Revision 784049061 of "Mongoose Gang" on enwiki

The '''Mongoose Gang''' was a  [[private army]] or [[militia]] which operated from 1970 to 1979 under the control of Sir [[Eric Gairy]], the [[List of heads of government of Grenada|Premier]] and later [[Prime Minister of Grenada|Prime Minister]] of [[Grenada]], and head of the [[Grenada United Labour Party]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDgairy.htm|title=Eric Gairy : Biography|accessdate=2013-10-08}}</ref> 

The terms "police aides" and "Mongoose Gang" were sometimes used synonymously and interchangeably; although it should be added that the names of certain persons were unmistakably identified as members of the Mongoose Gang as distinct from also being police aides.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thegrenadarevolutiononline.com/duffus56thru57.html|title=Report of the Duffus Commission of Inquiry into the Breakdown of Law & Order, and Police Brutality in Grenada|accessdate=2017-06-05}}</ref> 

The Mongoose Gang was responsible for silencing critics,<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/223562/Sir-Eric-Matthew-Gairy Sir Eric Matthew Gairy (prime minister of Grenada) - Encyclopædia Britannica<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> breaking up demonstrations and murdering opponents of the Gairy regime, including [[Rupert Bishop]], the father of [[Maurice Bishop]] in January 1974. Maurice Bishop himself was beaten by members of the Mongoose Gang two months previously, in November 1973, and jailed.<ref name="Jessup1998">{{cite book|author=John E. Jessup|title=An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Conflict and Conflict Resolution, 1945-1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hP7jJAkTd9MC&pg=PA75|date=1 January 1998|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-28112-9|pages=75–}}</ref> The violence of the Mongoose Gang and the Grenadian police became a more important factor than the state of the economy in generating unrest.<ref name="Meeks2001">{{cite book|author=Brian Meeks|title=Caribbean Revolutions and Revolutionary Theory: An Assessment of Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLs0H9cAGLYC&pg=PA142|year=2001|publisher=University of the West Indies Press|isbn=978-976-640-104-7|pages=142–}}</ref>

In November 1974, 10 months after Grenada's independence from [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], Bishop's [[New Jewel Movement]] issued a People's Indictment calling for "power to the people" and declaring that "the Gairy Government was born in blood, baptized in fire, christened with bullets, is married to foreigners, and is resulting in death to the people".<ref name="Foran2005">{{cite book|author=John Foran|title=Taking Power: On the Origins of Third World Revolutions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szJtXBrr2poC&pg=PA164|date=17 November 2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-44518-4|pages=164–}}</ref>

In the [[Grenadian general election, 1976|1976 Grenadian general election]], the Grenada United Labour Party won nine of the 15 seats, whilst the opposition People's Alliance (a coalition of the New Jewel Movement, the [[Grenada National Party]] and the United People's Party) won the remainder. However, the elections were marred by fraud (and branded fraudulent by international observers), as the Mongoose Gang had been threatening the opposition.<ref name=N1>[[Dieter Nohlen|Nohlen, D]] (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p301-302 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6</ref> 

By 1977 Gairy began receiving advice from General [[Augusto Pinochet]] of [[Chile]] on how to deal with civil unrest. His police and military also received "counter insurgency" training from the Pinochet regime. The New Jewel Movement retaliated by developing links with [[Fidel Castro]] and his Marxist government in [[Cuba]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/COLDgairy.htm|title=Eric Gairy|accessdate=2016-06-01}}</ref>

The Mongoose Gang was used against protesters during the 1977 [[General Assembly of the Organization of American States]] hosted by Grenada.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ad1a70.html|title=Grenada: The "Mongoose Gang" in Grenada|accessdate=2016-06-01}}</ref>

In 1979, a rumour circulated that Gairy would use the Gang to eliminate leaders of the New Jewel Movement while he was out of the country.<ref name="Mawby2012">{{cite book|author=Spencer Mawby|title=Ordering Independence: The End of Empire in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1947-69|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jrI_pys1zUC&pg=PA239|date=20 August 2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-27818-9|pages=239–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://writing.danmalo.info/tag/mongoose-gang/|title=Grenada: Gairy, Bishop, Balance or Coup|accessdate=2016-06-01}}</ref>
In response, Bishop overthrew Gairy in March of that year while the latter was visiting the [[United States]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gov.gd/biographies/eric_gairy_bio.html|title=Biography: Sir Eric Matthew Gairy|accessdate=2016-06-01}}</ref>
The Mongoose Gang then ceased to operate; the Gang's leader, [[Mosyln Bishop]], a taxi driver, was subsequently sentenced later that year to fourteen years in prison for attempting to murder three people in November 1973.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=757&dat=19791208&id=QzZkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vkYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2458,1135652 The Virgin Islands Daily News - Google News Archive Search<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The name 'Mongoose Gang' originated in the 1950s, when the local health officials sought to eliminate the [[mongoose]] as a pest, and paid people who brought in mongoose tails as proof of killing the animals. The men who were employed in such work became known as the 'mongoose-gang'. Later, the name shifted to refer to gangs of political thugs on Grenada.<ref name="AllsoppAllsopp2003">{{cite book|author1=Richard Allsopp|author2=Jeannette Allsopp|title=Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmvSk13sIc0C&pg=PA385|year=2003|publisher=University of the West Indies Press|isbn=978-976-640-145-0|pages=385–}}</ref>
The Mongoose Gang has often been compared to the [[Tonton Macoute]] of [[Haiti]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/grenada/history|title=Grenada : History|accessdate=2013-10-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-96/end-eric#axzz4AMgDH6uW|title=The end of Eric Gairy|accessdate=2016-06-01}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=980OYZ6M7k0 Video: GRENADA POLICE - Reporter statement about Grenadian police]
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}

[[Category:History of Grenada]]
[[Category:Private armies]]
[[Category:Militias]]
[[Category:Irregular military]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1970]]
[[Category:Political repression]]