http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/Shalominterven.html

Right after Bishop was killed, General Hudson Austin, head of the armed forces, announced the formation of a Revolutionary Military Command (RMC) and declared a round-the-clock, shoot-on- sight 96 hour curfew. U.S. officials subsequently claimed that the draconian curfew endangered U.S. citizens, and that Americans could not leave the island. Neither of these claims was true.

SOURCE: "PROTECTING AMERICANS ABROAD: PRETEXT FOR INTERVENTION"
STEPHEN R. SHALOM: Imperial Alibis (Boston: South End Press, 1993).

In later Congressional testimony, Deputy Secretary Dam acknowledged that he was unaware of anyone -- American or Grenadian -- shot pursuant to the curfew.<120> There is no evidence of any action taken or threatened against any foreign citizen during this period.<121> Reagan administration officials announced on October 27 that they had found evidence that the Grenadian government, together with Cuban advisers, was planning to take American hostages,<122> but this claim was retracted a short while later.<123> (Of course, this didn't stop noted legal scholars like John Norton Moore -- writing after the retraction -- from citing the false claim.<124>) Not only was there no such plan, but both Grenadian authorities and Cuban officials in Havana gave explicit assurances that U.S. citizens were safe. U.S. officials did not bother to disclose these assurances publicly. When they later came to light, the White House explained that the pledges were not trusted.<125>The Grenadian government was particularly solicitous of the welfare of the medical students, whose presence on the island was crucial to the country's economy.<126> Austin himself visited the vice-chancellor of the medical school to assure him that there was no danger to the students and to offer any assistance to help the school cope with the curfew; water was specially provided and school officials were given passes to go out despite the curfew.<127> Students who went outside during the curfew reported that they were not stopped or threatened.<128>For the country as a whole, the curfew was temporarily lifted on the third day to give people chance to buy food.<129> The government provided the medical students with vehicles and escorts to get from one campus to the other.<130>The medical school took a poll of its students and only ten percent wanted to leave Grenada.<131> On the evening of Sunday, October 23, 500 parents of the medical students met in New York City to discuss the situation. Many had been in touch with their children. They sent a telegram to President Reagan urging him not to "take any precipitous actions at this time."<132>

Late Sunday night a radio broadcast from outside Grenada announced that an invasion of the island was imminent. This caused many of the students to get worried -- as well it might, for, more than anything else, it was an invasion that would put them at risk -- and now perhaps half of them wanted to leave.<136> Fear of invasion, however, is hardly a rationale for an invasion, particularly because there was no obstacle to orderly evacuation if it were desired.British and Canadian diplomats present on the island did not believe an invasion was necessary to protect their nationals.<137> Administrators of the medical school supported this assessment,<138> though one of them, vice-chancellor Geoffrey Bourne, later changed his view on the basis of some rather peculiar reasoning, and who knows what pressure. According to Bourne, Austin had mistakenly thought that all the U.S. students were being taken out of the country and came to him very upset; Bourne explained to him that this was not the intention, but concluded from this that there were grave doubts whether they could have gotten out.<139> The Grenadian government sent a diplomatic note to the United States that Sunday night and broadcast the text over Radio Free Grenada. It condemned any planned invasion and offered to hold talks to ensure good relations. "We reiterate that the lives, well-being and property of every American and other foreign citizens residing in Grenada are fully protected and guaranteed by our government." However, the note went on, "any American or foreign citizen in our country who desires to leave Grenada for whatever reasons can fully do so using the normal procedures through our airports on commercial aircraft. As far as we are concerned, these aircraft can be regular flights or chartered flights and we will facilitate them in every way we can."<140>