Thursday, October 24, 2013

Grenada 30 years later. 1983-2013 Part I

File:Point Salinas International Airport, Grenada.jpg  File:US Army Rangers parachute into Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury.jpg

Tomorrow we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the invasion. An important event that changed the course of US armed forces Special Operations. It also stopped the expansion and influence of the Soviet Union, Cuba in the Caribbean. A small island became an important pawn during the Cold War where the US and Soviet Union and their proxies battled for every strategic choke point in the world.

 
Grenada became just that. In 1983 the Cubans with Soviet support began expanding the airstrip  at Point Salines; to accommodate the larger Tupolev 95(Bear) used in anti submarine warfare. Also the strip became like a permanent concrete aircraft carrier that served as a stopover for the troops leaving Africa, and as they did; would leave their gear (over 10,000 small arms mostly AK47, RPG's, ) which would later be resold regionally to terrorist organizations such as FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Front) or ELN (National Liberation Army) also in Colombia. The airstrip would also serve as a forward operating base for Cuban MiG 23's that would provide the absolute coverage of the entire South Eastern Caribbean. So it permitted, The Cuban & Soviet guard post would have provided a multitude of roles. It even gets better, a potential eavesdropping communication site for ultra low frequency that could monitor the strait of  Grenada (an underwater pass between Grenada & Tobago)



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