Investigation or gag?

With the recent arrests of Oliver Hinkson and Dorian Massay, one has to wonder if this is part of the ongoing investigation of the brutal murders that have been going on in Guyana or if it is a gag order on the two. Oliver Hinkson as you may recall is quite a colorful character with quite a checkered past. Mr. Hinkson is a former army officer who attended Sandhurst military college in the UK, a place where many of the elete soldiers of the world attend. During the Burnham administration, at least one military officer would attend the college. Such a person had to be smart and dedicated as a soldier. Most of the men who later became the top officers in the Army were themselves Sandhurst graduates. Oliver Hinkson on his return soon fell out with the army's top brass and eventually was to be tried for issues he had with them. This may or may not have led to him being involved with criminal activity. Sometime in the early 80s, during a trial he escaped from custody in a daring escape that was well coordinated as he had accomplices. He had disappeared from Guyana for a while and eventually was given the chance to return.

Roger Luncheon's statement that the criminals today are getting training from ex-soldiers is not without merit. In at least the Bartica massacre, we're finding that the killers were dressed in camoflage and had other military gear. We're hearing of them pitching military style tents. The seeming ease with which they move from place to place lends us to quite easily gather that they are trained either directly by the military or by those who are from the military. According to Roger Luncheon, this is where Oliver Hinkson and Dorian Massay come in in that being former military officers, they have the capability of providing this training. The action taken: arrest them both or at least harrass them both.

All of this makes sense on paper. Being a high ranking government official, one would think Roger Luncheon and the rest of the PPP would know what's going on. The problem is that this is the PPP we're talking about. Folks that had people like Ronald Gajraj as a leading figure in crime fighting which resulted in the police being side stepped and major drug dealers such as Roger Khan being utilized in bringing criminals to "justice", essentially their deaths.

The problem is Oliver Hinkson spoke of the government taking a stand of mediation where they would have a conversation with the so-called "bandits" and look into whether there exists a problem and what it is. Hinkson spoke of men "so devoid of hope and incensed that they are prepared to go to the bushes and wage a war of the flea", sounding similar to other calls for some kind of dialog where instead of supposing, they would come to understand that there are people in Guyana who have the feeling of being marginalized. Until this is dealt with completely and not aloofly we'll always have the problems we're seeing.

The arrests lately of these two individuals would be a clear indication of the government's intentions. If later on we see no more of these attacks, then they did the right thing. If not, then the decision to fight fire with fire was already made. Looking at the demographics of those involved in this fight, one can clearly see where this is going.

In the meantime as in everything else, nothing is solved and nonesense such as charging a semi-retarded 19 year old with the murders carried out with precision execution seemed destined to continue. One's only hope is that even Oliver Hinkson too is wrong since if this group of disillusioned ex-soldiers gells into a larger cohesive group, the instability of the country would remain and we would see more murders. By now one would've thought that the leaders of Guyana would be thinking that no one is safe until everyone is safe. Evidently this is not the case. Doing the Vietnam thing the US did in sending all the big bombs and sophisticated fighting equipment will result in the same thing. The retreat of the most powerful fighting force in the world losing a battle of wills to seemingly insignificant people.

One can only hope.

Iain

Oh Lawd! When E Guh Done? The Bartica Massacre

Just got the news that 13 and possibly more Guyanese were killed in Bartica after an assault on Bartica, a town located down the Essiquibo river at the confluence of the Mazaruni and Cuyuni rivers by bandits who attacked the police station and terrorized the town straffing it with bullets. (See http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56539330) Among those killed were 3 policemen and a number of ordinary citizens. This comes at the heels of the Lusignan massacre where 11 people were killed including 5 children. It seems that there is now zero security and the politically motivated measures to deal with the crime situation are all now a joke as it criminalized and entire community with the destruction of lands on which they made their living. I had said before, bandits don't care what the politics are or anything. All that matters to them is getting what they want and getting who is in their way out. Clearly we're seeing that the bandits are declaring that they can go anywhere in Guyana they wish and do what they like. Meanwhile the government remains paralyzed, locked in their game of politics while the people of Guyana are killed like lambs to the slaughter.

Iain

Lusignan Issue

Indeed we're seeing what amounts to the demise of the Guyana we know. Such atrocities aren't in the minds of anyone I know of or anyone else for that matter. Guyanese are usually peaceful and loving. What happened to change that many can speculate but to see this death and destruction makes you wonder what else to do. Now based on the actions going on, the backlands from BV to Enmore is being destroyed to disable coverage so that the bandits would have no place to hide. While I support the intent of the action, I am skeptical if such a hasty response would amount to much. I am skeptical if this action would indeed stop the bandits and render everyone safe.

One more point, it seems that since the folks killed are Indians, there's this feeling coming out that the intent was racial. Even the president said that the PNC should acknowledge that Buxton is a "safe haven" for criminals. Its as though the ordinary Buxtonians have a say when you have guys walking around with AK-47s, the true Weapon of Mass Destruction.

When one looks at it, with the advent of the PPP government, there was a reduction of support for the security forces in Guyana. The GDF was reduced in numbers, the police didn't get the funding for what was needed and the National Service was disbanded. These institutions were manned heavily by Afro-Guyanese and one must only wonder if this is the reason for the reduction. Well now you have an untrained force to deal with crime and actions were only stepped up when the bar was raised. Had there been a tight security structure as was in place before, the death and destruction caused by the men who escaped prison on Republic day 2002 would not have happened as they would've been caught and prosecuted quickly. With the security forces toothless and incapable of solving even the most simple crimes, these criminals, these bandits got stronger and capable of inflicting the damage they did. In fact, what the government did was to hire criminals such as Roger Khan to help maintain the law. You know the deal, putting egg-sucking dogs to mind the fowl pen.

The product of the rise of these gangs is what produced the slaughter that occurred in 2006 of the 8 people in one day in Agricola, the beheading of the man in that village and a host of murders. It was this criminal machine that inflicted the damage on the people of Lusignan. To think that this is a racial thing is unfounded and would work to the benefit of the bandits as they would only have to step aside while the races fight each other and they would be in the background to get the spoils -- money and property -- while the war goes on. Criminals don't care much about race. Their intent is strictly to steal, kill and destroy, they being agents of the Devil. You get in their way, you get killed. In BV we lost a brother, one of the Todd's to this kind of violence. One of the bandits from Buxton blasted him in the middle of the night.

Now the people of Guyana voted in 2006 and tried to do the insane. Given all the crime, lack of jobs, all the situations going on there, they had the opportunity to pick someone new that would've at least meant a different approach to managing the country. What they did was install the same government. The result, the same thing. Someone described insanity as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. Things changed, alright. For the worse.

My heart goes out in sympathy to the families who have suffered as a result of this tragedy. My heart also goes out to the village of Lusignan for having to endure their suffering and the feeling of vulnerability among their residents. My heart also goes out to the country of Guyana who have to suffer even more at the hands of the present administration in Guyana. I do hope that in the future, Guyanese would take things more in their hands and be more active in deciding who will govern their affairs.

May God help us all.

Iain

Iain