Bernard Coard

Winston Bernard Coard (born August 10, 1944 in Victoria ) is a Grenadian politician .

Life

Coard had been interested in politics since his youth. The visit to the Grenada Boy's Secondary School brought him the acquaintance and friendship with Maurice Bishop, who was also studying there . Together they founded the Grenada Assembly of Youth After Truth in 1962 and gave public lectures in Grenada's capital St. George’s .

Coard studied sociology and economics at the private Brandeis University in Waltham ( Massachusetts ) in the USA . In the United States he also joined the Communist Party . In 1967 he went to Great Britain and worked as a teacher in London for two years . At the University of Sussex , Coard studied political economy from 1969 . During this time he was a member of the British Communist Party .

After successfully completing his studies , Coard returned to the Caribbean . In Jamaica he was a lecturer at the University of the West Indies there. He became a member of the Worker's Liberation League , whose manifesto he was instrumental in shaping. From 1972 to 1974 he also worked at the Institute of International Relations .

In 1976, Coard returned to Grenada, ruled by Sir Eric Gairy , and joined Bishop's New Jewel Movement (NJM). In the 1976 elections he successfully ran for a seat in parliament. However, the NJM could not prevail overall and had to be content with the role of the opposition . In 1977, Coard within the NJM the left circle Training Organization for revolution, Education and Liberation (OREL) ( Organization for Revolution, education and liberation ).

Prime Minister Eric Gairy's leadership style was one of intimidation, repression and persecution of opposition activists, with the support of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet . Bishop and Coard then contacted Fidel Castro in Cuba . During Gairy's stay at the UN in New York , the government was ousted by the NJM in a relatively peaceful revolution on March 13, 1979.

While Bishop was the new Prime Minister, Coard held the offices of Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Trade and Planning in the newly formed government. Coard, who was not as popular with the population as Bishop, gathered influential members of the NJM in the OREL; in addition to his own wife Phyllis Coard, who at the time held the office of President of the Women's Association, these were the Deputy Secretary of Defense Ewart Layne and Major Leon Cornwall. Coard also maintained close contact with various communist parties in the region. Finally he resigned from the Central Committee in 1982 with the charge that it no longer pursued its own revolutionary goals.

In a coup d'état in October 1983, Bishop was overthrown by members of his own NJM movement under Bernard Coard and executed on October 19, 1983. At the request of the Organization of the East Caribbean States (OECS), the US invasion began on October 25, 1983 , which resulted in the overthrow of Coard and his regime.

Coard was jailed along with his wife, Phyllis Coard, as well as members of the NJM Selwyn Strachan , John Ventour , Liam James and Keith Roberts . In August 1986 he was sentenced to death by a court . This sentence was not served and was commuted to life imprisonment in Richmond Hill Prison in 1991 .

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed the prison. Many prisoners then fled; Coard stayed. In 2007, his sentence was commuted to a 30-year prison term (including the time already served). On September 5, 2009, Coard was released from custody.

Bernard Coard has three children: Sola Coard (* 1971), Abiola Coard (* 1972) and Neto Coard (* 1979).

literature

• Bernard Coard: How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System (1971)

Web links

• The Grenada Revolution Online