Guyana refuses to arrest Surinamese President

Desi Bouterse - from coup leader to people's leader

The government of Guyana has refused a request from an un-named foreign country to arrest Suriname’s head of state, Desi Bouterse, who was convicted in absentia in the Netherlands in 1999.

“A foreign mission asked us if we will arrest the President of Suriname when he comes here because he is wanted somewhere else and I said to them ‘No’,” President Bharrat Jagdeo told members of the Guyana Defence Force at the opening of their annual conference.

Jagdeo said he told the foreign mission to find another country that is willing to arrest Bouterse, noting that the former coup leader has been democratically elected to govern the Dutch speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

“If people of Suriname overwhelmingly choose him as their leader, who are we as Guyanese to say who we should work with,” Jagdeo said.

Bouterse seized power in a military coup and ruled until November 1987 when he was voted out of office in general elections. In December 1990 he seized power again but again lost in the general elections in May 1991.

He is also facing charges of murder in the killing of 15 political opponents of his the-military government in 1982. If found guilty, Bouterse could face up to 20 years in jail.