Applaud those who exposed electoral fraud in Guyana

Aug 13, 2020 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

As we celebrate the victory of democracy with the election of Irfaan Ali, I applaud the work of all who contributed to this achievement. In particular, I salute KN for having the courage to expose the hypocrisy and duplicity of some, including columnists, on the issue of free and fair election. (Separately, I thank KN for daily championing a fair oil contract). I praise the work of the opposition parties and media people like Ruel Johnson, Freddie Kissoon for condemning the fraud. I also wish to salute those who exposed electoral fraud in Guyana during the 1960s thru the 80s.
I was deeply involved in the NY based struggle for free and fair elections, organizing events, writing articles, corresponding and travelling to meet with foreign groups, leafleting, and engaging in countless other activities. Several individuals and groups exposed electoral fraud and atrocities in Guyana in their publications.
The group I was involved, initially revolved around three (1977 onwards) but later expanded to four (around 1986), churned out a lot of literature for distribution to the public on 14th Street, Liberty Avenue and at parks, religious functions, rallies, marches, protests, parades, among other gatherings. Of these four (not sure if they would like their names to be revealed in print) – one was a Vice President of a large textile company with a lucrative career (with a triple digit salary) that he gave up to return permanently to Guyana in the late 1980s; the other three of us were teachers. One, though a non-Guyanese, annually spent summer holidays in Guyana, joining the movement there and is now retired in Miami. Another spent his teaching holidays and sabbaticals in Guyana before completing his PhD at NYU where I also did doctoral studies in Politics; he was our lead writer and occasionally still pens articles to the press. And then there was me organizing leafleting and reporting on community events. All chipped in with preparing, printing, financing, collating and distributing literature from 1977 thru 1992.
The four largely spent their own funds to carry out the operation. We largely did the work ourselves (typing, etc.) and paid for publication from our savings. At times, we used contacts at universities (City College, CUNY Graduate Center, NYU, etc.) to print newsletters gratis. A few of us worked at the universities as interns or teaching assistants, and we had access to printing equipment.
It was a sensitive operation to smuggle written political information out of Guyana to be reproduced and or distributed to the diaspora. It was an undertaking similar to those utilized by liberation movements in other countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe, and in other undemocratic countries. We mastered certain tactics to smuggle materials out of Guyana or rigged elections. Readers would recall it was a crime (against the state) to be caught with literature that exposed human rights abuses and atrocities in Guyana or ill-speak the dictatorship. Several individuals assisted to pass information through the airport where baggage was checked for “incendiary, anti-national materials”. One colleague of ours was severely beaten, suffered broken bones about his body, lost his teeth, and jailed for his activism. Another was taken into police custody and beaten with a rubber hose for holding discussions with political groups; he was turned in by paid spies who operated in communities.
We were most careful not to reveal our source or how we obtained political information from Guyana and we were careful when we slipped into Guyana. Contacts at the airport or sympathetic police officers helped with literature hidden in checked baggage. Literature was hidden in various foods and packages and smuggled out of Guyana somewhat akin to flour and banned goods being secretly brought into Guyana though we did not use coffins as in the flour convoy. We also depended a lot on articles about Guyana in Caribbean Contact (published in Barbados by Rickey Singh and later an Afro-Guyanese priest) that was reproduced and distributed in NY (free of course); several of us had subscriptions. We obtained information through costly phone calls that were put into articles form. We did a lot of commentaries printed in the form of handouts or newsletters. Later, my colleagues put out the monthly “Jaguar” which commented on the political situation in Guyana. There were several other publications that addressed specific issues. I did some writings but the brilliant Political Science colleague from NYU was the most prolific and journalistic prone amongst us; he also studied journalism. He also did most of the typing (on a typewriter as there was no computer during the period of the struggle) and editing. During the early 1980s, community newspapers made their entrance; I wrote for all of them on Guyana matters and community events and editorial commentaries.
Publications of WPA (Open Word, Dayclean, among others), URP (The Republican), DLM (Guyana Forum, Democrat), and PPP (Mirror and Thunder), Catholic Standard, among others were smuggled out of Guyana since they could not be mailed; all mail were inspected for anti-dictatorial literature. All the NY based support groups of political parties in Guyana smuggled literature, reproduced, and distributed party organs. During the late 1980s with the permit granted to SN, we were able to access news. We extracted articles or paraphrased news that was printed in newsletter format and distributed to the public. In the 1990s, there was easing of restrictions on publications. News became more accessible to share with Guyanese to expose rights violations in Guyana. Though harassed, threatened and intimidated, we also distributed literature in Guyana.
Though the ‘four musketeers’ contributed enormously to the liberation movement, they were never recognized for their work or given an inch of land. Those who were with the dictatorship, including CREEPs, were rewarded with various honours and huge tracts of land in corrupt transactions becoming billionaires. Now, some own oil blocks that is being exposed by KN. Thank you KN. Gratitude is expressed to those who provided information that were used in various ‘underground’ publications to expose electoral frauds and atrocities in Guyana and keeping the Diaspora informed about happenings in their country.

Yours truly,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

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