People's Revolutionary Army (Grenada)

The People’s Revolutionary Army (PRA) was the military of Grenada between 1979 and 1983.

The army was founded in the late 1970s as the National Liberation Army (NLA) by 12 members of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) who were known as “The 12 Apostles” including Hudson Austin and 11 others who had gone for secret military training in Guyana in preparation for the overthrow of the government of Eric Gairy.

After the New Jewel Movement seized power, the army expanded at a rapid pace. By 1983 Grenada’s People’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (PRAF) outnumbered their Eastern Caribbean neighbors combined. The Soviet Union and Cuba supplied most of the weapons, and selected soldiers and officers were trained in those countries. By 1983 the Movement was split over the communist connection with one faction being led by Maurice Bishop who wanted closer ties with the west, and Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, who wanted to speed up the conversion to a communist state with the backing of General Hudson Austin.

On 13 October, Coard had Bishop placed under house arrest after he failed to step down. Over the next few days, pro-Bishop demonstrations occurred throughout the island and a general strike was called in St. George's. On 18 October, demonstrators surged through the city chanting pro-Bishop and anti-Coard slogans while police and PRA soldiers watched. The protests reached a climax on 19 October, when foreign Minister Unison Whiteman returned from New York where he was scheduled to address the United Nations, began to negotiate for Bishop's release. Whiteman addressed a growing crowd in the streets of St. George's. The crowds went to Mount Royal to free Bishop themselves. At first, Bishop's guards held their ground and even fired warning shots, but eventually were outnumbered and the demonstrators freed Bishop. Bishop, Whiteman and the demonstrators then went to Fort Rupport to free several of his ministers. Fort Rupport was being used as a base for the People's Revolutionary Army.

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