Suriname: Economic Crisis Prompts a Showdown, and a Shutdown, in Suriname - by Harmen Boerboom and Anatoly

From the New York Times comes the report that the Suriname ground to a halt recently as its banks, shops and factories shuttered in a showdown between its beleaguered private sector and its authoritarian government over how to respond to a deepening economic crisis.

The closures brought a new and unpredictable tension to the streets of Paramaribo, the capital of this nation in the north of South America. Most people stayed home to comply with measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic. ran dry in the cash-based economy and supermarkets, afraid of being overrun by nervous shoppers, were closed. The showdown made Suriname, a Dutch-speaking ethnic melting pot of 600,000, the latest and most extreme example in South America of how the pandemic and a plunge in commodity prices are destabilizing weak economies and polarizing political systems

The slide in the price of Suriname’s two main export commodities, oil and gold, over the past month has effectively left the country without enough hard currency to pay off its debt and import basic goods, leaving the country on the verge of default. In addition, the departure of Dutch tourists as a result of the pandemic, which has sickened eight people in Suriname so far, has deprived the street economy of a significant source of euros.

 Suriname’s economy has gone into a tailspin just as the country is preparing for a crucial vote. In May, its president, the former military dictator Dési Bouterse, will seek another term despite being convicted of homicide by Surinamese judges and of drug trafficking charges by the Dutch.

His son, Dino Bouterse, is serving time in an American prison on drug- and terrorism-related offenses.

 In an effort to shore up the local currency, stem inflation and stop capital flight ahead of the vote, the government imposed strict new restrictions on foreign currency transactions. The governing party pushed the measure through Parliament at last month and it took effect 4 days later.

 The restrictions outraged business people and bankers, who say they repeat the currency controls that ruined neighboring Venezuela, a rare regional supporter of Mr. Bouterse. To repudiate the new limits, they brought commerce to a screeching stop.

“What has happened cannot and will not be tolerated,” said the Association of Surinamese Industry and the Association of Surinamese Manufacturers, which called on its members to strike in a joint statement. One of Suriname’s biggest food companies, Fernandes Group, closed most of its businesses on Wednesday, provoking a run on bread.

 The new measure made black market currency transactions punishable by up to three years in prison, and created a militia to stamp out illicit trading. But even as these measures were rolled out on, the cost of a dollar on the black market jumped to double the official rate as Surinamese rushed to get the scarce hard currency.

Read more at: Economic Crisis Prompts a Showdown, and a Shutdown, in Suriname

Suriname: Commemoration of Martyrs Killed by Bouterse Regime in December 1982

A sad day, December 8, in the history of Suriname, a former Dutch colony on the North Eastern Coast of South America, when 15 prominent young Surinamers were killed during a three day period 7, 8, 9, December of 1982 by Desi Bouterse, the then Military Dictator of Suriname and his henchmen.

Commemorations of this sad episode in the Suriname history were held in Paramaribo, Suriname, and Amsterdam, in the Netherlands today.

 Desi Bouterse who today is the "President" of Suriname, was condemned in June 2017 by a Suriname court to 20 years imprisonment for this hideous crime, however, he laid the judgement aside on June 30th 2017, saying "God put me here and no Judge can remove me". 

Giving these unmistakable facts, it has been recommend that whoever wants to honor these brave martyrs and protest against this unacceptable crime, should direct an e- mail with the following Text; "I respectfully request to know why Mr. Desi Bouterse is still the President of Suriname, after he was condemned in June 2017 to 20 years in prison for having been directly involved in the December 1982 murders of 15 prominent Suriname citizens Thank you, and sign your name.
 
The e-mail should be addressed to: suriname@un.int 
with cc's to InfoDesk@ohchr.org and to information@icj-cij.org
 
May these 15 martyrs Rest in Peace and always be remembered.

Almere-Digest

Suriname president acts to again avoid trial in 1982 deaths - by Pieter Van Mael

Bouterse, Suriname's President stops his own murder trial 

President Desi Bouterse sought again Wednesday to prevent authorities from putting him back on trial for the abduction and summary execution of 15 political opponents when he was the military dictator of this South American nation.

Bouterse instructed Suriname's attorney general to immediately halt proceedings against him, invoking an article of the constitution that allows the president to issue such an order in the interests of national security.

