Former Foreign Affairs Minister Rashleigh Jackson has said that the recent allegations that Suriname President Desi Bouterse and drug kingpin Roger Khan were involved in drug trafficking together until 2006 should have no implications for the relationship between the countries.
“I would say that the allegations will have no impact on the relationship between the two countries,” Jackson said in an invited comment to Stabroek News. He, however, added that Guyana could face some “pressure” for its refusal to facilitate Bouterse’s arrest during a visit here last year.
Since the period covered in the allegations, Bouterse has been elected President of Suriname. According to Jackson, following Bouterse’s recent meetings and agreements signed with President Bharrat Jagdeo, the relationship between the two countries seem to have been strengthened.
Cables sent by US diplomats, and released by WikiLeaks, allege that Bouterse, who was convicted for drug trafficking in The Netherlands in 1999, remained involved in the drug trade until 2006. They also alleged that he was 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).
Jackson said that Guyana could, however, face “measures” in some form from the country that reportedly asked Guyana to arrest Bouterse during his visit to Guyana late last year.
Late last month, President Jagdeo revealed that 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,” he said.
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. Both the US and the Netherlands have since denied asking Jagdeo to arrest Bouterse.
According to Jackson, the fact that both the US and the Netherlands have denied asking Jagdeo to arrest Bouterse means that a third or fourth country may have an interest in him. He pointed out that if that country has relations with Guyana, then it is possible that it could “apply pressure on Guyana.”
Last week Alliance For Change (AFC) leader Raphael Trotman, in an invited comment to this newspaper, said that law enforcement here and in Suriname was well aware of the movements of both President Bouterse–the then opposition leader–and Khan. He called the cables “old news.”
The AFC leader was questioned by this newspaper about whether the allegations would have any impact on the relations between the two countries. “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 said.
