Corbin sees diversion in weapons claim

Leader of the PNCR, Robert Corbin says that the authorities are trying to divert attention from torture allegations made against the military by now saying that two weapons recovered from criminals were issued to a government ministry during the Forbes Burnham-led administration in the 1970s.

Corbin who said he would make a fuller statement on the issue today told Stabroek News in an invited comment yesterday that even if the weapons were issued to the Ministry of Mobilisation and National Development it was an entirely government arrangement since the ministry was part of the state.

“The weapons were issued to a government ministry and not the party”, Corbin declared. The army yesterday declined to make any further comment on the matter, saying that questions should be directed to the Defence Board. There has been widespread condemnation of the army for allegedly brutalizing several soldiers over the loss of a single AK-47 rifle.

The Guyana Defence Force on Friday said in a statement that two of three weapons recovered by the Guyana Police Force last Wednesday during the shoot-out with gunmen at Zeskendren, Mahaicony were the property of the GDF. The army said the M-72 rifle and the Beretta 9mm submachine gun were issued to the Ministry of National Development in 1976 and 1979 respectively and were not returned.

Police had said in a statement on Wednesday night that around 2 pm the said day police ranks responded to information that a boat with a number of men was seen in the Zeskendren, Mahaicony drainage canal area. Upon arrival in the area the police saw three men aboard a boat. According to the police statement the men opened fire on the ranks who took evasive action and returned fire. The men however abandoned the boat and escaped into thick bush north of the canal, the police statement said. The law enforcement officials however conducted a search of the wooden boat which carried a 75 hp Yamaha outboard engine and recovered: one M-72 rifle with five magazines and 80 rounds 7.62 x 39 ammunition; one beretta submachine gun with two magazines and 60 rounds 9 mm ammunition; a semi automatic rifle with two magazines and 42 rounds 9 mm ammunition; one telescopic lens; two camouflage jackets; two cutlasses; one torchlight and two bottles of mosquito repellent.

People’s Progressive Party General Secretary Donald Ramotar could not be contacted yesterday but he told the Guyana Chronicle on Saturday that “They (the PNC) need to come clean to tell us how many (more) weapons they have from the Army and to return them,”. Ramotar said he was not surprised by the Army’s revelation, charging, “We had known” that at a time of the philosophy of party paramountcy over the state in the 1970’s and 1980’s, “a lot of these para-military type organisations were set up by the PNC”. Ramotar said an inquiry is needed “to try to find out where the weapons are and try to get them back”. “What is clear is that these weapons are in the hands of very dangerous criminals within our society,’ Ramotar stated.

Corbin however said that it is hypocritical for the ruling party to be calling for an inquiry into arms recovered from criminals which were issued decades ago to a government ministry while resisting holding inquiries into allegations of torture and violence against persons along the East Coast Demerara.

Reacting to Ramotar’s comments that his party needed to “come clean and tell the nation how many more weapons they have from the army and have them return, Corbin told Stabroek News that the PPP is trying to find a smokescreen to divert attention from the serious allegations of torture that has been made against the army. “I have not heard Ramotar calling for an investigation into torture, death squads and violence meted out to East Indians during the escapee-led crime wave in 2002-3,” Corbin who is also the Parliamentary Opposition Leader said. Corbin said that his party had called for an investigation in the violence on East Indians along the East Coast of Demerara in the days when gunmen ran amok, but the government resisted it. He said that it was hypocritical for Ramotar to be calling for an inquiry into something which occurred over 30 years ago, while being unprepared to respond to the current torture allegations.

Ramotar had told a press conference last week that his party would support an independent probe into the allegations but his position differed from those adopted by President Bharrat Jagdeo and the security minister Clement Rohee, both of whom made light of torture allegations. Referring to Ramotar’s comments that under the PNC-led government a lot of para-military organisations were established, Corbin said that it was well known that during the 1970’s Guyana was under threat from Venezuela and as such the government then created People’s Militia bodies across the country.