Wismar and the Sun Chapman atrocities of 1964 were cold war events in which Africans and Indians were the victims

May 25, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,
May and July 2022 would mark 58 years since the atrocities in Wismar and the bombing of the Sun Chapman launch. Over the years many persons, including academics, have referred to the violence of the early 1960’s as racial when in fact it was politically motivated in a small theatre of the Cold War in British Guiana where the then ruling Communist PPP was openly anti USA and pro USSR and the opposition PNC and UF were Capitalist, pro USA, and anti Communist.
The PPP had earlier been removed from office in 1953 due to its Communist postures. Back in office in 1957 Dr. Cheddi Jagan, influenced by the pro West Balram Singh Rai and other Indian leaders, kept relatively quiet until Cuba fell to the Communists. It was a euphoric moment for Dr. Jagan and he once again started mouthing his anti USA and pro USSR rhetoric. Still the Colonial Office had full confidence that Dr. Jagan’s Communist beliefs would be tempered by Balram Singh Rai. However, when the PPP rigged the 1962 Congress elections to prevent Balram Singh Rai becoming Chairman of the PPP, and Dr. Jagan”s subsequent removal of Rai as Minister of Home Affairs, the British gave the USA the green light to remove Dr. Jagan from office.
And so in 1962 the CIA, using elements of the PNC, UF, and TUC, fomented social unrest and due the race based support of the PPP, PNC, and UF, it pitted their supporters against each other. The PPP love to portray itself as the victim of the USA/Britain when in fact it was actively receiving arms and materiel from Communist Cuba via the Guyana Rice Board. It was pro Capitalist/USA forces trying to remove an actively pro Communist/USSR party from government. It was the Cold War and Dr. Jagan’s first loyalty was not to his Indian supporters but to World Communism and the USSR. It led to his removal from office in 1964 and banishment to the wilderness for 28 years until the Cold War was won by the West.
The Colonial Office had concluded that the way to remove the PPP from government was by changing the electoral system from First Past The Post to Proportional Representation. Under FPTP the PPP won a big majority of seats in Parliament with less than 40% of the votes with the combined opposition garnering more than 50% of the votes. At the October 1963 Constitutional Conference at the Colonial Office Dr. Jagan agreed to Proportional Representation.
However PR was vehemently opposed by Janet Jagan who had by then commanded a Cuban trained and armed group called the Liberation Army. In January 1964 the PPP launched a “Hurricane of Protest” to stop PR. The main theatre of operations was on the West and East Demerara and Georgetown where violence was unleashed on innocent people. The Abrams family in Georgetown was wiped out by fire-bombing of their home. The PPP did not care about the consequences its supporters might suffer.
After five months of the Hurricane of Protest, Indians on a large scale were targeted in Wismar where they were a small minority among a largely African population. On 24th May 1964 violence was unleashed on Indians and it lasted until 26th May. In the 2 days hundreds of homes were burnt, hundreds of Indians displaced, scores of Indians were beaten, and some women were raped. The violence was committed largely by outsiders with a few Wismar residents participating. Some Africans who sheltered Indians had their homes burnt too and Africans who tried to protect Indians were also beaten. Many of the displaced Indians returned to Wismar shortly after so it shows that the violence was not racially motivated but rather political.
The declassified CIA files do not detail the Wismar violence. It was only referred to as “the morning after,” that is the 27th May 1966 when Premier Cheddi Jagan met with the US ambassador who described Dr. Jagan as being “dazed and confused.” Dr. Jagan agreed to call off the Hurricane of Protest against Proportional Representation. And off course there is no declassified Cuban or Soviet files to help researchers.
In July 1964 elements of the PPP’s Liberation Army bombed the Sun Chapman launch killing 38 Africans that triggered a second wave of violence against Indians at Wismar but on a much smaller scale. That was the last of such Cold War orchestrated violence in the early 1960’s.The PPP and the USSR was defeated on 26th May 1964 in British Guiana. Yet Dr. Jagan and the PPP agreed to 26th May 1966 as Independence Day. Upon coming to power in December 1964 the new Premier Forbes Burnham, along with the Colonial Office, detained scores of Cuban trained PPP supporters and seized hundreds of Cuban supplied guns and explosives.
Yours Sincerely,
Malcolm Harripaul AA

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