by Linda Straker
- Grenada to answer request to temporarily install radar and US military assets on or near Grenada
- National Heroes Day celebration held on 20 October due to inclement weather
- National Hero title can be awarded to any citizen of Grenada
Dr Didacus Jules, Director General of the St Lucia-based Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, has declared that the body stands in full solidarity with the Government and people of Grenada as it “navigates imponderable currents.”
Currently, the Grenada government must provide an answer to the request from the Donald Trump Administration to temporarily install radar at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) and the deployment of US military assets on or near Grenada. A group comprising lawyers, educators, trade unionists and religious leaders calling itself the “Coalition for a Zone of Peace” called on the government to say no to the request.
“We recognise the enormous pressures brought to bear on small states that strive to chart their own course in a turbulent world. And we affirm the right of every Caribbean nation to determine its destiny, free from coercion, free from fear, and faithful to its own conscience,” Jules said as he delivered the keynote address at the official National Heroes Day celebration, which was held on 20 October instead of 19 October due to inclement weather.
The highlight of the celebration was a sod-turning ceremony to establish a heroes park at the site of the former Riviera Hotel, located next to Camerhogne Park in Grand Anse, within proximity to Grand Anse beach.
“And so, today, as Grenada honors her heroes and reclaims her legacy, she does so against a backdrop of mounting geopolitical pressure. Once again, the powerful seek to use the small as pawns in their great game of global dominance,” Jules said.
Reiterating that the Caribbean has long declared itself a Zone of Peace or a region that chooses dialogue over domination and cooperation over confrontation, the OECS Director General drew attention to a recent statement made by the Most Honourable PJ Patterson of Jamaica, one of the eldest statesmen of the Caribbean who described recent US drone attacks on vessels in Caribbean waters as “fundamentally dangerous” and a retreat from the longstanding declaration of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
“This is not naivety; it is wisdom born of hard experience. We have seen how great powers use small lands for proxy wars, and how the lives of ordinary people are left shattered in their wake,” Didacus said, giving his opinion on Patterson’s statement. “At times like these, it becomes even more vital that we do not allow our internal differences — political, social, or ideological — to fracture the unity that our ancestors forged through struggle.”
Speaking on the observance of National Heroes Day, Didacus said that the heroes Grenada honours did not fight for one faction or another — they fought for the soul of Grenada, for the right of every Grenadian to stand tall in dignity. “We must ensure that the scars of the past do not become the wounds of the present. Our task is to transform pain into purpose, memory into motivation, history into hope.”
Although 2025 marks 3 years since the declaration of 19 October as National Heroes Day, the government has yet to name any person as a national hero. The celebration has been centred on the life and work of revolutionary leader Maurice Bishop, who became the Prime Minister of Grenada on 13 March 1979 after the political organisation which he led overthrew the Eric Matthew Gairy government elected in 1976.
Section 16 of Grenada’s 2007 National Honours and Awards Act provides for establishing a Commission to be known as the Prestige Order of National Hero Commission. The Commission is to make such investigations as it thinks fit to determine individuals living or dead, upon whom may be conferred the Prestige Order of National Hero, and issue a report to the Prime Minister. The legislation states that the national hero title can be awarded to any individual born in Grenada or who at the time of his or her death was a citizen of Grenada, and must have given outstanding service which has altered the course of the history of Grenada. Additionally, that individual must have given service to Grenada, “which has been exemplified by visionary and pioneering leadership, extraordinary achievements or attainment of the highest excellence, and which has redounded to the honour of Grenada; or through his or her heroic exploits or sacrifices contributed to the improvement of the economic and social conditions of Grenada.”
