Toolbox

Terror on Thursday

‘Rupununi uprising’ hostage remembers the siege

Almost 40 years after the Rupununi uprising, the bloody insurrection in which six people were killed when armed ranchers overran Lethem, Steve Sagar can still remember the heat of the sun on his face as he lay on the road, uncertain whether the men pointing shotguns at him would shoot.

Steve Sagar

He is now in his late 70s. He was the assistant District Commissioner of Rupununi District at the time. He doesn’t remember all the names. He doesn’t know what happened to everybody afterward. But Sagar does remember the small details leading up to the attack and then the sound of the police station being fired upon by a bazooka. The Lethem Police Station was destroyed and five policemen were killed by the rebels, who were armed with bazookas, automatic rifles and shotguns. Policemen and soldiers eventually forced the rebels to flee across the Takutu River into Brazil.

In his first public interview on the ‘uprising,’ Sagar was still very emotional as he spoke with Stabroek News about his ordeal as one of 40 people who were taken hostage for just over 24 hours.

It started on a Thursday. It was January 2, 1969, the first working day of the new year and he and cashier Dennis Rodrigues had just completed balancing the cash books, which the survey board had to review before any business could be transacted. Before the board members checked the sub-treasury books, Sagar took them across to the nearby ‘trade store’ to buy the District Commissioner (DC) Motilall Persaud enough time to verify the cashbook. The trade store came under the administration of the DC. The board comprised the agricultural officer Harold Ragnauth and the officer-in-charge, Police Inspector Braithwaite.

It was about quarter past nine when they were done and Braithwaite stayed behind in Sagar’s office. “He told me that he wanted to see the District Commissioner. He asked me if I heard about any unrest in the place. I said ‘no’ I heard nothing.” A gang of mostly young, unemployed Amerindian men had shot at the police station. They were deemed to be drunk at the time and Braithwaite ruled out any political motive.

While they talked Valerie Hart, one of ring leaders of the uprising, turned up and went to Persaud. Her husband, the owner of the ranch Good Hope at Pirara, was also believed to have been involved in the plot. The Roman Catholic priest in the area Fr Keane also arrived to see Persaud and after Hart left he went to him. Braithwaite continued to wait. It was then that a bomb exploded on the western side of the building.

“Braithwaite turned to me and said the police station is under siege again,” Sagar said. “[He] and I got up and went around to the western door of the building to look down the road. There in the middle of the road was a mini-mook with a machine gun on the bonnet. Someone was alongside it. While debating whether it was another attack on the police station, a big explosion went off. Later we learnt it was a bazooka. It may have hit the gas tank of the police station. We turned to come in back into the office.”

There, they saw two men armed with rifles coming through the eastern door. “Nobody moved. Everybody put up their hands. One was Neville Junor and the other, Kenneth Melville.” There were several people in the office: “…‘Old’ Junor; Fr Keane had come out and was sitting down near to ‘Old’ Junor; Barry, the customs officer; another clerk who used to make up the pay sheet for the public works people; Jackson, who was the messenger; and Stanley D’Aguiar, whose daughter was working at the trade store at the time.

D’Aguiar’s daughter is the only other survivor held hostage, who I know; Victor [Hernandes], who was a political assistant to the PNC. There was one other person but I can’t remember who he was. I believe it was Nandlall.”

Junor jumped over the counter into the office. He asked for Persaud and fired three shots in the direction of his office. The shots went through the door. Before he got to Persaud’s office he walked by the office of the secretary, who was his (Junor’s) wife. “Junor went into her office and started to hit and verbally abuse her before pulling her out through the western door–the same one that we were looking through earlier,” Sagar said. “We learnt that as soon after Fr Keane had come out and the second bomb went off, the DC left his office through an exit at the back of his office and went across to his house, which was next door. His wife was there. She was very pregnant. She got the baby the next day.”

When Neville Junor left, Kenneth Melville jumped into the office and landed next to Braithwaite who disarmed him. Sagar said, “When that happened, Hernandes, Barry, Nandlall and Rodrigues ran down to the [Persaud’s] office to exit the building. Braithwaite turned to me and said ‘Sagar, what are we going to do.’ I said, ‘I don’t know what we gun do.’”

