Party leader Castelen paying no attention to revelations about Bouterse-Khan connections

(De Ware Tijd) – SPA chairman Guno Castelen says he is paying no attention to revelations by whistleblower site Wikileaks about past drug connections of President Desi Bouterse.

He would have been active in the drug trade until at least 2006. According to documents from the US Embassies in Suriname en Guyana, Bouterse had “social and operational ties” with Guyanese drug criminal Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan. The two men were allegedly involved in cocaine smuggling and weapons trade with the Colombian terrorist organization FARC. The alleged drug ties between Bouterse and Khan were revealed on Saturday by Dutch and Norwegian media.

Guno Castelen
Guno Castelen

Castelen doubts the value of the leaked information. He says it is well-known that “such things are instruments of world politics and geopolitics”. He thinks it is remarkable that such sensitive information of such a great country as the US has been “leaked”. Castelen also wonders why this information, which allegedly has been available since 2006, was not passed on to local authorities and if that had indeed been done, why nothing was done about Bouterse then.