The action follows a June court ruling that invalidated an amnesty law pushed through parliament by Bouterse's supporters after he was elected president. The court ordered the resumption of the trial against him and 24 co-defendants.

Since then, the political mood has been tense amid expectations that the president would seek to prevent the case from moving forward. Bouterse had said the trial poses a danger to the internal security of the country, which is struggling through a recession because of the sharp drop in commodity prices.

Justice Minister Jennifer Van Dijk-Silos confirmed that the government had invoked Article 148 of Suriname's constitution in the matter but declined to discuss the decision.

Bouterse said little as he entered and left a closed session of parliament. "Every decision has its advantages and disadvantages," he said, without providing details.

A court session in the case was scheduled for Thursday but it was not immediately clear how the judges would react to the government's action.

"We are shocked, not only because of the president's decision, but also because it was unanimously backed by the entire government," said Eddy Wijngaarde, whose brother, Frank, was among those killed by the regime. "We had hoped at least some ministers would have refused to back the president's latest attempt to make the trial impossible."

Bouterse and 24 allies from his time as a military dictator in the 1980s avoided trial until November 2007 on charges stemming from the execution of the 15 prominent political opponents, an event known locally as the "December killings" that stunned the lightly populated nation on the northern tip of South America.

The former strongman returned to power in 2010 when he was elected president by parliament. Two years later, lawmakers passed an amnesty law and court proceedings were put on hold in a decision that outraged human rights activists.

Bouterse, who was re-elected by parliament last year, has accepted what he calls "political responsibility" for the military's killing of the 15 well-known journalists, lawyers and union leaders but said he was not present when the executions took place. Witnesses in the trial have disputed that claim.

Read more: Suriname president acts to again avoid trial in 1982 deaths - Houston Chronicle

Suriname: Court:" Murder trial against Suriname president must continue"

Murder Trial: Will Bouterse Finally Face Justice ?

A murder trial against Suriname's president for the 1982 deaths of political opponents is expected to resume soon after a military court ruled that an amnesty law is unconstitutional.

The court ordered that the trial of President Desi Bouterse resume by the end of the month in this South American country. The trial had been on hold since April 2012, when a parliament controlled by Bouterse's party approved an amnesty law.

"This is not only important for the relatives of the victims, this ruling is important for the entire country," lawyer Hugo Essed, a counsel for the relatives, told The Associated Press. "This shows Suriname is still a country with rule of law."

Essed said he expects that Bouterse will be sentenced on charges of murder in upcoming months. However, some relatives of the victims remained unconvinced.

"We cannot start celebrating yet," Sunil Oemrawsingh told reporters. "President Bouterse and his friends are in power. We have to expect they will once again put up obstacles in an attempt to sabotage the proceedings in court."

Bouterse did not attend Thursday's hearing. His lawyer, Irvin Kanhai, told reporters he still believes that only a constitutional court can review the amnesty law.

"I will discuss this situation with my client and go in appeal if necessary," he said.

A constitutional court was supposed to verify whether the amnesty law was legitimate, but such a court was never created. Four years later, the military court announced it had waited long enough.

"There is no sight of concrete actions by the government on when the court will be operational", said Judge Cynthia Valstein-Montnor, president of the military court.

She said local laws allow any judge to determine whether a law is in breach of the constitution. Valstein-Montnor said she found the amnesty law unconstitutional because Parliament approved it when the trial was ongoing and nearing its end. She also said the law violated of several human rights treaties that Suriname had signed in the past.

Bouterse and 25 allies from his time as a military dictator in the 1980s avoided trial until November 2007 on charges stemming from the abduction and summary execution of 15 prominent political opponents, an event known locally as the "December killings."

The former strongman returned to power in 2010 when he was elected president by parliament. Two years later, lawmakers passed an amnesty law and proceedings were put on hold in a decision that outraged human rights activists.

Bouterse, who was re-elected by parliament, has accepted what he called "political responsibility" for the killings by the military of the well-known journalists, lawyers and union leaders but said he was not present when the executions took place. Witnesses in the trial have disputed that claim.


Read more: Court: Murder trial against Suriname president must continue | Daily Mail Online

Suriname: China's Stake In Suriname: Why Is Beijing Interested In This Small South American Country? - by Patricia Rey Mallén

Little is known in the outside world about Suriname, a small country on the northern coast of South America. Wedged -- along with neighbors Guyana and French Guiana -- between Brazil and Venezuela, the old Dutch colony has stayed largely quiet and under the radar throughout some of the most turbulent episodes of recent Latin American history.

