Above: Grenada

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Grenada celebrated its 40th anniversary of independence this weekend, the seventh CARICOM member state to do so.

Grenada had been celebrating for a number of days leading up to the anniversary, which officially took place on Friday.

The celebrations included events both at home and in Diaspora communities around the world.

Grenada achieved its independence from the United Kingdom on Feb. 7, 1974. It became an associated state in March 1967.

“Let us toast this remarkably young, but maturing democracy that we have cultivated; nurtured through these 40 years of literal blood, sweat and tears,” Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell said in a national address. “Now, we are here today as a model of peace and stability in our region.”

“For every nation in Africa and the Caribbean that emerged from the era of colonialism, the 40th anniversary of independence has been regarded as a coming of age,” Mitchell said.