Suriname President Desi Bouterse last December named his 38-year-old son, who was convicted in Suriname in 2005 of leading a cocaine and illegal weapons ring, as part of the command of a new Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) since according to him his son is “the best” in the area.
Dino Bouterse, who was released from prison in 2008, had also previously been arrested in connection with a 2002 theft of weapons from Suriname’s intelligence agency.
According to a report in the Surinamese Star Nieuws when one of its reporters confronted President Bouterse with his son’s criminal past the father said that he was proud of his son who was included to guide the new terror body. The news report said that Bouterse stated that “for this unit, we need the very best. And in this area my son is the best.”
The news agency said that the terror unit was created a few weeks before its December, 2010 report but without any publicity.
The report said that Dino Bouterse has frequently come into contact with the justice system and was condemned while noting that two well-known and controversial cases included his arrest, along with Marcel Zeeuw in1994 for the disappearance of three foreigners and drugs. The second is the conviction of Dino in 2005 to eight years in prison for international drug smuggling and arms trafficking. In the latter case, a large batch of weapons was stolen from the arsenal of the National Army.
In the report President Bouterse said that the CTU will work along with the various troops of the armed and security forces and mentioned among others, the military, the Central Intelligence and Security (CIVD), the fire, the police and prison guards. The members of the unit were expected to undergo what is called an internal hard training.
The Surinamese head of state said that the CTU was created as prevention against the national and international threats from the criminal world. He named drug shipments and organized crime as some of those threats along with the threats of climate change, human trafficking, “but high on the list of state terrorism.” He said the CTU is a signal to the international community that Suriname does more than just talk about terrorism.
The appointment of his son, a convicted criminal, adds more cloud to the leadership of that country; President Bouterse himself was convicted of drug trafficking and earlier this year reports indicated that he and Guyanese drug kingpin Roger Khan were involved in drug trafficking together until 2006.
Cables sent by US diplomats, and released by Wiki Leaks, alleged 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 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 cables were made public in the Dutch paper NRC Handelsblad and a spokesperson for President Bouterse told RNW correspondent Harmen Boerboom that he did not think the revelations would pose a problem for the president.
“He is democratically elected by the Surinamese people,” the spokesperson had said at the time.
Voters already knew that Bouterse had been convicted of drug smuggling in the Netherlands and that he was suspected of giving the order for the December murders, in which 15 members of the opposition were killed in 1982 during an earlier term as president.
