Dear Sir,
As fellow Guyanese who have long admired you, your awesome musical talent, and your noteworthy contributions to the world stage, as well as your moral and ethical stance on human rights and justice, we were shocked and disappointed to learn of your agreement to participate in the upcoming International Trade and Investment Conference hosted by the World Trade Centre Georgetown.
While we agree wholeheartedly that arts/artists/the creative industry/orange economy is a critical component of national development and while this event appears to address important issues and provide significant networking and other opportunities to local artists, we are unable to support it due to the complicity of WTCG’s Chairman- Mr. Komal Samaroo, and WTCG’s Executive Director- Mr. Wesley Kirton, in apartheid and genocide.
We are not sure if you are aware of Mr. Samaroo and Mr. Kirton’s direct engagement with the Israeli government in early 2023 which led to a business deal with an Israeli company the LR Group- to establish a dairy farm with Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL)1 in Moblissa. As you undoubtedly know, DDL is currently chaired by Mr. Samaroo, and Mr. Kirton is currently a director of the dairy farm.
While that deal- like this Trade and Investment Conference- seems to be a boon for the Guyanese business sector, the fact is that the LR Group was founded by former members of the Israeli military and has been involved in weapons sales, cyber surveillance, and civil war, as well as many controversies related to worker exploitation, human rights violations, land grabs, and murky business financing in numerous African nations and elsewhere around the world2,3,4,5.
Also repugnant to us is the extremely close relationship between the LR Group leaders and the Israeli government- a government that numerous reputable international entities have clearly and convincingly shown to have been violating the human rights of Palestinian civilians for decades, enacting a system of apartheid6,7,8,9 by restricting Palestinian people’s freedom of movement, access to healthcare, education, employment, as well as actively engaging in genocide in Gaza since October 202310,11,12,13,14,15, killing almost 100,000 innocent Palestinian women, children, and men, wounding almost 200,000, displacing the entire population, and
2 https://www.theafricareport.com/321262/israels-toxic-harvest-in-africa/
3 https://www.strategicstudyindia.com/2019/01/the-israeli-fighter-pilots-who-got-rich.html
5 https://grain.org/en/article/6878-farms-arms-and-israel-s-agro-diplomacy
6 https://www.btselem.org/topic/apartheid
7 https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-pre-01-00-en.pdf
8 https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/19/world-court-finds-israel-responsible-apartheid
9 https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/AMNESTYINTAPARTHEDRPT_240622.pdf
14 https://www.btselem.org/publications/202507_our_genocide
15 https://www.phr.org.il/en/genocide-in-gaza-eng/
Totally destroying all civilian infrastructure (with atrocities continuing despite a ceasefire agreement16).
We have been raising awareness in Guyana about this issue for several years17,18,19. We are part of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement- a Palestinian-led movement that was inspired by the global boycott of apartheid-era South Africa20. BDS calls for a cutting of all trade, business, diplomatic, academic, cultural, and sporting ties with the state of Israel and its supporters. A nation that deliberately and repeatedly bombs civilians, hospitals, schools, places of worship, farms, journalists, prevents the delivery of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid, and ignores international law is a threat to us all and not an entity to court and do business with.
In the global interconnected web of humanity, we are all our brothers and sisters keepers, and even though Guyana may be far away from Palestine, we believe that we have a moral duty and responsibility to act in solidarity with oppressed people wherever they might be. It is clear to us that Mr. Komal Samaroo and Mr. Wesley Kirton have chosen profit over peace and justice, and we believe that to engage with them and their activities is to be complicit in genocide and apartheid.
We urge you to reconsider your involvement with these two morally bankrupt men and withdraw your agreement to give the keynote speech at this event. We know that you are a man of integrity and that your desire to help Guyanese creatives and contribute meaningfully to a sustainable orange economy is real. However, in our opinion, you run a huge risk of tainting your stellar reputation by collaborating with these loathsome individuals.
We would love to connect and brainstorm with you about other ways to possibly achieve this goal as some of us are associated with local filmmakers, musicians, visual artists, writers, sculptors, and other creatives. We can be contacted via email at bdsguyana@gmail.com, or via our Instagram page- @BDS Guyana. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
BDS Guyana
16 https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/05/19/gaza-israel-curbs-aid-kills-civilians-during-ceasefire
19 https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2025/07/27/govt-must-cut-ties-with-chevron/
