them. But medical reports produced in court testified to this kind of treatment. Apart from that, in the middle of the trial, there were all kinds of irregularities. It was well choreographed. At one point, the judge decided that a new panel of jurors should be picked. There were certain rules to be followed in that selection. And we subsequently discovered that at least 11 members of the new panel could not possibly have been on the jury. This was just one of some 200 irregularities that took place. We refused to cooperate. We chanted them down ...

then when (Trinidadian lawyer) Karl Hudson-Phillips took over the prosecution, he suggested a different approach to get us to cooperate. But the torture continued. I was beaten about my head, my neck, I was bleeding from my ears. My injuries were superficial. But a medical report on my condition was three pages long. And in the cells, there were 100-watt bulbs being used on a 24/7 basis. All the other cells had 60-watt bulbs. There was no sheet for the bed or blankets, there were no toothbrushes, the cells were full of cockroaches. We had no clothes, except the short pants and shirts we were wearing. This went on for eight years. Eventually, the man from Barbados in charge of the prison had a stroke and he returned to Barbados and subsequently died. Then a Grenadian took over running the prison and he was the best person. He made it one of the best-run prisons in Grenada, encouraging education and so on. Did you also face hostility from other prisoners who were sympathetic to Maurice Bishop? Initially. But this changed very quickly.

Callistus Bernard (a former member of the New Jewel Movement who was also imprisoned) has written a book on his experience titled They Can Only Kill Me Once. It's been published in the United Kingdom but isn't yet released in the Caribbean. So what are your immediate plans for the future? I plan to write my memoirs ... . Tell me, do you feel any remorse over the killing of Maurice Bishop and other members of the NJM? Oh Lord, yes! I've written a paper on this titled Reflections And Apologies. It was issued on February 8, 1997. In it, we apologised unreservedly to the Grenadian people. A lot of good things happened in the Grenada revolution, the new international airport, people were being better educated. And so on. But we took moral and political responsibility for what happened. We did so many things that were wrong. And we've apologised. We don't apportion blame. We take collective responsibility for everything that went wrong. We accept full moral and political responsibility for all of it. And I am still traumatised by it. It's not just a question of remorse. I've written 70 pages on this issue.

Ask John 'Chalkie' Ventour to e-mail it to you ... . What, really, did lead to the split between you and Maurice Bishop? I believe you were deputy prime minister at that time? The seeds for what happened on October 19, 1983 (the day Bishop, among others, was killed), were sown by some of the things we did when we took power. People look on it as a 'split', but there were many, many dimensions involved. Any such catastrophe must have more than one cause. A lot of media people in the Caribbean have consistently got it all wrong. And let me say this: you can take this as an exclusive interview because I have the highest respect for you. You are a distinguished journalist of the highest standing and the only reason I am doing this interview is because I have always respected you. You are the only Caribbean journalist I'm prepared to talk to ... . Well, I appreciate that but back to the question of the split, if that is what it was, that led to the break-up between yourself and Maurice Bishop. We had taken a decision that there should be joint leadership of the NJM.

This was discussed at a congress of the party and it was agreed that there should be joint leadership. But then there was the Cuban influence in which they insisted, based on their own political experience, that there should be a maximum leader. They sought to introduce that model in the NJM. Bishop, who had contested the idea of joint leadership, said he wanted to give the whole thing some more thought. And despite the fact that it had been agreed on by a congress of the party, we decided to invite the entire membership of the party to discuss it. So a general membership meeting was convened. And Bishop was told 'we love you. We can't do without you'. But we also pointed out his weaknesses. We all felt that joint leadership was the way to go. It was a mistake. Because life is also about human emotions and feelings. And we failed to take that into account. Bishop initially agreed to the idea of joint leadership. But he went on a short trip abroad and after passing through Cuba on his way home, when he got back he said he had changed his mind. And there were rumours circulating that that we wanted to kill Maurice Bishop. And like the fools we were, we put him under house arrest.

And the whole thing got out of hand ... . Well, that is putting mildly. What subsequently happened amounted to a virtual civil war with murderous consequences. Not initially. Bishop supporters demonstrated in the streets on October 12 right through to October 19 (1983). Apart from a couple traffic policemen, there were no policemen or soldiers on the streets during those demonstrations. And anybody who was there will tell you that there was no lawlessness, no destruction of property. The demonstrations were highly vocal but they were disciplined. And the high command decided not to intervene because we felt that would only make things worse ... . The first half of the demonstration for Bishop on October 19 was in the same vein: very vocal but very disciplined. In the second half, people found out where Bishop was being detained and they stormed the place and took him away. We thought, well now they'll call a general strike and heighten the protest. Instead, they headed for the army headquarters, seized the building and began to arm themselves and distribute arms. Even at that stage, we were hoping things would calm down and we wouldn't have to intervene. But you did intervene!

