There is a misconception in the country that diplomatic relations between Grenada and Cuba were restored after the October 198e events in the Spice Isle by the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.

The latest person to make such a public pronouncement was Minister of Communication and Works, Clarice Modeste-Curwen at a recent ceremony in her St. Mark's Constituency to applaud the contributions made to Grenada's development over the years by Cuban workers.

GRENADA TODAY strongly suspect that the minister was not trying to deliberately mislead her unsuspecting audience by trying to give Prime Minister Mitchell the credit for the resumption of ties between Havana and St. George's.

It is more than likely that Minister Modeste-Curwen had believed this herself although totally ignorant of the fact. It is not our intention to accuse her of attempting to rewrite the history of the country and the diplomatic relations between Grenada and Cuba.

The high point of relations between the two countries came during the 1979-83 Grenada Revolution of late Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.
It can be safely said that the new revolutionary leaders in Grenada were Cuba's closely friends in the English-speaking Caribbean.

There was a heavy influx of Cubans into the country during the reign of Bishop's New Jewel Movement-led People's Revolutionary Government (PRG).

The relationship took a turn for the worst when the Grenada Revolution self destructed with the slaying of Bishop and several of his colleagues in the carnage at Fort Rupert (George) following the bitter infighting in the NJM for leadership of the revolutionary process.

The U.S with the backing of several Caribbean islands like Barbados and Jamaica sent in troops into Grenada to put down the coup leaders against Bishop and Company and to help restore order and help Grenada return to a parliamentary system of government.

The then Governor-General, Sir Paul Scoon took charge of the island and quickly moved to expel all diplomats from Cuba, the Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc States that were residing on the island.

The immediate reaction of the Cubans after the U.S-led military action in Grenada was not to recognise any government set up in the Spice Isle since it considered it to be a satellite of the United States.

The Castro government refused to recognise the Interim Government of Sir Paul, the original New National Party (NNP) of late Prime Minister Herbert Blaize and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of Sir Nicholas Brathwaite. The Cubans also instituted legal proceedings against Grenada in connection with its airplane that was destroyed at Pearl's airport and some construction equipment that was sent to help in the building of the Point Salines International Airport (PSIA).

But Havana was forced to do an about turn in its hostility to Grenada following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the new hardship brought on the country with the lessening of aid from the Soviet bloc.

President Castro as part of the restructuring of the Cuban economy and to hunt for foreign exchange was forced to look more and more towards the tourism sector. The Cubans made a formal request to get membership of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and was initially blocked because of its stand on the question of Grenada.

Havana was then forced to recognise the NDC government and the legitimate government in Grenada in order to gain entry into this major regional tourism organisation.

A deal was also worked out for the Cubans to drop its legal case against Grenada which was being pursued by an attorney from Jamaica, Dudley Thompson, a former minister in Michael Manley's People's National Party (PNP) government.

The current leader of the Congress party, Tillman Thomas who held the post of Minister of Tourism in the NDC government was the first government official from Grenada to visit Cuba after the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

It was clearly not Dr. Mitchell who was responsible for breaking the ice in the relationship between Havana and St. George's. It was also not Dr. Mitchell as the Prime Minister of Grenada who was responsible for the trek of leaders from the sub-regional group known as the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to engage the Cubans.

The then Prime Minister of Dominica, Edison James was the first OECS leader to defy Washington and its anxiety to get Caribbean leaders to shun Cuba and its Marxist experiment.
Prime Minister James visited Havana more than a year before Dr. Mitchell led a high-powered delegation of NNP government ministers and private sector officials to Havana to meet with President Castro.

The Dominican leader clarified this historical fact with then Grenada Foreign Minister Dr. Raphael Fletcher at an international meeting in Europe during the 1995-99 period. Dr. Fletcher is known to have passed on the information to Dr. Mitchell but from time to time certain members of the NNP have been making public statements to the contrary.

This newspaper is sure that the Cubans and one of their strongest allies in the country, Dr. Terry Marryshow can verify the exact truth of the resumption of diplomatic ties between Grenada and Cuba.