9 minute read
Caribbean Update
Possible end of road for ex-Surinamese military strongman
By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for mass murder at the end of 2019, but former Surinamese military strongman Desi Bouterse’s days as a free man could soon come to an end if a military-civilian tribunal currently hearing his appeal rules against him in the coming weeks.
Bouterse, 77 in October, is fighting to stay out of prison for the December 1982 executions of 15 government opponents who were killed for allegedly plotting with the west to reverse the February 1980 coup that Bouterse and other rebel soldiers had staged against the country’s elected government over a string of grouses including the unusual demand that soldiers be represented by a labor union. Four of the 15 were journalists, while the others were labor leaders, clergymen and academics. Efforts to bring Bouterse and other soldiers to trial had run into major hurdles over the decades, but a tribunal finally tried the group, dishing out various prison terms to surviving soldiers and some civilians in December 2019. Bouterse, who has denied ever ordering the killings, was handed a 20-year prison term that would most likely see him dying in prison if enforced. He has, however, accepted collective responsibility for the murders being the head of the then militarycontrolled government.
Last week, the tribunal reconvened to hear his appeal in what is clearly his last opportunity to overturn the conviction and remain free to lead his National Democratic Party (NDP) which was voted out of office after two consecutive, five-year terms two years ago.
Bouterse’s main points in his appeal are that vital evidence to prove his innocence were suppressed by prosecutors and other state officials who want to see him behind bars. The tribunal will also entertain him and his defense team’s request to hear new evidence from at least seven witnesses when hearings continue in mid-August.
When the case was called up last week, Court President Justice Dinesh Sewratan asked the former president why he was appealing the sentence and he replied, “I absolutely do not agree with the verdict,” as he explained that important exculpatory statements that could free him never made it into evidence. Several other defendants who have also appealed and whose cases are being heard simultaneously, made similar allegations. The court has agreed to allow the witnesses to have their say.
Ever since staging the bloody coup in 1980 and a second which was ordered by telephone on Christmas Eve in 1990, Bouterse has remained as one of the key but extremely polarizing figures in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community nation of about 500,000 people bordering Guyana and Brazil.
He was fired by the then elected government as army chief back in 1992, but by then, his multiracial NDP was on a steep growth curve, eventually winning election in 1996. Bouterse stayed in the background as state advisor but eventually served two terms up to July 2020.
It is unclear if he will in fact be sent to prison if he loses his appeal as is widely expected. The administration of President Chan Santokhi has accused him of supporting current street protests against inflation and other ills just as the appeal is being heard. Officials say this is a veiled reminder to those in authority that he still has influence and political clout.
Hugo Essed, the lawyer for families of the 15, says he hopes Bouterse understands that this is the end of his efforts to stay out of jail.
“There are no other legal remedies open to Bouterse. Appeal is the last station and when the court makes a decision and people are convicted, the suspects will have to be put behind bars,” he told the Herald Newspaper.
In all, 25 defendants including ex soldiers and civilian government officials were tried. Twelve of them, mostly civilians, were acquitted, six have died while Bouterse and five others now await their fate before the tribunal.
FELICIA
PERSAUD
IMMIGRATION KORNER
Late last month, a federal civil rights complaint was filed with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and other oversight bodies, saying immigrants in one detention center in Florida are in “A Living Hell.”
The complaint was submitted by Americans for Immigrant Justice, Freedom for Immigrants, Immigrant Action Alliance and 14 other organizations against the Baker County Detention Center at 1 Sheriff’s Office Dr., Macclenny, Fla., a medium prison office in Baker County.
Fifteen people, either currently or formerly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Baker, claimed ongoing and rampant human rights abuses including excessive use of force, racism and retaliation at the Center, built in 2009.
The Baker County Sheriff’s Office, through an Inter-Governmental Services Agreement, was constructed over 30 years ago as a county jail and reopened in June 2009 as a facility housing immigrants in ICE custody. Over 200 immigrants are usually housed there at a time.
Most are individuals in removal proceedings and individuals with final orders; lawful permanent residents, asylum seekers, torture survivors, domestic violence survivors and human trafficking survivors, among others.
First-hand testimony included in the more than 40-page complaint details inhumane treatment including the frequent use of physical assault, violent use of force, racist harassment, life-endangering medical neglect, verbal abuse, impediments to legal counsel access, lack of COVID-19 safety measures and retaliation.
Documenting a pattern of racist and xenophobic treatment at Baker, the complaint details several incidents of anti-Black racism, the targeting of Black immigrants and racist verbal harassment, including guards’ use of the N-word and references to “whipping.” Guards also discriminate against Spanish speakers, telling them to “learn English or don’t speak at all,” according to the complaint.
The complaint details a pattern of gruesome violence and physical assault against immigrants detained at Baker. In several incidents described in the complaint, beatings resulted in broken or fractured bones. The complaint goes on to reveal how significant retaliatory and punitive measures are often taken by ICE and Baker County officials to stifle detained people’s public advocacy.
In one retaliatory incident this past May, guards shut off the water after approximately 100 people at Baker launched a hunger strike to peacefully protest the abusive conditions. For days, Baker staff placed participating units on lockdown and denied people access to both drinking water and toilet water. Some individuals who participated in these strikes are named complainants who have since been deported in alleged retaliation, underscoring the severe consequences for whistleblowers in ICE detention.
“Our team has witnessed firsthand the abuses at Baker through site visits and interviews with clients detained there, and we have authored reports and complaint letters throughout the years alerting ICE and the Baker County Sheriff’s Office staff, who oversee the detention center, of the egregious human rights violations occurring at the facility,” said Andrea Jacoski, director of Detention Program with Americans for Immigrant Justice. “The continued disregard of the rights and welfare of people detained at Baker proves that ICE and Baker County Sheriff’s Office are unable and unwilling to address these abuses that have been ongoing for years. The only way to protect people from further harm is for ICE to immediately release all detained there, including those who bravely came forward in this complaint, and terminate its contract with Baker County.”
“The eyewitness testimonies in this complaint are clear: Baker is a deadly facility,” said Rebecca Talbot, campaign organizer at Immigrant Action Alliance. “It is a place of violent abuse, hunger, thirst, medical neglect, racist harassment and unexplained deaths. It must close immediately. And all those who bravely testified here must be swiftly released to ensure their safety.”
The groups want the release of all immigrants held at Baker, the immediate closure of the detention facility and an investigation.
Sadly, Baker represents just a minute example of what immigrants in detention face across the country. It is time Joe Biden delivers on his campaign promise of ensuring “that facilities that temporarily house migrants seeking asylum are held to the highest standards of care and prioritize the safety and dignity of families above all.”
Ray Robinson ||
