On 13th March, 1979, Grenada’s prime minister Eric Matthew Gairy was ousted in a peaceful coup organized by the New Jewel Movement and led by Maurice Bishop who was installed as prime minister of the newly established People’s Revolutionary Government.
Dubbed as socialist, the New Jewel Movement overthrew the corrupt and unpopular dictator Eric Gairy in a bloodless coup. For years, Gairy had ruled through fear. The green-clad secret police, the “Mongoose Gang,” had been supplied by the U.S.-backed Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. The Revolution launched by the New Jewel Movement — the “Revo,” as it was affectionately dubbed — was immensely welcomed by the people of Grenada and popular in the region and further afield.
By 1982, a literacy campaign was under way, new schools had been built, and unemployed youth in the countryside benefited from new agricultural cooperatives.
Grenada welcomed Cuban aid: teachers, health professionals, and construction workers on the new international airport who aimed to replace the antiquated and dangerous airstrip at Pearls.
In just four and a half years, unemployment was cut from 49 percent to 14 percent. Instead of advertising cigarettes and booze, colorful billboards throughout the island promoted education: “Each One Teach One,” “If You Know, Teach; If You Don’t, Learn,” and “Education Is Production, Too,” “Grow What You Eat, Eat What You Grow!”
Grenada was progressing in leaps and bounds.