Desi Bouterse: Suriname's Former Dictator elected President

But it has certainly attracted the attention of natural-resource-hungry China. Suriname is blessed with bauxite (an aluminum ore), an unspoiled rain forest, which covers 80 percent of the country, and lots of available arable land. Only about half a million people live in Suriname, a territory the size of Florida. And China wants a piece of it.

The Asian giant has slowly but surely made its way into this forgotten corner of South America, with a surge of aid and low-interest loans, as reported by the New York Times. Suriname also has a sizable Chinese population -- estimated at about 10 percent of the population -- dating back to immigrants who arrived in the 19th century, as well as a number of recent arrivals, including those in the country illegally.

“Suriname is a lucky country, such [a] small population, so much land,” said the former Chinese ambassador to Suriname, Yuan Nansheng, who served in the country from 2009 to 2013. With the change of government in China in March, Yuan was replaced by Yang Zigang. But it appears new President Xi Jinping’s government will maintain its ties with the South American country -- indeed, Surinamese officials met with Xi during his visit to nearby Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday.

Suriname may actually need China. Since its erstwhile imperial paymaster, Netherlands, shuttered an aid program benefiting its former colony in 2010, China has become the top financial provider to Suriname. Figures are hard to obtain, but the Chinese embassy lists low-income housing, assistance for shrimp farming and an upgrade of the state television network as three of its principal projects in the country. Private investment has focused on transportation, with the China Dalian International Corp. (SHE:000881) providing some $6 billion to construct a deep seaport and new highways.

The website of the Chinese embassy in Suriname lists no new developments since 2009. Thus it is unclear what new investments have been made since then. The Suriname embassy in the U.S. did not reply to requests for interviews.

However, one expenditure made by China was military aid -- the Beijing government has donated $1.6 million in material and training to Paramaribo. “We want to provide convenience to the work of the Ministry of Defense and the Surinamese Army as they carry out their mission of safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Yuan said back in 2009.

Still, the full extent and magnitude of China’s interest in this South American country is not entirely clear. Evan Ellis, a professor of national security studies at the National Defense University in Washington, argued that it is not so much that China has a particular interest in the country, but that it is just giving Suriname the same attention it has granted to the rest of natural-resource-rich South America. “It is not a matter of zeroing in [on Suriname], but just not overlooking it like the rest of the world is doing,” Ellis said.

Read full report : China's Stake In Suriname: Why Is Beijing Interested In This Small South American Country?

Suriname: Four International Delegations to Monitor Elections in Suriname on May 25, 2015

Suriname President Desi Bouterse

At least four international organizations confirmed today their presence in the elections in the Republic of Suriname (a former Dutch Colony), set for May 25, in which President Desire Delano Bouterse is favorite to continue his "management" of the political party he leads.

According to the Suriname electoral authorities, the list of observers includes 11 members of the Caribbean Community, 20 from the Union of South American Nations, 24 from the  Organization of American States and five from the European Union.

Read more: Prensa Latina News Agency - Four International Delegations to Monitor Elections in Suriname

South America: Suriname's president warns U.S. over interference

President Desi Bouterse :" a stained history"

Suriname's President Desi Bouterse warned on Tuesday that the U.S. ambassador may need to leave the country due to the alleged interference in the upcoming election.

The U.S. ambassador in Suriname will most likely get a warning letter from the government of Suriname on Feb. 26,in which he will be asked to defend himself, said Bouterse during a ceremony commemorating the Revolution Day.

"If the ambassador cannot properly defend himself,he may be asked to leave the country," he added.

According to Bouterse, the U.S. ambassador said and did things to avoid the coming election in Suriname because "the other president is not ready."

Bouterse said he is well aware of possible scenarios to influence the election results, but they do not worry him.

"No matter the election is held earlier or later,the opposition has no chance of winning. The president that the people of Suriname want will come to power," Bouterse noted.

He stressed that Suriname is not happy with interference from foreign countries in its national matters.

The general election for a new parliament and government in Suriname is scheduled to be held in May 2015, but the political battle has already broken out.

A member of the Suriname opposition party NPS commented: "the Americans will probably laugh at this - its like the movie called "the Mouse that roared"

EU-Digest