Missing the Point?
Margaret E. Crahan’s May 11 review of my book “In Bloody Terms: The Betrayal of the Church in Marxist Grenada” fails to discuss the most important supporting material for the book’s central thesis.
Maurice Bishop promised freedom, justice and hope for the poor and the oppressed. Instead, during the five years of Marxist reign, the revolution denied the people free elections, closed down the free press, imprisoned political opponents and locked the country into a military and economic alliance with the Soviet-Cuban power bloc. A number of Granadians were tortured. Revolutionaries harassed Christians--clergy and laity alike, infiltrated church organizations, weakened religious education, took control of church property and singled out the church as the revolution’s chief antagonist. Crahan ignored all this.
What is absolutely clear is that under Bishop’s Marxist regime, there were gross violations of human rights. Such violations do not occur in Grenada today. Crahan failed to mention either reality.
ANDREW J. ZWERNEMAN
South Bend, Ind.
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