Sagar eventually suggested that Braithwaite use the radio phone in Persaud’s office to alert Georgetown and get instructions as to how to proceed. When Braithwaite started walking towards the office, however, Melville ran out on the road shouting, “A man in there is armed!” Then the shooting started. They were shooting at Hernandes and the three other men–Rodrigues, Barry and Nandlall. “They were shooting at them. In the shooting… If I tell you what I did… I would be ashamed to tell you… Anyway, I ducked in a corner in one of the rooms on the western side of the building and eventually when I looked through one of the windows, there was a man with a rifle coming straight at me. I looked somewhere to hide but I couldn’t find anywhere to hide. I just went back into my office and sat down. I said that if anything is going to happen, they will find me here. I could not lock the door. It was glass-panelled office.”

Hernandes tried to scale the fence to get to the DC’s house but was shot five times and killed. Braithwaite was also shot dead. Rodrigues and two boys were trying to make it to Persaud’s house and he was shot on one of his calves. The two boys returned him to the office. Meanwhile, Jackson, the messenger vanished.

Sagar said there were some cooking utensils stacked on some shelves in a room and Jackson hid on one of the shelves and stayed there for about a day and a half. “He couldn’t come down because the rebels, quite a lot, were patrolling all around all the time.”

Taken prisoner
Ian Melville, who he called an important leader of the plot, turned up after the shooting abated and ordered those remaining in the building out on the road. They included Fr Keane, Junor, Stanley D’Aguiar and Sagar. Melville told D’Aguiar to get the girls–including D’Aguiar’s daughter, a Zammitt, and a Brazilian girl from the trade store–and take them home. Fr Keane asked whether he had to go too and Melville told him he had to line up with the rest of the prisoners on the road. “Ian Melville told ‘Old’ Junor, who was about 60, to go home and he promptly went home and got drunk. He was not known to be politically affiliated but after he took up his drinks, he went round the place talking about how things changing and we (referring to the rebels) taking over the place now,” Sagar said.

Sagar and Fr Keane joined the crowd on the road. Among them were the manager of the trade store and two or three policemen. The policemen were in a state of shock. Bombs had been detonating around them, while their colleagues had been shot dead. The body of a sergeant was pelted out of the station, while a man who was set on fire ran around before jumping into a barrel of water to douse himself.

On the road, they were made to stand up with their hands in the air then later to lie on their backs. “There we were, watching, the mid-morning sun in our faces. We could not lie down properly because it was a brick road. Ian Melville went into the DC office and saw that Braithwaite was shot dead. When he came out he told Fr Keane to leave. He left. In the meantime, Rodrigues returned with his calf bleeding. We were all lined up on the road as hostages/prisoners about 15 of us. There were a few Amerindians who were not with them. We asked if Rodrigues could go to the hospital and they refused.”

Eventually Melville asked them to empty their pockets to get keys to two new trucks the district received to complete construction of the road to Karasabai. Sagar was taken back to the office where he showed him the keys. “When I went in I saw Inspector Braithwaite. He had crawled from the DC’s office through the passageway right up to where we were when the first two men entered. He died there. I did not know he was shot then. They would have shot him from the outside having seen him on the radio phone calling Georgetown,” he said, barely audible.

Asked how he felt at the time, Sagar responded, “Numb.” He rejoined the prisoner line and after a while, the guards told them to turn on their stomachs, forcing their faces into the prickly bricks. “You couldn’t lift your head up. They were poking us with their rifle and telling us to ‘put you heads down’.” When the group grew to about 20 prisoners, they transported them to the abattoir.

In real life
At the abattoir they found another set of hostages including Persaud, Johnson the power plant manager and his wife, three other women including Braithwaite’s wife and a visiting member of the Roman Catholic Church, who was doing some voluntary work with the young people. They arrived at the abattoir about three o’clock in the afternoon, with no food and no water. The place offered no respite from the blistering heat because they never kept the abattoir functioning. There numbered forty. “We spent the night at the abattoir with five young Amerindian men guarding us with rifles. About midnight the rifles were replaced with shotguns. We did not dare to sleep,” he said.

Around two in the morning all the lights went out because Johnson and his wife were locked up. During the night they looked around the abattoir and Johnson found a knife. “They asked me what to do. Three policemen, who were not willing to do anything risky, were there. I saw no reason why we should go and fight five guns. I told them not to do anything because all of us would get shoot up. We had no back up to the one knife so it made no sense trying to overpower the guards. This was no movie. This was real life.” Persaud was in no condition to give advice as his wife was in the hospital where the gunmen had moved her to give birth.

Morning came and they became agitated for food and water and to use the toilet. They eventually persuaded the guards to allow them to use the washroom at a nearby mechanic shop and later they got food from an Englishman who lived next door with a Brazilian woman. He also had a wild pig that drank beers. “He brought across sardines, corned beef and aerated drinks and we had that for lunch. We were locked up and we did not know what was going on elsewhere.”

