With regard to Mr Troy Small who was beaten by a group which he alleged included a uniformed member of the Guyana Defence Force, I was shocked and appalled at the picture of him and his account of being questioned in relation to the Ministry of Health fire. It read like something out of the darkest, most despotic regimes, in the darkest corners of this earth. It is appalling! It is shameful! It is unequivocally torture! It must stop! The Guyanese people should be outraged.
I attended high school with Bruce Lovell, now second in command of the Guyana Defence Force. I have admired his ascent in silence from afar. I cannot fathom that Mr Lovell holds a senior post in an organization that it has been alleged engaged in torture and remains silent about it.
I also blame the Guyanese people for this state of affairs, because they have remained silent for so long in the face of this brutality. I surmise that many of them are so angry at the prevalence of crime in Guyana, that they may conclude that anyone who is even suspected of engaging in criminal activity deserves the wrath of those in ‘law enforcement’ – and I use the words ‘law enforcement’ in the Guyanese context, loosely. I implore them to consider, however, that some day, the proverbial shoes may be on the other foot – it may be them or a member of their family whom the ‘authorities’ remotely suspect may have engaged in criminal behaviour. Torture may not be too far from their doorsteps.
It is time that Guyanese hold their ‘leaders’ accountable. It is time that they demand justice. It is time that they cast ‘racial considerations’ aside and together demand answers from this government and those it has placed in authority. I demand that Gary Best and Henry Greene once and for all, put an end to torture by the organizations that they lead. It is unbecoming! It is inhumane! It is uncivilized! It is illegal! Enough!
Yours faithfully,
Terrence Duncan
