CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Prime Minister calls for October 25 to remain Liberation Day.

GRENADA, October de 2010.- Grenada’s Prime Minister has called for October 25th to be maintained as a holiday, in celebration of Grenada’s liberation following the tragic events of 1983.

His comments come in the wake of discussions suggesting that October 19th be observed as a public holiday due to the number of Grenadians who died on that fateful day.

“What happened on October 19th was a tragedy, we don’t celebrate tragedies, we remember them, we commemorate them as a lesson that they should not happen again, but we celebrate liberation,” the Prime Minister told a ceremony at the St. George’s University, which remembered the US soldiers who died during the Intervention.

Prime Minister Thomas, who was rescued from Her Majesty’s Prison, after the intervention, recognized that both US citizens and Grenadians lost their lives during the events of 1983 and called for history to be properly recorded.

He repeated an earlier call for Grenadians to become more involved in the governance of the country, suggesting that the events of 1983 could have been averted if civic organisations and law abiding citizens stood up to the excesses practiced by the revolution.

“We must all, as a people, become involved in the democratic process. It cannot be left just up to the political organisations. The responsibility is on all of us to protect our way of life,” the Prime Minister told the SGU ceremony.

“My message is for Grenadians. We must respond to excesses in government and in the politics. We must not just sit by and look on,” he said.

The Prime Minister’s comments were lauded by many of the local and foreign dignitaries who attended the event, many taking the occasion of the reception that followed to compliment Mr. Thomas.

“I really appreciate your comments,” one person told Prime Minister.

Two former Governors General joined Sir Carlyle Glean, other government officials and representatives of the St. George’s University at the ceremony. (Cubaminrex-Embacuba Granada)