After they ate, Kenneth Melville came with another rebel armed with a shotgun. Melville had a rifle and a grenade attached to his shirt. He was restless and paraded up and down. The Roman Catholic woman spoke with him at length and dissuaded him from setting off the grenade. “They started to speak and he definitely did not want to do what he had come to do. We learnt that he had come to discharge the grenade because they weren’t getting the response they wanted from the government. They had expected surrender. We were hostages and they were using us as a bargaining block,” Sagar explained.

He said they later found out that while Melville was talking to the woman, members of the Guyana Defence Force had landed at Manari ranch owned by a woman named Orella and they were on their way to Lethem. (There are conflicting stories about Orella’s role. It was said that she had informed then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham about the plans but he ignored them. Her son, who was at the ranch at the time, did not take part in the uprising.)

Melville was still unsure about the grenade and the place was beginning to get dark. His accomplice saw the troops coming and he left quietly. Melville only realized what happened when noticed the rebels who were guarding the prisoners were gone. Sensing something was wrong he quickly made for the border.

Sagar recalled the mood: “This was the evening of January 3. We were left in limbo. We did not know what was going on or what was coming down. We weren’t seeing any of the rebels anymore. They had all gone away… We were hungry. Then the soldiers started to appear one by one. Some of the people wanted to run out. I told them not to do so. They might mistake them for enemies.”

The soldiers kept them at the abattoir until the police came. He later found out that the rebels looted the daily cash section of the sub-treasury but they did not manage to break the lock on the safe. Sagar, who had the keys to the lock, had earlier taken the chance of throwing them away when the guards were not looking. The trade store was looted but the rebels did not get the shotguns and ammunition that were stored there.
Sagar believes the Amerindians joined the uprising because they were being abused by the police, while the Melvilles and Harts wanted a better deal from the government. They did not like the PNC government since as ranchers they had no lease to the lands under their control.

Asked whether he knew if any of the rebel leaders were still alive, he said: “Ms La Rose, forty years later, how would I know where they are. They would probably be in Brazil if they are alive. I don’t think they would want to come back. They don’t know what fate would befall them even though I don’t think there are any charges against them anymore.”

Comments

About Comments

We thank all readers who have contributed to this site since its relaunch. This section of the website is intended to provide a forum for reasoned and reasonable debate on the newspaper's content and we hope that readers make full use of it as many have already done.

The comments section is an extension of the newspaper and what it has become well known for over its history: accuracy, balance and fairness.
In recent weeks a large proportion of the comments posted have contained attacks on other users, slander, coarse language and profanity. Comments of these types will be deleted.
Comments which contain gratuitous and incendiary references to race and ethnicity will be struck.
We reserve the right to edit/delete comments for length, any libel and taste. We moderate all comments so be patient while your message waits to be approved.
Curious about the little images next to each commenter's name ? Go here and sign up using the same email address you used to register for Stabroeknews.com then upload your image and confirm it.

52 Responses to “Terror on Thursday”

guy123
on October 12th, 2008 5:36 am

Imagine that!!!No charges anymore!!!

[Reply to this]
M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
on October 12th, 2008 6:10 am

Terrorists are criminals and traitors………… unless they win victory and become legitimate, like the 1776 American colonials who were deemed criminals and traitors by the British. History is written by the victors.

[Reply to this]
speedy
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 4:28 pm:
Harry, you are right. However, this group is again in our midst trying to further their attempts to “secede” and gain control of that part of our nation Guyana to which they feel they have historic rights of ownership. Whether they are described as traitors, rebels, secessionists ,or as loyalists, nationalists or indigenists, one thing is clear. They must not be allowed to do so , once again using the amerindians of of our country to further their ends, not only at the expense of “their people” but to the nation! And we, who were a direct part of that chapter of our history will choose the decriptions which best describe persons who would attemt what they did. And we were all the losers, not the victors, of this sordid part of our history.

[Reply to this]
M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 6:10 pm:
another 100 years we don’t know what’s down the line, and it won’t matter to us , would it, we’ll be long gone.
fitz-lawrence ben jnr
on October 12th, 2008 6:25 am

Thats a bit of history alright. What ever became of the Harts and the Melvilles.. Warrants for treason not out yet?

[Reply to this]
Caesar
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 8:29 pm:
No.I knew Ian Melville as a teacher in Kitty, around 1974.

