Grenada: 20th Century Developments

Grenada gained independence from Britain in 1974 under Prime Minister Eric Gairy, whose increasingly authoritarian and erratic rule, including reliance on a personal paramilitary force known as the "Mongoose Gang," alienated much of the population over the following years.

In March 1979, the leftist New Jewel Movement, led by Maurice Bishop, ousted Gairy in a largely bloodless coup and established the People's Revolutionary Government, the only Marxist-Leninist administration to govern a Commonwealth nation. Bishop's government expanded free education and healthcare and sharply reduced unemployment, while forging closer ties with Cuba and other socialist states. Internal divisions within the movement's leadership deepened by 1983, culminating in Bishop's house arrest and, on October 19, the execution of Bishop and several senior officials after a hardline faction seized power.

The killings and ensuing instability prompted the United States, joined by several Caribbean nations, to launch an invasion of Grenada on October 25, 1983, known as Operation Urgent Fury. Within days U.S. and allied forces secured the island, ending the revolutionary government. An interim administration followed, and parliamentary democracy was restored with elections in December 1984, returning Grenada to a system of governance closer to its pre-1979 constitutional arrangement.