With the clock ticking on Grenada’s decision whether to allow the US to set up a military radar system on the island to monitor its nemesis, Venezuela, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has said he will update the nation when parliament meets later this week, even as a key sub-regional bloc says it fully supports the nation at this hour.

Speaking on his social media program with constituents and citizens, Mitchell said that the US had formally asked for the system to be mounted at the Maurice Bishop International Airport since August, but no decision has been made.

Reports about the request surfaced earlier this month, sparking muted protests involving NGO groups and calls for the island, which the US had invaded back in 1983, to reject the request and stay clear of efforts by the Trump administration to topple the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.

Addressing National Heroes Day observances in Grenada on Monday, Didacus Jules, director general of the nine-nation Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, referred to the current state of perilous times in the region, contending that small island nations must avoid being used by mighty powers to help them fight various battles.

“We have seen how great powers use small lands for proxy wars and how the lives of ordinary people are left shattered in their wake.  Once again, the powerful seek to use the small as pawns in their great game of global dominance. We recognize the enormous pressures brought to bear on small states that strive to chart their own course in a turbulent world. And we affirm the right of every Caribbean nation to determine its destiny, free from coercion, free from fear, and faithful to its own conscience,” he said.

Last week, the US sent retiring Southern Military Commander Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey to Antigua and Grenada for high-level talks on possible assistance to the US on its ambitions in the 15-nation bloc. Mitchell was away in Africa but Holsey did indeed meet with Antigua’s PM Gaston Browne. Browne has opted not to disclose details of the talks.

Mitchell’s planned address to parliament on Friday comes as the US is continuing military strikes against vessels allegedly fetching bales of cocaine to the US through an organized system in place in the hemisphere. Such action has sparked global condemnation with calls for authorities to prove that such cargoes are intended for the US, as the OECS head urged the cabinet to hark back to the past before making any decision.

“We must ensure that the scars of the past do not become the wounds of the present. Our task is to transform pain into purpose, memory into motivation, history into hope,” as the island “navigates imponderable currents,” he said, reminding the audience that the Caribbean wants to be treated as a zone of peace. He also called for unity on the issue.
“At times like these, it becomes even more vital that we do not allow our internal differences — political, social, or ideological — to fracture the unity that our ancestors forged through struggle.”