[Reply to this]
Jena
In reply to the above comment on October 13th, 2008 12:03 pm:
Sorry!!.. Mr sager you have some of the names mixed up in this story…Ian Melville has nothing to do with the uprising in 1969..

drumup_change
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 10:15 pm:
The body of a sergeant was pelted out of the station, while a man who was set on fire ran around before jumping into a barrel of water to douse himself.
.
……i suffer lost lost of a dear cousen……..the sergent he is speaking about is sergent james anderson my cousen…..

[Reply to this]
Kumar Persaud
on October 12th, 2008 8:13 am

After the uprising there were many atrocities by government forces. To this day a deep distrust is felt against the forces in the Rupununi, even though very few Amerindians have joined the forces.

Those who have information on these atrocities should come forward. The son of the Melville who owned Manari ranch is still living. We will never know the facts of this period in Guyana’s history.

[Reply to this]
Fineman cousin
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 10:08 am:
i dont know what you know but i have relative in lethem who were witnessed the uprising and were threatened by the murderesi i have never heard of any atrocities that you claim or you must remember this was under the pnc not the ppp these people were backed by the venezuelans to do this dastardly act of and if successful
would have been recognised by venezuela aho would then have sent in their troops to support they rebellion and get a foot hold in essequibo hope you leart your history

[Reply to this]
drumup_change
In reply to the above comment on October 13th, 2008 11:11 pm:
i agree with you because i spent a long time on lethem and bobb and johnson give a full story of this the Rupununi uprising……mrs johnson should be around managing the takatu hotel……

Caesar
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 12:37 pm:
Guyana was in a state of want.The government of the time need this diversion to deflect from the oppression itself was guilty of committing.Some things in this uprising was obviously staged.I do not believe a word of what the media had put pot then.Had Venezuela wanted to invade Guyana they would have done so in about an hour .

[Reply to this]
Fineman cousin
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 1:29 pm:
you do not know history do you get yourself in tune then find out about the policies of the then government lfsb was a brilliant strategist and played the various powers against each other and of course the army was a force to be reckoned with

speedy
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 4:42 pm:
Why should Venezuela invade (even though they might have wanted to) when they had at their disposal an insider group of ambitious, violent and selfish persons to do their bidding? And run the risk of incurring the wrath of Uncle Sam? You’ve got to be kiddin’!

speedy
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 4:33 pm:
There have been substantiated reports of these allegations against members of our Joint Forces. That is why it is good that we are now having a national conversation on this issue and others similar in nature. The main players from across the board are still with us and all attempts should be made to record their stories for posterity, and to foster national reconciliation!

[Reply to this]
Fineman cousin
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 7:05 pm:
like i said what atrocities how many people died and who killed them,i am not happy with the recent behaivour of the joint services as they are to me playing prostitutes but back then these were dedicated and proud men in uniform again i ask what atrocities all the main players escaped to venezuela and brasil very few persons were charged so instead of the old ppp tactic of trowing mud hoping for some to stick

Caesar
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 8:41 pm:
A good way to find out about this so called uprising ,which was goaded by PNC actions,and made into a mountain out of a molehill, until it spiralled out of control and all hell broke loose,is to interrogate all past army and police heads. However,this shennanigan was an attempt to turn eyes away from grinding domestic persecution in Guyana. A lot of gullible people,party pinheads, fell into this trap.Strange thing though,Mr NO BLADE OF GRASS dictator who should have been at the front directing operations against the socalled enemies/conspirations,was safe and sound in GT. As Commander in Chief,he never fired a shot.And ,was never at the front.And, where was Brigadier Clarence Price also. Lolling in a hammock on his Prashad Nagar verandah.I passed him many a day doing nothing.
memem
on October 12th, 2008 8:44 am

WOW–NEVER HEARD OF THIS BEFORE… HAVING LEFT GUYANA AT AN EARLY AGE OF 3 … I HEAR BITS AND PIECES OF HER HISTORY AND IT SAD TO KNOW WHAT HAS GONE ON—
“”fitz-lawrence ben jnr “” U R RIGHT A BIT A HISTORY!

[Reply to this]
Arnold
on October 12th, 2008 8:56 am

Some of the Harts and Melville family lives in Estado Bolivar the biggest state in Venezuela, are prominent business-men.

[Reply to this]
Miranda La Rose
In reply to the above comment on October 14th, 2008 7:38 pm:
trying to make contact with you Arnold

[Reply to this]
Gerry
on October 12th, 2008 9:02 am

That was a sad time of our history.

