Revolution in the Shade

A gnat-size island profits by taking potshots at the U.S.

For President Reagan, the tiny Caribbean island (pop. 110,000) represents a threat to the national security of the U.S. The President lashed out at Marxist-led Grenada last month before releasing classified satellite photos of a new international airport being built with Cuban aid. The island's government has been headed by Prime Minister Maurice Bishop since the repressive regime of Sir Eric Gairy was overthrown in 1979. To assess the threat, TIME Caribbean Bureau Chief William McWhirter traveled to the 133-sq.-mi. island. His report:

The Marxist revolution stopped for Easter weekend, then Easter Monday, then went back to work just long enough for another national one-day holiday to watch a cricket test match before taking the weekend off. That was after Grenada declared a "national alert," announcing that a U.S. invasion was imminent. But while U.S. ships were supposed to be unloading counterrevolutionaries onto the beaches, the People's Revolutionary Government was still encouraging neighboring Trinidad's yachtsmen to hold their annual regatta there. When the Trinidadians asked, naturally enough, if their boats might not run into the U.S. Marines, they were told to come ahead "since the invasion only affects Grenadians."

The Soviets, however, have definitely landed, looking as happy as a charter flight full of sunburned, white-bellied tourists. They do not seem to have changed many of the habits that once spurred reports of unhappy Egyptians, Ethiopians and Mozambicans. The Soviets can usually be found at the beach, in snorkeling gear and Baltic bathing costumes. The island's favorite Russian so far is a chauffeur with steel teeth. He has been nicknamed "Jaws," of course. The Soviets have given the people of Grenada a one-engine crop sprayer and imported two cream-colored Mercedes sedans for themselves. But they are a bit slow on the draw when it comes to parting with nickels on the beach. They have not won the hearts and minds of the straw-doll and coconut vendors, who complain that the visitors bring their own thermos bottles and never buy native coral jewelry.

The East Germans have offered to kick in with a new telephone system, which will be an improvement over the present three long rings and a short, and then dead silence most of the day. The Libyans are present too in one of their "people's bureaus," but they tend to scowl, never remove their hats and announce the same $4 million loan so often that some Grenadians believe that the figure has now risen to $8 million or $12 million. The Cubans seem to be doing the work for everybody else: they have 400 men driving steamrollers and laying down asphalt at the new airport. They also have teachers, doctors and dentists all over the countryside. Most Grenadians tend to salute such revolutionary zeal and dedication, but usually from the shade.

While everyone in Washington is worried about Grenada's exporting revolution, the island is having enough problems trying to import it. English may still be the first language of the island, but it often comes off second best when it comes to translating socialist slogans. The revolution communicates by billboard in the way that Californians do by bumper sticker, posting its noble but often mind-numbing reminders at almost every road turning and intersection: THE LAND IS OUR WEALTH, EDUCATION IS OUR LIBERATION, WORK HARDER, GROW MORE FOOD, BUILD THE REVOLUTION. With equal alacrity, the Grenadians have adeptly copied the dress code of the revolution, and the streets of the port capital town of St. George's are filled with remarkably accurate understudies for Che Guevara. The government's "mass rallies" have got the stem-winding syntax of fighting socialism down to the last fist-raising rounds of "Long live! Long live!"

All this, of course, should explain why Grenada's revolution has failed. In fact, the country's economy is growing, and a youthful leadership still in its late 30s has proved to be what some neighboring Caribbean governments are not: competent, noncorrupt and capable of actually working harder than its own citizenry. The achievements have often been on a human scale as miniaturized as the island itself: 45 miles of sorely needed new roads, a tripling of fruit and vegetable exports in the past three years, canning, asphalt and concrete-block plants, a 12% drop in dependence on food imports and a 50% increase in fresh-water production since the 1979 coup. The government even managed a $2.5 million surplus in 1982, half of which went to repay the country's past debts. Social tranquillity has appeared: the major crime in Grenada is "praedial larceny," the theft of garden vegetables. Some of the government's highest marks, in fact, come from its chief critics. "I would vote for them if they trusted us with a free vote," says one of Grenada's leading figures in his own twist of sensible island logic. "But they won't, so I'm one of their attackers."

None of the revolution's accomplishments is greater than the $70 million international airport due for completion next year. It may seem extravagant and dangerous to Washington, which fears that Soviet or Cuban military aircraft may want to use the nearly two-mile-long strip, but if free elections were held the government of Prime Minister Bishop would win hands down on just this issue. It may be a matter of national image and prestige: Caribbean islands want their own airports just like some larger countries want their own airlines. The difference is that there is more than vanity at stake. Grenada is a major source of migrant workers in the Caribbean, with maybe three to four times its population outside the country. They still leave and they still come home to the island, each time having to spend a day in Trinidad or Barbados waiting for an air shuttle. Their food-export market to the other, more developed islands will depend on larger planes being able to fly from Grenada. The Grenadians have been asking for this airport for almost 25 years, and the Cubans finally gave it to them. "The one mistake Reagan made was to interfere with the one project he should never touch," commented Bishop.

Each time the U.S. appears to go in for the overkill, it brings Bishop sympathy votes from every island in the Caribbean. The prospect of a U.S. invasion was almost a compliment, as if the ultimate accolade in the Third World is to be invaded by the U.S. Nor has it been lost on the other islands that Bishop's Marxist alliance has financially earned Grenada more than its neighbors, some of whom are still waiting for their promised share of the U.S. Caribbean Basin Initiative. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.