Prime Minister Forbes Burnham interceded with the US Embassy in April 1973 to have then PPP Leader Dr Cheddi Jagan denied a US visa.
The information is contained in an April 4, 1973 cable from the US Embassy in Georgetown to the Secretary of State of the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs.
The cable sought political guidance on the advisability from the viewpoint of the US government of recommending a DEA waiver of Jagan’s statutory ineligibility for a non-immigrant visa.
The cable then related that Burnham had telephoned the US Ambassador on April 4 in an “obvious state (of) agitation” over Jagan’s plans to visit the US and enquired whether the US would be issuing him with a visa. The cable said that Burnham forcefully stated that he would prefer that Jagan didn’t go.
