The WikiLeaks cables on the Caribbean are here

Dec 18, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Jamaica is the first Caricom country to have been mentioned in the US Embassy cables by WikiLeaks. Guyana’s corridors of power must be trembling. The situation is extremely nervous for the political directorate because drug trafficking is the first factor mentioned. The transmissions from the American diplomats revealed that drug traffickers in Jamaica were being protected by Jamaican authorities.
There is no doubt that when Guyanese read about those pronouncements about Jamaica, they know that Guyana is going to come in for devastating chastisement from the Kingston embassy in Georgetown.
There can be no comparison between Jamaica and Guyana in the realm of cocaine barons’ entanglement with the political directorate. If Jamaica is a country that facilitated cocaine shippers then those cables have to name Guyana.
The facts are illuminatingly pyrotechnical. We start with Roger Khan. Khan was found with a “spy equipment” (the infamous laptop) and charged by the police. He was credited with spying on the Buxton-based gunmen. Why would a private citizen do that and have no meaningful contacts with political authorities and security officials? That does not happen in real life.
As it turned out, this man who was secretly perched on the Railway Embankment monitoring hostile gunmen in Buxton turned out to be a rich businessman with investment in the forestry sector. It is asinine for a citizen to believe that such a person –rich and powerful – had no communication with the political bosses of the land.
Enter logical deduction. Then Minister of Home Affairs, Ronald Gajraj, told an official enquiry that he relied on a dubious nocturnal figure, Axel Williams, to provide him with intelligence data on the Buxton-based gunmen.
Williams had no status, no high employment. In an argument with a food vendor over $20, he shot and killed the seller. Such a character did a security affairs Minister court and had an ongoing relationship with.
Phone records showed that they were in constant communication. Only a fool would believe that a Minister of the Government could embrace a “low life” for assistance in criminal investigations but would ignore the assistance of a wealthy citizen who was doing more than what Williams did.
The Embassy cables will tell us who Khan’s political bosses were? Of course the name Leslie Ramsammy is ubiquitous in this game.
Two witnesses testified in court in the US that Dr Ramsammy was the official liaison with Mr. Khan. The owner of an electronic store said that the spy equipment was sold to Guyana at the request of Dr Ramsammy since its sensitive nature would preclude ordinary inquirers from making purchases.
The manager of the store produced a letter that points to Dr Ramsammy as the requester. The business firm sent down an expert to train Khan in the use of the laptop. Dr Ramsammy has denied all the accusations. Why would (and should) anyone believe him? I don’t.
The WikiLeaks releases should tell all we know about an American citizen in Guyana by the name of Dr Leslie Ramsammy.
Enter Captain Clark of the army. President Jagdeo is on record as saying that Clark was not a trustworthy officer and was a culprit. It turned out that a judge refused to jail Clarke.
And American immigration agreed to give him and his family sanctuary. What did Clark tell the Americans that caused him to be treated so generously by the US? Using the President’s standards, Clark should have been convicted and jailed. It would appear that Clark had so much sensitive things to say that it earned him escape from conviction.
The WikiLeaks documents may reveal what Clark knew. And what Clark knew the Guyanese people have a right to know.
Next are the “Sash” Sawh and Lindo Creek miners situations. Will the documents shatter Guyana when the American diplomats give their opinion on the murder of Sawh? Who killed the miners at Lindo Creek? We in media have come to conclusions and we have published our opinions.
Will our viewpoints be supported by the US Embassy? Many Guyanese are eagerly awaiting the cables on Guyana (said to be 390). But Guyanese are also resigned to the fact that the story will die a natural death and the Guyana Government will continue with business as usual until elections.
That scenario of course depends on the Guyanese people. If the cables tell a tale of extreme violence, involvement in cocaine trafficking and complicity in multiple murders on the part of incumbent politicians (not to mention judges and security officers) and the people of Guyana accept such bestial instincts then we don’t deserve to be a nation any longer.

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