[Reply to this]
michael tannassee
on October 12th, 2008 9:18 am

The retired army — i think he was a captain then — granger,, would have more knowledge about the insurgents,,, whose insurgency unfolded as an insurrection !,,,,,, i can’t remember if he led the charge ,, but i can remember him being highly spoken of in my circle ,, there were always parties at the houses of those in administrative designations of the pnc ,,while my squadies were at these parties i became familiar with the words ,, insurgents ,, insurgency,, and saw surrealism in the aftermath,, that was evidence of the insurection — i should mention that i was always told ,, or know where the next party would be ,, from my listening to the amerindians ,, and others who were there when the insurrection unfolded ,, of course ,, you did not need an invitation to any of the parties ,, just knowing where at whose house ,, is all you needed to know ,, and u turn up with a bottle of some thing to drink !,,, food was either at this house or at the next and of course there were parties everywhere ,, if music was heard playing there was a party ,,,,,

these words are quite in order of a script ,, in this mini movie,, the words “traitor and treason” adds to the comedy of errors !….

Ms La Rose ,, could u tell us when Sagar changed his pants ? !……. the ‘69 ,,
insurrection ,, — forgive my over working of the word /s ,,, but i have to use them bcos i only know that a spade is a spade and could only be called what it is — can u imagine that it is perceived that the insurgents who were guarding the prisoners ,, “left quietly” ,, when they heard the army was approaching ????

the insurection was the first and only insurgency that unfolded during the powers of the pnc whose officers ,, were abusing their powers ,, of course there were other incidents where ,, others lost their lives ,, in attempting to STOP ,, the runaway train that was the “illegal govt” who strenghtened their “power base” by the ballot boxes that was to be protected by all cost ,, by the “army” no less !

i wonder where those “soldiers” are who shot and killed those brave men who tried to stop the removal of the ballot boxes from the place of poll by the army ?????,,,,, are they still alive ????????????? are they confortable with themselves ,,if they are still alive ???????????? such beasts still exist among us as i write this ,, this and much more ,, is the reason SN ,, should allow ,, this to stand ,, bcos it is part of our history ,, a history of being dictated to by an

ILLEGAL GOVERNMENT ! !!!!!!! !

[Reply to this]
Fineman cousin
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 11:08 am:
dear sir in this new era of free speech and democracy that exist under the ppp/civic people are being killed and and jailed for exercising fundamental rights anyone who did what those men did at that polling station would be dealt with and their relatives harassed as seen,in recent events,it is amazing how persons close to the ppp remember history but those of us who are impartial, will had down the truth,in revenge for the action at the #62 polling station when a group of malcontents tried to interrupt the the armed forces in the execution of their lawful duties lost their lives by their misguided action a relative of the officer concerned was killed in revenge are these killers still alive and are they comfortable with themselves?

[Reply to this]
coolieman
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 7:45 pm:
Miranda should ask Mr Sagar if he witnessed any rape or other crimes allegedly commited by the army against young amerindian women after the uprising, I can remember reading that in one of the media during that time

guy123
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 11:44 am:
Strong words my friend…..strong words.but who cared if a government was illegal in those days,it was a very powerful government led by a powerful man,a lesser man would have been defeated by the amount of attempts made to remove him,based on the many charges that were made about him,but weather we liked him or not,he was a force to be reckoned with,his army was also a good strong one,very well respected,and because they were well treated by him,would have gone to Iraq at his command!!!

[Reply to this]
SOESDYKE
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 6:14 pm:
History is written by men who are strong. And that he was ,so you are correct. I was born long after that,but I was told the story.
MoMo
on October 12th, 2008 12:17 pm

I remembered a guy I’ve worked with at the Public Hospital by the name of James Norton (he is an identical twin) told me that his father was one of the persons who was killed at that uprising. His mother was then given the father position as a cop after that situation. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Reply to this]
Cherish
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 8:41 pm:
Hello! My name is Cherish and James Norton is my uncle. He is fine, now married with a beautiful wife and two children, a teenage boy and a young girl. His twin, John, is also fine and now lives in Ireland with his wife and son. My grandmother, Eileen Norton(the police woman), is alive and well at 73. Her other four children are also well, and are living throughout the eastern United States and the island of Martinique. If you have any questions, feel free to respond. Blessings!

Cherish

[Reply to this]
kenneth ragnauth
on October 12th, 2008 1:40 pm

I just like to offer the following with regards to the interview of Mr. Sagar
As you probably guess, I am one of the sons of Harold Ragnauth.
I do remember that fateful day, as we were waiting for my father outside the trade store when the explosions went off.
I was about 10 years at the time. The hurtful part of this disturbance, was that the people who were doing the shooting were all friend of the people who were killed or taken hostages.
They had to be drugged, normal, peaceful, everyday people could not behave in the manner as described by Mr Sagar.
I subsequenty met the son of Inspector Braithwaite, he is also a police inspector.
I do wish for God’s peace for the families who had suffered as a result of this event.

