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Clean up the Cuffy Site!
Dear Editor,
In May 2026, on a recent trip to Georgetown, Guyana, I visited the Cuffy monument. Cuffy, an enslaved African, led a slave revolt in the Berbice region of present-day Guyana. At the time, Berbice was a colony ruled by the Dutch. Cuffy and his militias wanted to end slavery, destroy colonial rule, and set up an African republic. The revolt lasted from Feb. 1763 to April 1764.
The sculpture at Cuffy’s site of memory is impressive. The statue is rendered with a beautiful sensitivity. Cuffy is realized as strong, determined, and fierce.
However, I was disappointed with the upkeep of the parkette in which Cuffy’s statue is housed. Horse dung lines the entrance to the site. The visitor is saluted by batches of garbage on either side of the entrance. The lawn is unkempt, and the decorative pool surrounding the statue is filled with garbage. The place also seems to have become a habitat for unhoused people. To add insult to injury, the O in the word monument on the plaque beside the statue, is missing!
Cuffy is a monumental figure in the history of Guyana, and the Americas. He and his freedom fighters endured slavery and colonialism and all its horrors to ensure that future generations of Guyanese (and Surinamese) could live in freedom. Thus, to have his memorial site looking so decrepit is disrespectful. I heard a speech recently by a Guyana government official noting that culture sits at the centre of Guyana’s success. The decaying appearance of the Cuffy site runs counter to what the official said about culture. I urge both the government and civil society to clean up and beautify the Cuffy site so we all can be proud of this great hero.
Regards,
Dr. Afua Cooper, Ph.D.
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It is the Guyanese mentality. Cleaning up this site is irrelevant right now.
What is relevant, keeping the CITY clean. As fast as the task force cleans
night follows day with citizens dumping garbage all over, in canals, kokers
etc. One can see floating garbage everywhere in the flood waters when it rains.