by TIM SLINGER in St George’s, Grenada
THE FINAL CHAPTER of the saga surrounding the death of former Grenada prime minister Maurice Bishop was written yesterday.
And Bernard Coard, the former deputy leader who masterminded the executions of Bishop and his cabinet colleagues back in October 1983, is sorry about the “entire circumstances” surrounding the tragedy.
On October 19, 1983, Bishop and four of his cabinet colleagues were machine-gunned in cold blood at Fort Rupert, after he and certain members of his Revolutionary Government had a falling-out.
Yesterday, as Coard, along with six others, walked to freedom from the Richmond Hill Prison after spending 26 years behind bars, he told the SUNDAY SUN: “There will always be regret throughout my life.
“Each and every one of us who took part in all the activities and all the events throughout the revolution and just not October. That was the culmination of a catastrophe.
“We all have an obligation to recognise that responsibility and to do everything we can for reconciliation,” he said.
Coard, who had been Bishop’s close friend and deputy, was among the last seven of whom had become known as the “Grenada 17” convicted for the 1983 murders, but granted early release by the Grenada Mercy Committee last Friday.
Bernard Coard (right) leaving the Richmond Hill Prison after 26 years. (Picture by Antonio Miller)
The others freed yesterday were Dave Bartholomew, Callistus Bernard, Leon Cornwall, Liam James, Ewart Layne and Selwayn Strachan.
They were all Central Committee members of the People’s Revolutionary Government who took the decision to execute Bishop and his faithful after placing him under house arrest.
A fit-looking Coard, now 65, a contrast to the bulky figure of 26 years ago when he was held by the United States invasion forces, charged and later convicted for the killings, was embraced at the prison gate by his daughter Abiola, who was a mere toddler when her father was first sentenced for his role.
As he exited the green prison gates, dressed in a grey shirt-jac suit, about 20 old colleagues and sympathisers shouted in excitement.
“Hail the leader,” one onlooker declared, making his point that a Barbadian-led police investigation had wrongly convicted Coard and others.
Layne, former commander of the People’s Revolutionary Army and one of the Central Committee’s prominent figures, fought back tears.
“It’s very emotional for me, you know,” he said when questioned about the events of 26 years ago.
According to evidence produced in the year-long trial, Bernard, then characterised as a cold-blooded killer, had squeezed the trigger to gun down Bishop at the then Fort Rupert execution site.
Shaking his head from side to side, Bernard said yesterday: “There’s a lot of room for regret and after 26 years, you must feel certain things.”
Outside the prison were a number of other well-wishers and former colleagues who had been released earlier, including former army strongman Hudson Austin.
“The whole thing [October 19, 1983] is seriously regrettable. I would say in retrospect when big men have problems, they must learn to solve it otherwise . . . . Maurice was my personal friend,” he said.
A statement issued by the Advisory Committee On Prerogative Of Mercy stated that the release of Coard and others was in keeping with a court order two years ago: that their sentences be reviewed.
Source: This article was first published by The Nation Publishing Co. Ltd. on September 6, 2009.