Kenneth Ragnauth

[Reply to this]
BIG D
on October 12th, 2008 2:24 pm

Mo Mo this is true.Norton was one of the policemen killed.His wife was indeed made a police constable.She was a Buxtonian.Charges were brought in that matter.The judge was the late President Arthur Chung.No one was convicted.The Gang leaders escaped to Brazil.

[Reply to this]
MoMo
In reply to the above comment on October 12th, 2008 10:16 pm:
Thank you so much. Actually his niece responded and I am hoping to get in contact with his son who was a good friend of mine. The internet is powerful!

[Reply to this]
JAN1215
In reply to the above comment on October 13th, 2008 10:03 am:
This is James. My mother - who reads this site regularly - called me yesterday and told me someone had asked about me. I then tried to leave an e-mail address but apparently my message wasn’t approved by the moderator.

My only comment on this story is that it is rather unfortunate that some posters would choose to distort the tragic events of almost 40 years ago to suit their partisan political agendas.
BIG D
on October 12th, 2008 3:17 pm

Well done Kenneth.I knew your father.I knew Insp.Brathwaite’s son.Insp.Brathwaite was one of the nicest person I have ever met.So sad.

[Reply to this]
speedy
on October 12th, 2008 4:02 pm

It is good for our nation that we seem to be ready to do our collective “mea culpa”! In the last few years we have revived the narratives of “The Sun Chapman”, “The Abraham Family”, “The 60s Strike”. The Sagar interview is an extremely important addition to this discourse since it gives more historic detail to a story which we still articulate more from a mythic plane rather than one that can still be substantially verified by interviews of this nature. I have just spoken to a Cheongashack who was part of the group, including members of my family, who,seeking protection from the rebels, were led in the dark of night into the mountains surrounding Karasabai village where our parents worked as civil servants. She recalls and recounts very vividly a clear, coherent and detailed account of that escapade. (That is how it was viewed by the children in the group!)We are hopeful that we can compile a collection of accounts like Uncle Steve’s so the new generations can at least have the story from the horses’ mouths. This will help them make their own judgement on the main actors in the first (and unsuccessful) attempt by any group in Guyana to commit the treasonous act of secession from the state, and commiting murder while trying to do so. Some of them still walk among us, literally, though their shoulders are now stooped and their heads bowed, under the weight of guilt. But they are still trying to convince us all that their actions were well-intentioned then, as it is now!

[Reply to this]
Perty
In reply to the above comment on October 16th, 2008 7:20 pm:
speedy, be careful how you mention names. I remember your family under the mango tree next to the school at Karasabai. You have to be one of the headmaster clan.

[Reply to this]
speedy
on October 12th, 2008 4:12 pm

I guess Ms. La Rose was just doing her job and playing devil’s advocate when she asked Uncle Steve if he knew of the whereabouts of the “rebels” today! Of course some of them are alive! And of course, many of us, including at least the senior journalists, know where we can find them!

[Reply to this]
BIG D
on October 12th, 2008 5:04 pm

I do endorse your comments Speedy.It is sad that some of what happened is still sketchy.There are still some of the people walking among us,as you said who slipped the noose.My only hope is that some day,they will reap what they sowed.

[Reply to this]
Tropic
on October 12th, 2008 8:14 pm

Time has passed and memories are now failing fast, but when the true history is eventually told of the Rupununi uprising, it will be surprising to learn how intricate the weave was that existed between the political, social and religious elements in play during that period.
Most of the families of the Rupununi were inter-related and though there was the typical family feuding existing among the main Melville, Hart, Orella, King and Gorinsky groups, there was unity and sympathy within the region when it came to the threat from the coast and the PNC government to withold and restrict land leases and titles. There was a mounting frustration among the young and some of the elder leaders that forced a very strange alliance with some elements in neighbouring Venezuela and an action was mounted to finally force the issue of land tenure and the establishment of amerindian reservation boundries. Initially this was just seen as a potential political threat and not really designed to be a reality. The political heads of the PNC government knew of this situation in the Rupununi and decided to let things develop along certain lines that would eventually give them the tools to justify the establishment of the eventual dictatorship of Forbes Burnham. And so it happened and I certainly regret and am saddened by the death and sacrifice of so many of my friends among the Lethem police and people of the Rupununi in general.
One day I should put pen to paper and set the record straight since I was there present from the very onset and witnessed the exceptional political rage and many expressions of wild personal declarations that ignited an action that terminated with such great loss and cultural change. But regardless of the result of this isolated uprising, there were many benefits to Guyana that were realized and history will show that it was an action that forced the attention of Guyana to look inwards to its vast interior and see itself also as a country placed firmly on the continent of South America and therefore establish alliences with our neighbours that are greatly beneficial to us as a young nation.

