Like many Grenadians, Lowe argues that the mysteries still shrouding the events of that long-ago October nurture a rift between those who thought the invasion was necessary and those, like her, who believe their country was used as a Cold War battlefield.
Grenadians know that hard-line Marxist rivals within the New Jewel Movement of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop deposed him and that he and his allies were killed six days later. But grave doubts remain about who ordered and conducted the executions. The bodies disappeared in the melee and have never been recovered.
"Somebody knows where they are," insists Foreign Minister Elvin Nimrod, who fears there will never be national closure on the confrontation until the remains are found and properly buried. "Some say the U.S. soldiers took the bodies away."
U.S. officials have long denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the slain leader's remains and point to his political foes as a better source for explanation. Chief among the knowledgeable suspects is Bernard Coard, the strident Marxist who proclaimed himself prime minister after the party leadership ousted Bishop. Accused of ordering his charismatic rival's execution, Coard was convicted with 16 other coup plotters in 1986 and sentenced to death -- a term commuted to life five years later.
From the Richmond Hill Prison overlooking the scene of his crimes, Coard denies any knowledge of the victims' whereabouts and describes as "total foolishness" the version of events presented at his trial on charges of treason and murder. As fellow inmates herded goats and beheaded chickens on the farm surrounding his cellblock, Coard intimated that the executions were the work of two Grenadian quislings of the CIA.
"We were all clear on one thing: There was no way the revolution could survive without Maurice as leader," insists Coard, a youthful 59 and unbowed by two decades of incarceration. "With Maurice's death, the revolution died."
The U.S. forces were widely welcomed when they arrived to evacuate the students and halt the deadly political infighting. But many express disappointment with the level of U.S. aid and investment that followed.
Grenadians had expected easier access to the U.S. after their nation became the site of the proxy superpower confrontation, says Paul Scoon, who as governor-general represented the queen of England here for 14 years, spanning British colonial rule, 1974 independence, Bishop's coup five years later and the 1983 invasion. On the other hand, he argues, leaving Grenada to stand on its own feet was in the nation's best interest, spurring private enterprise instead of fostering dependence.