When we realised that weapons were being distributed, we sent three armoured cars to recapture the fort. The armoured cars were meant as a show of force. There was no intention to use force. One eyewitness said when he saw the armoured cars heading for the fort, there were soldiers sitting on top of the vehicles. That would not have been the case if their intent was to engage the demonstrators with arms. The prosecution at our trial said the intent was to massacre the people. But that was never the intent. It was some of the demonstrators who opened fire on the armoured cars. The first people to die on that fateful day of October 19 were four soldiers. Were there any witnesses to this? (The late Grenadian Journalist) Allister Hughes was at the fort on October 19 and he sat in court during our trial and never said a word. But in his last days, he called in a few close friends, like Leslie Pierre, who swore to this in an affidavit that was presented to the Privy Council. Hughes told Pierre that the crowd was the first to open fire. And after that happened all hell broke loose. But what about the execution of Maurice Bishop and Unison Whiteman, among others?

Wasn't that a direct order? No, no. American soldiers, with hundreds of years of military experience, have run amok in some countries. The British army, with a thousand years of military experience, has done the same thing. We had four and a half years of military experience in Grenada. What happened was vengeance. It was nothing we ordered. And it can never be justified. It was a moment or revenge. Pure and simple. But everyone of us in the leadership take moral and political responsibility for what happened. If we hadn't committed so many errors ... we were amateurs, we were arrogant and intolerant and all our mistakes came home to roost ... . I've seen it reported that you intend to give up politics. Is that true? Or are you going get back involved in politics? Are you crazy? Absolutely not. So what does the future hold in store for you? I'm not sure yet. I'm going to spend some time catching up on my writing, working on my memoirs. I understand you plan to move to Jamaica? Well, I am a Grenadian citizen. But my wife is a Jamaican and she is in very poor health. My son is also up there.

My main duty and responsibility now is to her. (He explains that his wife developed colon cancer while she was in prison, had been released because of this and has been receiving chemotherapy treatment, which has affected her liver.) It very successfully destroyed part of her liver for which she has to be taking a lot of medicine. She is also a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder. Tell me, is Ken Gordon still in charge at the Express? No, he's moved on, retired. The new CEO is Terrance Farrell. Maybe I could become a correspondent for the Express. A political correspondent? No, no. no. Perhaps an economics correspondent. I never want to have anything to do with politics for the rest of my life. BBCCaribbean.com | Coard: regrets and reconciliation Coard: regrets and reconciliation Bernard Coard: released after 26 years in jail in connection with death of Maurice Bishop The former deputy prime minister of Grenada Bernard Coard has told BBC Caribbean that he is relieved and surprised to be released from jail so early. Mr Coard along with thirteen others, was released from jail on Saturday after a total of twenty-six years.

He was part of the so-called 'Grenada 17' who were convicted for the murder of then prime minister Maurice Bishop and several members of his cabinet, in a coup on 19 October 1983. Fours years before, on 13 March 1979, Coard and Bishop had led a coup by their People's Revolutionary Army which unseated the country's leader Sir Eric Gairy. But internal wrangling over ideological differences split their left-wing People's Revolutionary Government (PRG). Bishop along with a number of his allies were placed under house arrest, and subsequently shot and killed. Timeline The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), then chaired by the prime minister of Dominica, Eugenia Charles, appealed to the United States, Barbados, and Jamaica for assistance in putting down the uprising. That resulted in a US-invasion of Grenada on 25 October 1983, and military clashes between US and Grenadian military forces. Coard, along with his wife Phyllis, and several others were arrested on October 31, 1983. Put on trial in 1986, they were found guilty and sentenced to death.

In 1991, their death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. A British Privy Council ruling in 2007 deemed the previous death sentence unconstitutional. Mr Coard has told BBC Caribbean that many mistakes were made and those involved would have to live with them for the rest of their lives. "I think what is important is that we learn from the mistakes of the past, we as a society, as a people," Mr Coard said.

Question: Bernard and Phyllis Coard and Maurice Bishop were involved with the politics of which country in 1983?
Answer: Grenada