[Reply to this]
guy123
In reply to the above comment on October 13th, 2008 2:44 pm:
All you’re saying only goes to show how much the regime of that time had on their plate,traitors all around ,no wonder the leader ended up with such a bad name,he had to be who he was in order to survive,or be eaten raw.

[Reply to this]
yasuman71
on October 13th, 2008 1:24 am

Ian Melville travelled to Georgetown and attended the Teachers’ Training College in the early 1970s. He then studied at the University of Guyana in the late 1970s. Last time I heard of him he was a lecturer at the Cyril Potter College of Education. Miranda La Rose should interview him, too.

[Reply to this]
BIG D
on October 13th, 2008 4:12 am

Cherish,its nice to hear that Eileen and family are still around.I knew Mrs Cosbert also.She was a hard working woman.What of Buddy Cosbert.

[Reply to this]
JAN1215
In reply to the above comment on October 13th, 2008 10:06 am:
Buddy Cosbert migrated to England in 1961. If you knew him then your knowledge of our family goes way back.

[Reply to this]
MoMo
In reply to the above comment on October 13th, 2008 1:22 pm:
Hi James, this is Moreine (Tracy) that worked with you as a work study student at the Public Hospital. I left a message with Cherish your niece. I am glad that you have shared that history with me and like you’ve said it is sad that people are using this forum for their own political agendas. I live in North Carolina.

drumup_change
In reply to the above comment on October 17th, 2008 1:14 am:
……well i must join in too ……do you remember the code name 8rd…….if you do them lethem live……..
gtdoc
on October 13th, 2008 5:14 am

my father was one of the surviving police officers from lethem police station. i have also met mr batson the dispenser who was also wounded, my father testified in court for months. nobody convicted . direct eyewitness testimony wasnt worth nutten’ in case u guys dont know, venezuela had 20,000 troops standing by to assist the rebels new republic(take it away from them) it was brazil who put the brakes on them because of overlapping terrritorial claims. brazil also considers rupununi part of the province of roraima.thats why they have been genrous wi the new bridge.

[Reply to this]
Perty
In reply to the above comment on October 16th, 2008 7:08 pm:
gtdot! I also lived through the Rupununi Uprising and remember in detail what happened. There are lots of people, at this forum, who are totally out of their depth on this issue. Like so many others I believe this event should be documented so our nation would be enlightened. There are many that are alive today who would willingly come forward in our nation best interest. Who would bell the cat?

Are you in contact with the Batsons. They had two kids at that time. They were my friends. I would love to contact them.

[Reply to this]
joe joe
on October 13th, 2008 6:12 am

Sad story,I hope the people of this innocent land can recovered fully some day.Sometimes I question,why our people are so dreadful,making something of anything,we have a short history compare the world,but we seem to have more problem than the entire world.Guyanese cannot lived to accept the real reality of a changing world.Our world has a huge amount of burden,let it go,let it go.The people of the Rupununi has done well since that ,they do not need to be reminded.Bless be on these people,beautiful land.

[Reply to this]
michael tannassee
on October 13th, 2008 12:15 pm

The end of this thread should be be near !,,, TROPIC ,,, i am tempted to ask if u know the family Brasch from Annai ,, my kid brother was married to Phyllis ,,

immediately after the insurrection ,, he herded his cattle and drove them into boa vista with his family trailing ,, in all of the insurgents who were misguided ,, i think the independent thinkers would instantly agree that these brave men ,, tho ,, miguided — set the flame that fired the dissent to the dictator that eventually unfolded,, aided from washington by successive democratic presidents kennedy and johnson !….

the main theme of this thread ,, is that the insurrection played out and the insurgents who were / are seen as traitors committing an act of treason ,, can and will be seen and categorised as the above ,, whereas their collective actions has happened in various parts of the planet ,, when people rise up in the face of

ILLEGAL GOVERNMENTS ! !!!!!!! !

