Dear Editor,
It is generally agreed that the visit to Guyana by Mr. William J. Burns, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was historic, however more specifically, it is not the first time that that particular agency has had a presence in Guyana. It is in this context, that history has a way of repeating itself though in different forms and shapes. The initial presence of the CIA in British Guiana was during the 1962-1964 period. The agency’s operatives who, at that time, were embedded in the trade union movement caused much damage to the Guyanese peoples’ struggle for independence. The agency’s covert activities at that time, were viewed as interference in the country’s domestic affairs. Regime change was high on the agenda. The PPP government, led by Cheddi Jagan, was the target.
The second presence of the agency in Guyana sixty-two years later, was in the person of the agency’s head. Stabroek News described Mr. Burns’ visit as; ‘the latest in a series of high profile visits by US officials which analysts see as a warning to Venezuela to desist from its aggression against Guyana.’ Like most high level visits of this kind, save to say that ‘matters of mutual interest’ were discussed between the high representatives, not much is ever revealed about the real motive of the visit nor about the nature of the issues discussed. Although the agency’s presence in British Guiana sixty-two years ago was not of a high profile nature, its pernicious influence in the trade union movement and political parties opposed to the Jagan government was well established.
This was reflected in an article written by Drew Pearson, American columnist who, in his syndicated newspaper column ‘The Washington Merry-Go-Round’ of March 22, 1964 referred to ‘a general strike against the pro-communist Prime Minister, Cheddi Jagan’; According to Pearson, ‘The strike was secretly inspired by a combination of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency money and British intelligence. Washington interfered in the internal political life of Guiana ostensibly under the guise of genuine trade union activity.’ And The New York Times on April 28, 1966 reported that, ‘In the 1964 election the CIA intervened with massive financial support for moderate candidates and against leftist leaders such as Cheddi Jagan of British Guiana.’ One year later, on April 23, 1967, The Sunday Times, a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain reported, ‘The CIA resorted to corrupt means to split the PPP. It took out an insurance policy for “one ex-Jagan supporter for 30,000 dollars in 1964.”’
Then on December 17, 1967 The New York Times ran another story stating; ‘In the 1964 election the Shoup Registration Systems International acted as a front for the CIA to assist in the registration of voters.’ The result was the ‘victory’ of the PNC. After the election and following an investigation into the company it disappeared. On May 20, 1967, The Saturday Evening Post, a popular American general interest weekly magazine at that time, reported, ‘CIA agents who operated inside Guyana were Gerald O’Kefe, who posed as an official of the Retail Clerks Association and William McCabe, posing as a representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The CIA funds were channelled for the Guyana operation through the dummy Gotham Foundation.’
Since those days, troublesome days, Guyana has travelled a far way politically. At a US Senate Armed Services Committee hearings held on March 14, 2024 on US military posture in North and South America, Laura Richardson, Commander of US South Com reported that SouthCom “views Guyana as a democracy and a very willing and important partner.” That being said, Guyanese who are favourably disposed to appreciating factually recorded antecedents should, at the same time, recognize their relevance and view them through the prism of our country’s political history when agencies such as the CIA played a role in defining what was to become an unchallengeable part of our country’s political history.
Sincerely,
Clement J. Rohee
