Expulsion of Mormons…Leaked US cables say Guyana sought to limit number of Mormon missionaries

Sep 20, 2011 News

The expulsion of several Mormon in late 2009 by Government was not met kindly by the local US Embassy which felt that a decision to limit the numbers of those missionaries was not based on Guyana laws.

Former Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy, Karen Williams.

In September 2009, more than 50 missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, were ordered expelled after they were held by police. They were given 30 days to leave.
According to an embassy cable leaked by whistleblower website, Wikileaks, the US’ Embassy Charge d’Affaires, Karen Williams, felt that the decision by Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, was not in keeping with the Guyana law.
“Rohee’s decision on numerical limits for missionaries is purely based on what Rohee thinks is proper for Guyana and not based on Guyanese law,” Williams wrote in the cable dated February 16, 2010.
Almost four months after the missionaries were ordered to leave, Minister Rohee told the embassy’s Political Chief that the Ministry of Home Affairs has set numerical limits on the number of foreign missionaries allowed into Guyana.
Rohee announced that the Ministry has set a numerical limit of 15 and this was negotiated between the Mormons and Government of Guyana and that that would remain the yardstick in determining how many missionaries were allowed into Guyana.

The Mormons while being held at Eve Leary, police headquarters.

The only exception to the ‘missionaries’ rule were Catholics because “they have been in Guyana for so long”.
“Rohee said that he would meet with all missionary groups to discuss their plans and intended numbers, implying that missionary groups that kept their numbers steady would not face problems.”
In early September 2009, Government had ordered the expulsion of all the foreign members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee

The church members, most of whom are Americans, were detained at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department, Eve Leary, and given 30 days to leave Guyana.
No official reason was given for the move by the local authorities.
The action was seen as a diplomatic issue since officials from the American Embassy in Georgetown, including Charge d‘Affairs Karen Williams, had to intervene on behalf of the detainees.
The church members who are known as Mormons, and who hail mainly from the state of Utah in the United States of America, have been in Guyana for over 20 years carrying out missionary and humanitarian work.
Kaieteur News was told that police had swooped down on the Lamaha Gardens home of two of the church’s elders and arrested them.
Charge d’Affairs Williams, at the time, had expressed surprise at the move.
She told the media that she was limited in what she could say about the issue citing the privacy laws of the United States of America. She however stated that officials from the embassy had been involved in the matter as soon as they were apprised of what was taking place.
“The time that I’ve been here there’s not been something like this, so it’s quite surprising,” Williams had said.
She too could not say what might have sparked the move to expel the Mormons from Guyana.