Herbert Blaize

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Herbert Augustus Blaize (February 26, 1918–December 19, 1989) was the chief minister of Grenada from 1960 until 1961 and from 1962 until 1967 and the prime minister of Grenada from 1984 until his death.

Blaize was born in the town of Cariacou, on Grenada. In 1953 he formed the Grenada National Party, as a rival party to the Grenada United Labor Party of Eric Gairy, who would be Blaize's main political rival for the next 25 years. Blaize entered the legislature in 1957 and became Minister of Trade and Production. He was appointed chief minister in 1960, lost power to Gairy in 1961, and was reappointed in 1962 after Gairy was dismissed. In 1967 Grenada became an associated state within the British empire, gaining more internal self-government. Soon afterwards, Blaize lost power and Gairy began a long tenure as Prime Minister.

In 1976 Blaize's center-right National Party joined forces with the left-wing New Jewel Movement led by Maurice Bishop for the elections that year, which Gairy and the GULP won. The alliance between Blaize and Bishop ended by 1979 when Bishop seized power. Blaize retired from politics and moved back to Cariacou, until after the intervention by the United States in 1983. During the election campaign of 1984 Blaize merged his parties with several other center-right parties to form the New National Party, which took 14 of 15 seats after the election.

Blaize's government advocated a strong economic and military alliance for Grenada with the United States, and other overseas investment. Blaize was often criticized for being authoritarian. In addition to being Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989, he was also finance minister, home affairs minister, and national security minister, along with several other posts. By the time of his death from natural causes, he was unpopular even with his own party and was receiving many pleas for his resignation. He died near St. George's, Grenada. The New National Party lost elections that were held soon after his death, but has been the governing party since 1995 led by Keith Mitchell.