Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Raphael Trotman said that recent allegations that Suriname President Desi Bouterse and drug kingpin Roger Khan were involved in drug trafficking together until 2006 were an open secret.
Trotman, in an invited comment to this newspaper, said that law enforcement here and in Suriname were well aware of the movements of both President Bouterse – the then opposition leader who was convicted of drug trafficking – and Khan. He called the cables “old news.”
The AFC leader was questioned by this newspaper whether the allegations included in US cables released by WikiLeaks would have any impact on the relations between the two countries, which have recently signed several agreements.
Cables, sent by US diplomats, allege that Bouterse, who was convicted for drug trafficking in The Netherlands in 1999, remained involved in the drug trade until 2006 and was also cooperating with Khan. The cables said that the two men were believed to be involved in various murders and plots to murder former Surinamese Minister of Justice Chandrikapersad Santokhi and Procurer General Subhas Punwasi, who were responsible for a clampdown in drug crime. The cables also alleged that Khan, who is now serving time in a US prison for drug trafficking, traded guns for drugs with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
“The more pertinent question is why the Government of Guyana did nothing to intervene. By its inaction the government facilitated these meetings and recent actions and statements show that the relationship continues in a sense,” Trotman told Stabroek News.
Trotman further said: “I will make bold to say that Roger Khan acted as an agent for certain government officials.”
He said that now that Bouterse has been elected president “he can now be dealt with openly, under the guise of officialdom.”
Meanwhile, when approached Opposition leader Robert Corbin would not comment directly on the issue. He told Stabroek News that his party is still looking at the matter and will take a position on it. Another senior party member told this newspaper that the matter is a “very sensitive one” and as such the party has to be careful about any statements it makes.
Corbin said that it is not necessary that the party will meet to discuss the issue but members are taking note. He did not say whether the recent revelations would have any implications on the relations between the two countries. However, he did say that his party has been taking keen interest in the cables and what it has to say. According to Corbin, his party is always concerned about any accusation of drug trafficking of any form.
Asked whether the cables cast any bad light on his party since it had signed an agreement with Bouterse’s party some years ago while it was in opposition, Corbin said “No.”
“At the time when we signed a memorandum of understanding with the NDC (National Democratic Party) of Suriname, we were acting in the best interest of Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the minister then were all fully au fait with the kind of position we were advancing in the interest of this country’s territorial integrity,” Corbin said.
He pointed out that at the time the NDC in the Surinamese parliament were advocating the same position that the Guyana negotiating team and the Government of Guyana were all advocating in the best interest of this country. “It had nothing to do with Bouterse per se, it had to do with the party that was legitimately elected to the Parliament of Suriname,” Corbin said.
Following Bouterse’s accession to the presidency, the PNCR had issued a release reminding citizens that it had approached Suriname’s then opposition over that country’s expulsion of the CGX rig in 2000 from a drill site Paramaribo claimed was in its territorial waters.
In the press release, the PNCR stated that at the height of the tension, a PNCR delegation had travelled to Suriname to hold discussions with the NDP, which had shared the Guyana government’s position of joint development of the area until arbitration of the matter was completed. “That visit led to a written and signed understanding which was made available to the then Minister of Foreign Affairs immediately on the return to Guyana of that delegation.
Despite being fully aware of the nature and accomplishments of that visit, the PPP, for narrow political objectives, sought to misrepresent that visit and publicly criticise the PNCR,” it had stated.
According to the party, it refused to respond to the criticisms at the time “in the interest of national security” while adding that “the PPP may now recognise the wisdom of the PNCR’s initiative.”
And Presidential Advisor Gail Teixeira told Stabroek News that she had not seen what the cables said and she would not take “your word for it” and as such could not make a comment.
However, she indicated that President Jagdeo had adequately addressed the issue based on news reports – a clear reference to Jagdeo’s answer to an army officer last Monday. Jagdeo, in answer to a question posed by an army officer at the opening of the Guyana Defence Force’s annual officers’ conference, said he refused a request to facilitate the arrest of Bouterse during a visit here. “A particular foreign nation asked us if we will arrest the president of Suriname when he comes here because he is wanted…and I said to them no. I said maybe you can get some other country to do this,” Jagdeo had said in response to the officer.
Jagdeo had pointed out that the citizens of Suriname chose their leader and he questioned who are Guyanese to say who the country should work with, when the people of Suriname, through a democratic system, made their choice. He said Guyana has to work with the country’s legitimate representative.
Bouterse visited Guyana twice late last year.
Both the US and the Netherlands have denied asking Jagdeo to arrest the Surinamese president.
“The US did not request Guyana to arrest President Bouterse last year. President Bouterse is the democratically-elected president of Suriname, and we respect the results of free and fair elections. We look to maintain our good ties with Suriname,” the US Embassy in Georgetown said in a statement last week
Bouterse is wanted by The Netherlands to serve an 11-year sentence for drug trafficking. However, Surinamese newspaper de Ware Tijd has since reported that it was able to confirm that The Netherlands had not asked for his extradition.
According to Teixeira, Stabroek News was just “fishing for a story” and she queried why the newspaper did not focus “on the positive things” and listed the building of “the bridge” as one of those things. During one of Bouterse’s visits, Jagdeo had announced that a team comprising Guyanese and Surinamese was expected to meet to agree on technical issues that would be pivotal to the soliciting of bids for the bridge across the Corentyne River.
While Teixeira, like Jagdeo, said she is interested in what the cables have to say, she questioned where WikiLeaks figured into all of the agreements and positive developments between the two countries. She, like Jagdeo, pointed out that Bouterse is the democratically-elected leader of Suriname.
