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NEW York, New York, August 20, 2023 – Amidst rising tensions in Guyana over the PPP government’s alleged racism, racial discrimination and injustice against African Guyanese, the country’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, accused of being a hard line racist, has once again found himself in the middle of a controversy of gigantic proportions that give great succulence and justification to the racism accusations.
Jagdeo said at a press conference in Georgetown, Guyana’s capital City on Thursday that he and his government are opposed to a Washington DC Conference on Guyana, which will be convened in Washington DC from September 27-28, 2023 by the Combined Guyanese Diaspora Organizations in the US, led by the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID). I did not plan to attend this important event. But I will.
Organizers announced that the theme of the conference is ” Promoting Inclusive Governance And Economic Growth, Equal Justice, Social Equality & Sustainable Development For All Guyanese.” They indicated that they are responding to concerns that “Guyana’s PPP government has established itself as a despotic and undemocratic regime.” I concur.
Every democratic nation in the world aspires to realize the ideals in the theme. The fact that Bharrat Jagdeo said he and the PPP government are against this forum that promotes these nobel objectives of governance, is appalling and should ring alarm bells in the Caribbean Region and the Western Hemisphere.
Rickford Burke, one of the organizers of the Washington Conference on GuyanaTheir opposition to equality for nonPPP supporters, and the Black population, reinforces accusations that he is a pseudo tyrant and a racist who believes that African Guyanese are unworthy of benefiting from Guyana’s oil and gas wealth, equal rights and justice, inclusive governance and economic prosperity; rights Blacks in Guyana have been demanding from each PPP government.
Jagdeo further dug himself into a deeper hole by falsely accusing the President of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) Rickford Burke, a dear friend of mine, of being a “criminal” and that his organization is a “criminal network.”
This is a nasty peice of racial profiling, and as racist as a gets. He is a pathological liar and a conformed racist who stereotypes African Guyanese in the most vile fashion. He must now be sanctioned by the US.
Jagdeo’s blatant lies and character assassination have opened him to serious legal jeopardy and legal liability. He committed blatant slander and defamation against Rickford Burke, who is a well respected leader in the Guyanese and Caribbean American community in the US, with no criminal record.
Jagdeo continues to underestimate Burke’s support and influence in Guyana, the Caribbean and in the US. Each attack solidifies and multiplies that influence.
It is clear that Jagdeo is rearing for a confrontation and physical war with Burke, his supporters and half the population of Guyana. He wants to see blood shed.
He wants an international incident and a brawl with US politicians who will soon take stern action against him for what they see as reckless race bating and provocations of Backs from a vile racist who allegedly form death squads that committed hundreds of extrajudicial killings.
Jagdeo’s continuous, odious attacks on Burke and other African Guyanese leaders is uncivil, reckless and unbecoming for a Vice President of a country.
He is inciting racial hostilities in Guyana that can trigger civil unrest.
He is an impetuous lunatic who has completly destroyed whatever credibility he has left with his racist lies about Guyanese Black leaders.
His racist comments have confirmed and cemented the view that he’s indeed a racist who stereotypes African Guyanese with whom he has political differences as “criminals.”
His image as a racist will soon attract world attention and will be catastrophic for investment in Guyana. Investors will run for the hills.
As an American, I’m disgusted by the silence of the US Embassy in Georgetown, who remains silent as Jagdeo threatens Americans and a conference in the US Capital.
What is even more egregious is Jagdeo’s threat against the conference and its participants and delegates.
Burke, a savvy and erudite politician who was Special Assistant to former President of Guyana, Desmond Hoyte quickly jumped on Jagdeo’s bombastic comments, deeming them a terrorist threat.
CGID Communications Director, Richard Millington, an attorney, announced Saturday that Lawyers for his organization immediately notified the Washington DC Police and the FBI about Jagdeo’s threats.
CGID said it also briefed elected officials about the threat and asked the US Department of Homeland Security to monitor Guyana Police and Guyana Defense Force officers traveling to the United State to commit espionage and harm Jagdeo’s political enemies.
Commenting on Jagdeo’s attack on the conference, Millington told a New York publication “the attacks have mobilized hundreds of people to register for the event and that the Combined Guyanese Diaspora Organizations which are hosting the conference is thrilled by the overwhelming support.
Millington said any government that is opposed to a conference that promotes inclusion, inclusive governance and economic growth, equal rights and justice, and social equity is an undemocratic and despotic regime that deserves to be condemned by the international community.