[Reply to this]
Trevor A. Norton
on October 13th, 2008 4:35 pm

Hi all:

My name is Trevor Norton. The William Norton referenced in this article is my father. I was seven years old at the time of the Rupununi Uprising. To date, Mr. Sagar’s account is the most comprehensive eyewitness retelling of this event that I have come across. While it would be entirely in my rights to speculate as to the motives behind his decidedly belated outpouring, I’d rather focus on expressing my genuine appreciation for his addition to the historical record.

Throughout my teenage years and early adulthood, I struggled to make sense of, what seemed to me, a sad and preventable misfortune. It is appropriate for others to opine on the political raison d’etre of the Uprising, but I continue to view it for what it is to me, a painful, personal tragedy. Accordingly, I have been culling the comments above for those that are sympathetic to my family’s loss, and those that have expressed interest in our whereabouts and wellbeing. As my teenaged niece, Cherish has offered above, my mother is aging, but well, thank God, and my siblings and I have all moved on to live successful lives in our own spheres. The next generation of Nortons is ten strong, ranging from seven to nineteen years old. God has been good and we are grateful.

Momo, Big D, and any others who claim knowledge of, or have expressed interest in my family, feel free to contact me at trevornorton@yahoo.com. I am curious to know your true identities. As for the gentleman who speculated that some of the killers were avenging police brutality, I would welcome your sharing any objectively verifiable facts in support of your argument. In the absence of such, you would be well-advised to stop slandering the memory of people you did not know. The image of a man using the privileges of his uniform to abuse those whom he was sworn to protect does not square with the William Egbert Norton I knew.

Joe Biden recently quoted Shakespeare at the US Vice-presidential debate; “What is past is prologue.” That quote seems uniquely apt to this discussion. No doubt Guyana has changed in the twenty-seven years since I’ve last accurately referred to it as home, but there can also be no doubt that Guyanese of all stripes are still well-guided by the truism that those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.

[Reply to this]
Tropic
on October 13th, 2008 6:12 pm

Some years ago we had a family reunion in the Rupununi and we were happy to gather members of the family from Venezuela, Brazil, Caribbean, USA, Canada and Guyana in general. Many were from the later generations who had no idea of what happened in 1969. Members of the Brasch family were also present and most of them came over from the border area with Brazil. Most of the family leaders and others who were actively involved with the plan and execution of the insurgency are now gone and very few remain who were partners to the tragic action. It must also be remembered that in the later ’80s we were also experiecing this very same action by Ian Smith in Rhodesia and the world opinon was heavily weighed against his intention and eventually led to its defeat. On a minor scale, the same thing happened in Guyana. It must also be noted that not all members of the Rupununi community were in agreement with the insurgents and some risked their lives in opposition to the plan though they agreed to the opposition to the PNC and were then actively seeking some peaceful non-military solution to the many problems of the region. There is definitely a whole lot yet to be disclosed and explained… but, that will probably have to be done at another time and in a different forum. Bloodshed was totally unecessary.

[Reply to this]
Caesar
on October 13th, 2008 8:39 pm

The resulting facts of this story is this. The army was persecuting those business people,who were not party members,had no need of the government period,and who did not waste their time and good name to toe the corrupt party line.Those persons defended themselves, and the army replied with force.A cannon to swat a fly. Blowing up the Hart and Melville’s hotel.The rest of people who defended themselves against army thuggery and their families fled across the border. The fable of Venezuelan involvement is another myth,and used to good extent to galvanize national patriotism.Which was absent as the illegal goverment had no credibility.Make that from 1964-1992.

[Reply to this]
Vatican
on October 14th, 2008 10:58 am

I was teaching in the Rupununi at the time. A few years ago some people raised up the issue. Please google THE RUPUNUNI UPRISINGS and GuyanaJOURNAL for some more data. The general consensus was there needs to be a closure. I am actually writing a book on the Uprisings. I have a good deal of materials, but I am still researching and contacting live resources in the Rupununi, Brazil, Venezuela, Canada, US, UK. Some of these resources include Army officers who took part in quelling the uprisings; relatives of the “rebels”, including Gavin Hart, son of Valerie; other live resources in the Bonfin/Boa Vista Area, and Santa Helena in Venezuela.
I was pleased to see Miranda La Rose write about Mr Sagar, following up on her series on Valerie Hart, done a couple years ago.
The volume of responses here certainly indicate this to be a hot button topic.
I would very much like to get in contact with all of you who posted comments here, particulaly ” Tropic” who I believe is residing in Costa Rica, Trevor Norton, and , like I said, EVERYONE of you who have an interest in this issue. My email address in TAS76@aol.com.

I will certainly acknowledge your contributions in the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PAGE, probably more, depending on the value of such contributions.

[Reply to this]