With the US having turned down a request for forensics help and amid mounting pressure for clear answers on the Lindo Creek mass killing, the government last night announced that arrangements have been made within Caricom and with others for a forensic/pathology team to visit.
A statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs said that it had received an official response from the US that “due to logistical and resource limitations” they were unable to fulfill the Guyana Govern-ment’s request for help with the investigations into the murder of eight miners at Lindo Creek.
“Consequently, the Minis-try of Home Affairs has already activated contingency arrangements at the bilateral level within Caricom together with other regional and international bodies for a forensic/pathology team to visit Guyana. It is expected that these contingency arrangements will bear fruit shortly”.
The statement said that the Ministry of Home Affairs appreciated the efforts of other stakeholders to expedite the arrival of an expert scientific team here. This appears to be a reference to the efforts made by the Alliance For Change and the law firm Hughes, Fields and Stoby to enlist the services of a team from the UK.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs wishes to reassure that the administration shares the concern of others in an equally emphatic manner and is exerting every effort to fulfill its responsibilities speedily in this matter as it has always done in the past”, the ministry added.
In the wake of the third massacre in six months in June at Lindo Creek, pressure has been piled on the government to establish an independent probe particularly since the joint services have been accused of involvement in the killings.
The US decision by that country’s Department of Justice and its Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was revealed by US embassy Charge d’ Affaires Karen Williams during an interview with MTV News Update on Thursday.
Williams spoke with the television newscast at the conclusion of the handing over ceremony of a Public Health Laboratory to the Ministry of Health.
She told MTV that logistics, resources and the time that has elapsed since the discovery of the human remains are among the reasons for the denial. Williams said that the official explanation was given to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
The government’s disclosure of the US response came close to 9 pm last night. When contacted earlier in the day yesterday on the reported US stance, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said he would not comment saying “I am not in a position to comment on that”. That was also the minister’s response to all the questions this newspaper asked him yesterday concerning the status of investigations into the Lindo Creek tragedy.
At a press conference earlier this week, Rohee had told reporters that the arrival of the US forensic/pathology team was an area of speculation recently opened up by the media.
The minister had indicated that he did not know when the US team is expected to arrive in the country.
Gone cold
Since the Lindo creek discoveries however, information on the status of the search for Guyana’s most wanted Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins who was believed to be hiding out in the same vicinity, has not been forthcoming to the media.
Rohee when responding to questions during a recent press conference on the hunt for Rawlins and his gang had said that the trail (of Rawlins) “is probably a little cold” and could not say if any area was on high alert.
When contacted for an update on the situation, the minister said he could not provide any information on the investigation or the hunt for Guyana’s most wanted.
Asked if the joint services were still hunting for Rawlins and his gang, he responded that he was not in a position to comment.
The latest update reaching this newspaper was that members of the joint services had secured the crime scene and were awaiting the arrival of the US forensics team. That was about two weeks ago.
Following the June 21 discovery of bones and skulls believed to be those of the eight miners, by dredge owner Leonard Arokium, several senior officials had admitted that there are a number of outstanding questions that needed to be answered.
Arokium had accused the members of the joint services who had descended on the Christmas Falls area, located several miles from the campsite, where Rawlins and his gangs were allegedly hiding out, of carrying out the attack. The joint services have since strongly denied this.
Those who were killed at the site were Dax Arokium, Cedric Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Clifton Wong, Lancelot Lee, Bonny Harry and Nigel Torres.
The men’s relatives have since secured the assistance of Forensic Science Service (FSS), a UK government owned company and through the law firm Hughes, Fields and Stoby, have written to the Police Commissioner (AG) Henry Greene informing him of their desire to have the experts observe the conduct of any forensic examination.
On Thursday, the Alliance For Change (AFC) had urged the administration to finance the UK-based forensic team identified by relatives of the eight miners.
Since the meeting between President Bharrat Jagdeo and AFC Leader Raphael Trotman last week, the party said, the administration had failed to secure the services of a US forensic team, and “a credible one with impressive credentials has since been located so the administration must now act”.
Declaring its full support for an independent investigation to be conducted by Forensic Science Service (FSS) of the UK, the AFC said at a press briefing, that President Jagdeo had expressed exasperation at the fact that there has been no response to the request for a US forensic team and that he had asked for the AFC’s assistance in locating such expertise.
On another front, a letter was dispatched to Commissioner of Police (ag) Henry Greene from the law firm Hughes, Fields and Stoby, whose services were retained by relatives of the miners, informing him of the availability of the UK team. Included in the request was permission for the experts to conduct an independent review and analysis of any evidence retrieved from the crime scene or associated with it. Attorney Nigel Hughes on Thursday followed up the matter with Commissioner Greene urging in a letter that his firm’s invitation to retain FSS be accepted.
“This would address our clients’ fears about the daily degradation of the crime scene and the integrity and reliability of any investigation conducted after the expiration of three weeks from the date of the incident”, Hughes said in his letter on Thursday.
Trotman told reporters on Thursday that the party has since made contact with the owner of the mining camp, Leonard Arokium and his attorneys and has been privy to correspondence, which discloses that a forensic investigative team based in the UK is available and ready to travel to Guyana at a moment’s notice.
“This is a premier forensic team based in the UK and utilized by the security forces there whose credibility cannot be disputed. We support this effort and call on the government to prove its sincerity and bona fides by financing the arrival and work of this British team,” Trotman said, reading from a prepared statement.
Meanwhile, the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) yesterday accused the government of seeking to delay investigations into the massacre at Lindo Creek and ensuring that it remains one of the many unsolved mysteries in the country.
The party in a statement said that it was not surprised at the government’s action, and said that after it, other political parties and the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) called for an independent inquiry into the killings, President Jagdeo retreated into his usual mode to “delay.”
The president had contended that if he goes the route of an inquiry he would have to consider including inquiries into the Lusignan and Bartica massacres to determine whether there was political involvement.
However the PNCR said these two massacres were not situations in which the security forces were accused of killing citizens.
