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Relations worsened when Bishop announced in November 1979 that Fidel Castro would help Grenada build a new "international airport," ostensibly to aid the island's tourist business. A Cuban construction brigade, using 85 pieces of Soviet heavy construction equipment, arrived in December to start the work. The airport's 10,000-ft. runway would be compatible with both tourist-laden jumbo jets and long-range military aircraft.
Shortly after taking office in 1981, the Reagan Administration told Bishop that his ties to Cuba posed a threat to the peace of the region. As relations with the U.S. worsened, Grenada's links with the Kremlin grew more open. Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard visited Moscow in May 1980, where he signed a treaty giving the Soviets permission to land their long-range reconnaissance planes, the TU-95, on Grenada when the new airport was completed.
On a visit to Barbados in April 1982, Reagan complained to Prime Minister Tom Adams and Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga about the "spread of the virus" of Communism from Grenada. The two Caribbean leaders shared the President's concern. Recalled a presidential aide who was there: "They really beat up on us about Grenada."
Reagan's concern apparently grew when Bishop visited Moscow in July 1982 and said there that the Soviet Union had granted Grenada long-term financial credits to construct a land station linked to a Soviet communications satellite.
By March of this year, Reagan had become exasperated with critics who belittled his worries about a scenic tourist island whose main activity is producing about one-third of the world's supply of nutmeg. Declared the President: "It isn't nutmeg that's at stake in the Caribbean and Central America. It is the U.S. national security." In a TV speech 13 days later, he showed a classified photo of the Cuban barracks on Grenada and the growing airstrip. "Grenada doesn't even have an air force," Reagan said. "Who is this intended for?" He answered his own question: "The Soviet-Cuban militarization of Grenada can only be seen as power projection into the region."
Then came a potential turning point. In June, Bishop traveled to Washington without any official invitation, apparently in an attempt to improve relations. After a week of hesitation, William Clark, who was then National Security Adviser, and Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth Dam met Bishop for 40 minutes. They gave him another anti-Communist lecture and a warning: if he wanted to become friendlier with Washington, he had to ease his repressive rule and hold free elections.
Back in Grenada, Bishop told colleagues in his New Jewel Movement that he wanted to test Washington's intentions. He talked of opening a dialogue with the U.S. and toned down his anti-American rhetoric. In response, according to officials both in Washington and in some of Grenada's neighboring islands, Cuba encouraged the harder-line deputy, Coard, to push Bishop out. But this effort spun wildly out of control.