Grenada is a small Caribbean island 150 km north of Venezuela. In 1979, a revolution led by Maurice Bishop succeeded with Cuban support. One of his projects was the construction of a large airstrip, which US President Reagan claimed was designed for Soviet aircraft.
During an internal power struggle, while 800 US medical students were on the island, Reagan used the unrest as justification for ordering an invasion. On October 25, 1983, 10,000 US, Jamaican and Caribbean troops invaded the island, in a move that killed over 100 civilians and was condemned internationally by the UN General Assembly.