The Caribbean Revolutionary Killed by His Own Revolution

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]The most beloved revolutionary in the Caribbean was killed by his own revolution. It's 1979, St. George's, Grenada. A charismatic lawyer named Maurice Bishop leads a bloodless coup and takes power on this tiny island of 100,000 people. He builds schools. He teaches thousands to read. He constructs a new airport to bring tourists and trade. The people adore him. For a time, Grenada feels like proof that revolution could have a human face, but inside the movement, something darker is growing.

[00:00:27]His deputy, Bernard Coard, and a circle of hardline Marxists decide Bishop is too soft, too popular, too independent.

[00:00:34]In October 1983, they place him under house arrest. Thousands of supporters storm the building and free him. Coard's faction responds with soldiers. On October 19th, Bishop and seven of his closest allies are lined up against a wall at Fort Rupert. They are shot dead by the same revolutionaries who once called him brother. The Caribbean's greatest revolutionary was Maurice Bishop.