The Shattering of The New Jewel

1983 7000 US troops invade Grenada in order to dismantle the Soviet Union- and Cuba- aligned government of Maurice Bishop. The Bishop government begins constructing an airport which Reagan claims constitutes a "threat" against the United States. The US Joint Chief of Staffs also claims that, in the event of a Russian attack on Western Europe, Grenada would interdict the supply lines between the Caribbean and Western Europe and without oil from the region America would be doomed. After the invasion, Grenada receives $48 million in aid and pro-US Herbert Blaize is elected Prime Minister with $675,000 in funds channeled through the CIA. "One hundred nations in the UN have not agreed with us on just about everything that's come before them, where we're involved, and it didn't upset my breakfast at all." - Ronald Reagan, former U.S. President, basking in the triumph that was the U.S. invasion of Grenada, 1983