Death sentence on poor Venezuelan just before Christmas

Dec 28, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – What is the connection between sex appeal, the death of a Venezuelan youth in the Timehri prison and a dismissed pilot at the Eugene Correia Airport? The answer is hypocrisy.

On Christmas Eve, a Venezuelan youth was found dead in his cell. It appears that he hung himself. The youth was on remand since April for receiving stolen items. No doubt he came to Guyana looking for a happy life, a dream hundreds of thousands of Guyanese have pursued the past 80 years and still doing.

How can the court system in this tiny populated country have a human on remand for nine months, awaiting a trial day, not for murder, for robbery with violence, for rape, for home invasion but for receiving stolen goods?

Obviously, because of his migrant status and language barrier, he probably didn’t have paid legal assistance and the magistrate probably did not assign bail because he was a foreigner. The question is; even if bail was allowed, would he have had the money?

The painful thing about this tragedy is somewhere back in Venezuela, a mother will live in endless hope that one day she will see her son again. His siblings, if he has any, will never know where their brother is buried. To think that Venezuela has an embassy here and did not offer consular services to this fellow.

This death reminds me of my investigation into a criminal scandal at the Diamond Police Station. Foreigners convicted of over-staying and were ordered deported ended up being in the holding cells for years because they had to find their own airfare. Two died and were secretly buried. One ran mad.

To date, the then President, David Granger and them Home Affairs Minister, Khremraj Ramjattan have never apologised to this nation for this scandal. They were in charge. I cannot believe that I was once a friend of Ramjattan. I hope Granger and Ramjattan one day into the future are prosecuted for what happened at the Diamond Police Station. It is my right to express how I feel about politicians without libelous content.

I say here and now, both men in my eyes are detestable people. I say unapologetically, if I have a choice between Ramjattan or Bharrat Jagdeo ruling my country, I will close my eyes and choose Jagdeo.

So what is the relevance of sex appeal here? We have to discuss what happened to a pilot at the Correia airport. It has been reported in the media, a pilot, Mr. Akeem Stoll was dismissed because he refused to use a helicopter that had serious mechanical questions.

This gentleman as reported in the press, was allegedly dismissed by Air Services Limited, owned by Mazarally because he refused to pilot a helicopter that he felt was unsafe. It turned out his attitude was justified by a report by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority.

I hear the name Air Services Limited and I remember my conversation with one of its leading officials, Annette Arjoon Martins, who is married to the Guyanese singer Dave Martins, in the National Park one morning. I had written that the wife of an employee whose was on a plane when it disappeared with the pilot had complained she received no compensation from Air Services. Ms. Arjoon called my editor, Adam Harris to complain. Harris and I had a big showdown over that complaint.

One morning I met Ms. Arjoon-Martins in the park and she told me that the lady was compensated. I am in my right without entering the kingdom of libel to say if I believe someone or not. If a person cannot say he/she does not believe what another person says, then our rights are gone forever. I don’t believe Mrs. Arjoon-Martins.

So where does sex appeal feature in these two cases. Constitutional advisor to the President, Dr. Randolph Persaud in a letter in the newspapers this week, quoted the beautiful, poignant observation about the sex appeal our civil society organizations.

I quote Dr. Persaud; “Mr. Ralph Ramkarran thoughtfully labeled as “sex appeal”, the excessive dipping of civil society groups into politics and even unnecessary politicization of functional problems.”

Dr. Persaud has joined Mr. Ramkarran in the analyzing the dubious existence of civil society groups in this country whose neglect of issues deeply affecting this country has dangerous implications. They are looking for publicity and therefore they latch on to events that they know will catapult them into the limelight. But there is no mental embrace of the things that hold civilized society together. Maybe if we had decent civil society organizations that poor Venezuelan youth would have been alive today.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)