Editing New Jewel Movement (section)

== Bishop's fall and the American intervention ==
The leaders of the U.S. government, and several other Caribbean nations, expressed concerns about the NJM government because of its close ties with Cuba, its alleged military expansion, and its new airport that could be repurposed as a Soviet-Cuban airbase.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/26/us/briefing-058430.html|title=Briefing|last1=Gailey|first1=Phil|last2=Weaver Jr.|first2=Warren|date=26 March 1983|work=The New York Times|access-date=13 August 2024}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the NJM ruling party started showing signs of internal dissension as early as July 1982. That's when [[Bernard Coard|Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard]], who was also the country's finance minister, resigned from the Political Bureau of the NJM Central Committee. According to the recollections of Bishop's press secretary Don Rojas, Coard's reason for resigning was that "he was not satisfied with the style of work and the priorities the Central Committee was addressing itself to. He was not more concrete than that."<ref name="Rojas_interview">{{cite web |last=Wattenmaker |first=Steve |year=1984  |title=Interview with Don Rojas: Grenada - What Went Wrong? |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/grenada/1984/don-rojas.htm |via=Grenadian Revolution Archive}}</ref> When several Central Committee members pressured Coard to be specific, he refused. Other members—who all came out of the OREL organization and were loyal to Coard (Rojas referred to them as the "OREL clique")—backed his decision and allowed him to resign his party posts while retaining his state posts.<ref name="Rojas_interview"/>

During the next year, Coard worked behind the scenes "to advance the OREL people within the Central Committee to very influential positions. Three of them were elevated to the Political Bureau."<ref name="Rojas_interview"/> By September 1983, the schism in NJM leadership had reached a crisis point. The "Coard faction" voiced their doubts about Prime Minister Bishop's continuing effectiveness and attempted to convince him to accept a power-sharing arrangement with Coard, wherein the two men would be co-equal leaders of the country.<ref>{{cite web |last=Fletcher, Jr. |first=Bill |date=December 4, 2023 |website=The Real News Network |title=Remembering the Rise and Fall of Grenada's New Jewel Movement |url=https://therealnews.com/remembering-the-rise-and-fall-of-grenadas-new-jewel-movement}}</ref> After a couple weeks of consideration, Bishop rejected the idea, which precipitated a disastrous sequence of events.<ref name="Jacobin_article">{{cite magazine |last=Burtenshaw |first=Ronan |date=2 September 2019 |url=https://jacobin.com/2019/09/grenada-revolution-maurice-bishop-reagan |title=Grenada's Revolution Should Never Be Forgotten |magazine=Jacobin}}</ref>

On 13 October, Coard took control of the PRG and placed Bishop under house arrest.<ref name="Amnesty_Intl_Article">{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amr320012003en.pdf |publisher=[[Amnesty International]]
|title=The Grenada 17: Last of the cold war prisoners? |date=October 2003}}</ref> Bishop's arrest, once it became known, triggered demonstrations and strikes throughout the country. On 19 October, Bishop was freed by a crowd estimated at 15,000 to 30.000 supporters.<ref name="Amnesty_Intl_Article"/> Bishop led the crowd to army headquarters at Fort Rupert. Eventually a military force from Fort Frederick (under Coard’s direction) arrived at the headquarters and fighting broke out. Many civilians were killed.<ref name="Sunkara_article"/> Bishop and seven others—[[Jacqueline Creft]], education minister; Norris Bain, housing minister; [[Unison Whiteman]], foreign minister; and close supporters Fitzroy Bain, Keith Hayling, Evelyn Bullen and Evelyn Maitland—were lined up against a Fort Rupert courtyard wall and executed by firing squad.<ref name="WaPo_article">{{cite news |last1=Powers |first1=Martine |last2=Muldoon |first2=Ted |last3=Svirnovskiy |first3=Rennie |date=8 December 2023 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/12/08/grenada-maurice-bishop-missing-remains/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=U.S. may hold key to finding remains of Grenada's prime minister}}</ref> The military transported the bodies to an isolated peninsula known as Calivigny. "Their remains were put in a pit with tires and other debris, and set on fire."<ref name="WaPo_article"/> The remains of Bishop and the others have never been found.

[[File:Grenada Revolution.jpg|thumb|Banner of the Grenada Revolution, located in Grenada National Museum]]

Immediately after Bishop's execution, [[Hudson Austin]] formed a military government. He instituted a 24-hour curfew for four consecutive days under which anyone who left home without authorization would be shot on sight.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burrowes |first=Reynold |title=Revolution and Rescue in Grenada: An Account of the U.S.-Caribbean Invasion |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-313-26066-7 |page=63 |year=1988 |access-date=15 August 2024 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGsYAAAAYAAJ&q=twenty-four-hour%20curfew}}</ref><ref name="Forward_ever_article">{{cite web |last=Boulby |first=Luke |title="Forward ever, backward never": the tragedy of the Grenadian Revolution |url=https://www.marxist.com/forward-ever-backward-never-the-tragedy-of-the-grenadian-revolution.htm |date=30 March 2020 |publisher=In Defence of Marxism}}</ref> Six days later, the [[U.S. invasion of Grenada|United States invaded Grenada]] and overthrew the Austin government. As a consequence of the successful U.S. invasion and occupation, the NJM ceased to exist.<ref name="Grenada_Revo_article"/> 

In 1986, eighteen people involved in the murders of Bishop and the seven others were arrested and tried. Seventeen of them (they came to be known as the [[Grenada 17]]), including Coard and Austin, were found guilty and given lengthy prison sentences.<ref name="Amnesty_Intl_Article"/>