A commendable initiative

Dear Editor,

Stabroek News’ article of November 4, 2019, under the caption `Those who died in the violence following Camp St jailbreak’, reports “As part of a public service journalism project to shed more light on that period Stabroek News has compiled from its archives a list of persons killed between February 23, 2002 and September 2006, their photographs where available and basic facts surrounding their cases.

This compilation of the deaths will be carried in the Stabroek News edition of Mon-day, November 11th, 2019. More details on each case will be carried online at www.stabroeknews. com).

Stabroek News should be commended for this decision. That period is undoubtedly the most difficult and dangerous in Guyana’s post-independence history, a time when the country was on the verge of imploding. Not only citizens, but the police also were under attack.

In many parts of the country police stations began padlocking gates and erecting barriers to entry, and two police stations, Alberttown and Vigilance, were sprayed with bullets.

The article notes “For more than 15 years, the number of persons who died in the violence that followed the February 23rd, 2002 Camp Street jailbreak and the circumstances of their deaths have been the sources of heated disputation”. In my view, in the absence of a Commission of Inquiry into the violence of this period, this initiative should be welcomed by all Guyanese.

It is a good start in attempting to shed light on the situation in the country at the time. However, its limitations must be recognized. Killings were not the only major crimes. Individuals were kidnapped and disappeared. Vehicles were stopped as they travelled the highway through certain villages on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara and passengers beaten and robbed.

Importantly too, homes and business places were invaded with impunity, the owners beaten and robbed, and women sexually assaulted in some cases.

Hopefully, this project will lead to further examination of the violence and banditry that plague the nation. Thank you Stabroek News for this public service initiative.

Yours faithfully,

Harry Hergash