Reagan Hailed in Grenada as ‘National Hero’

Twenty-eight months after he ordered a military invasion of this tiny Caribbean island, President Reagan told more than 20,000 cheering Grenadians on Thursday that he “will never be sorry that I made the decision to help you.”

“We won’t be satisfied,” Reagan said, “until all the people of the Americas have joined us in the warm sunshine of liberty and justice.”

Grenada’s Prime Minister Herbert Blaize introduced Reagan as “our own national hero, our own rescuer, after God.” He said the crowd was the largest ever on the island, and he praised Reagan for having “the courage . . . to dig Grenada out of the stinking communist hole” it was in two years ago.

October Coup

U.S. troops landed in Grenada in October, 1983, after Marxist Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was deposed and arrested in a coup led by even more radical politicians. Bishop was slain a few days later.

Resistance to the invasion by the Grenadian army and armed Cubans building an airport for the Marxist regime was quickly put down. American troops, who were generally welcomed by the islanders, pulled out about a year later.

Elliott Abrams, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, told reporters en route to Grenada with the President aboard Air Force One, “There comes a point--and we reached it in Grenada--where no amount of talking will change the situation.’

In his speech, the President drew a parallel between the situation in Grenada in 1983 and present-day Nicaragua.

“Today in Nicaragua we see a chain of events similar to what happened here,” he said. “We hear the same excuses made for the communists, while the people of Nicaragua see their freedom slowly but surely eaten away.”

Reagan told Grenadians that “I will never be sorry that I made the decision to help you” and said that the United States “must help those struggling for freedom in Nicaragua.”

Asked beforehand by reporters with advance copies of his speech if his comparison meant that he was prepared to use military force in Nicaragua, he replied, “No, I think it’s an entirely different situation. We have no plans.”

However, the President is in the middle of a campaign to win congressional approval for $100 million in military and other aid to rebels fighting the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.

Plaque Unveiled

Reagan began his five-hour visit by unveiling a commemorative bronze plaque at Port Salines airport, expressing “the gratitude of the Grenadian people.” The airport, a showcase facility, was started by the Cubans and completed with $19 million supplied by Washington. Reagan had charged that the airport was being built to accommodate Soviet warplanes.

“Now it will be used to bring tourists and businessmen instead of bombers and spy planes,” he said Thursday. “Tourists are nicer, and they’re a lot more fun.”

Reagan’s visit had all the trappings of a celebration--large, enthusiastic crowds, festive island music, native folk dancing and a strong sense of shared ideological victory.

The only somber moment came when Reagan placed a wreath at the base of a granite memorial to the 19 U.S. servicemen who died in the invasion. The memorial is on the seaside campus of the St. George’s University School of Medicine, about 100 yards from where U.S. helicopters landed to evacuate American students in October, 1983.

Reagan recalled the Cuban and Soviet weapons that U.S. troops uncovered here and said that Cuba’s President Fidel Castro is still “doing the bidding of his faraway masters” in Moscow.

‘Peace Partners’

Reagan spoke from a specially built stage in Queen’s Park, under a huge banner in Grenada’s colors--green, yellow and red--and bearing the words “Grenada and America, Partners in Peace.”

Thousands of people crowded behind a makeshift bamboo barrier to catch a glimpse of Reagan. Bleachers bulged with schoolchildren in starched uniforms waving American and Grenadian flags. A calypso singer entertained the President with a raucous musical tribute to “Uncle Reagan” and the U.S. invasion.

At St. George’s central Market Square, about a mile from Queen’s Park, members of the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement tried without success to mount a protest to the Reagan visit. Only about two dozen persons were involved.

Between his public appearances, Reagan met privately with the leaders of Grenada and eight other Caribbean countries. But he had little to offer in terms of concrete assistance.

He mentioned three modest initiatives to spur sagging Caribbean economies, largely by shifting existing funds. He announced a tripling in college and vocational scholarships to 1,500 by 1988, and a $5.5-million program to modernize the region’s decaying legal system.

Move on Quotas

He also said the Administration will liberalize textile quotas to allow increased exports of clothing to the United States.

Two years ago, the Reagan Administration inaugurated its Caribbean Basin Initiative, which allows a number of products to enter the United States duty-free. According to a U.S. official, the results of the policy have been mixed. He said that 35,000 new jobs have been created but that this has been offset by a decline in the prices of such basic crops as sugar.

New investments are expected to create more than 600 jobs in Grenada this year, but with 9,000 people out of work--a quarter of the work force--unemployment will continue to be a problem, especially among young people.

Tourism in Grenada, which has a population of 94,000, has risen sharply since the invasion. Before the invasion, Grenada had 80 cruise ships a year, and the number has since increased to 174.

But the island is still short of hotels, and rising land costs could discourage the building of additional hotels. According to a local official, half an acre of beachfront property that used to cost $8,000 now costs $40,000.

The Administration has poured $72.6 million in aid into Grenada since the invasion, including the $19 million for the airport. But officials said the aid is being scaled down, in part because of budget cuts required by the Gramm-Rudman balanced budget legislation. The 1986 aid package of $20 million is halved to $10 million in the 1987 budget.

Times staff writer William R. Long in Grenada contributed to this story.