From left: Former prime minister/author Edward Seaga, Professor Stephen Vasciannie and Carla Seaga in conversation.

Former prime minister Edward Seaga, whose government backed the United States-led invasion of Grenada in 1983, said that surge was critical to maintaining democracy in the Caribbean.

Seaga, prime minister of Jamaica from 1980 to 1989, commented on the controversial event Wednesday at the Hilton Kingston Jamaica hotel where his book, The Grenada Intervention: The Inside Story, was launched.

"There was no choice, something was happening in Grenada that was far bigger than we expected in the English-speaking Caribbean," Seaga told The Gleaner. "It augured very badly for the future and it was our duty to stop it."

Troops from Jamaica and the US swept into Grenada on October 25. In a matter of days, the rebellion that toppled Prime Minister Maurice Bishop's Marxist New Jewel Movement government had been put down.

Come to power

Bishop had himself come to power after removing prime minister Sir Eric Gairy in a 1979 coup. But a falling out with members of his Cabinet, including Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, led to his own removal. He and seven government officials were murdered. In the subsequent trial, 18 persons, including Coard and his Jamaican wife Phyllis, received death sentences which were later communted to life in prison. Phyllis Coard was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2000 and released on compassionate grounds; Bernard Coard was released on September 5.

While Seaga and Dominica's conservative prime minister Eugenia Charles argued the Caribbean thrust, some regional leaders and scholars criticised the US presence in the invasion. But an unapologetic Seaga said it effectively ended the Caribbean's experiment with communism/socialism, which had reached a boiling point during the 1970s.

"It was a turning point, having stopped it in Grenada the dominoes fell apart," he said.

In an interview with the Trinidad Express newspaper, shortly after his release, Coard said he planned to live in Jamaica where his wife is receiving treatment for colon cancer. Seaga, now a pro chancellor at the University of Technology in St Andrew, said he holds no grudge against the former firebrand.

"I have never met the gentleman but if on occasion we are in the same place, I would have no problem greeting him," he said. Revelations Beyond Political Boundaries, a collection of Seaga's writings, was also launched at Wednesday's function which was addressed by educator, Dr Alfred Sangster, and Professor Stephen Vasciannie, head of the Norman Manley Law School at the University of the West Indies.

Carla Seaga, wife of the author, is interested in something that Jonathan Greenland is showing her.

From left: Oliver Jones, Dr Joyce Robinson and Harold Brady in discussion at the book launch.

From left: Dr Alfred Sangster, Dennis Lalor, author and former prime minister Edward Seaga, Professor Stephen Vasciannie, Carla Seaga and attorney Harold Brady smile for the camera at the launch.

Former colleagues Shahine Robinson and Finance Minister Audley Shaw (right) celebrate with Edward Seaga. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer