There are many occasions of people denying history. In fact, what passes for history is merely a record of the views of the people recording it.
Many historical recordings of war are often the views of the victor. Later, some people from the other side do get a chance to tell their side of the story.
For example, the British and the Americans did seek to distort history by ignoring the presence of Black soldiers and aviators. It was only recently that stories like the Tuskegee Airmen came out.
The history of Guyana will always be changed because there will be people who will question what is documented, hunt down the truth and publish them. So there will be those who will insist on one thing while others will insist on others.
A recent example was the People’s Progressive Party taking full credit for the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector. The PPP backed off from liberalizing the sector when it was in office by dropping the legal option on at least two occasions.
The backing off was forced by the United States.
Cathy Hughes initiated the programme and had all but completed it when she demitted office. The final nail was driven by the Irfaan Ali government.
When President Irfaan Ali said that reports of extrajudicial killings were a fabrication, that they were fashioned to embarrass his party, he was speaking from a lofty position. His comment was far removed from the truth.
An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the killing of a person by governmental authorities without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process.
In the wake of the 2002 jailbreak at the Camp Street jail many people died at the hands of the police and other government-sponsored forces.
Some, like Tshaka Blair, Delon Nelson, and Wesley Hendricks, were killed by police in their own homes. The police could not claim that Hendricks was wanted when only a few days before he had attended court. He was due in court again three days before a Black Clothes squad killed him.
There was no confrontation between the police and these men.
President Ali said that extrajudicial killings never happened. And this comment was made despite numerous US State Department Reports on Guyana expressing alarm at extrajudicial killings in Guyana.
The US State Department Report for 2002 alone reported that the police killed 15 civilians through September, compared with 13 in all of 2000. In most cases, the police shot the victims while attempting to arrest them, the reports said.
On May 10, 2002 police shot and killed Junior “Drakes” Stanton in a guesthouse in Georgetown while attempting to arrest him on armed robbery charges. Witnesses said that an unarmed and groggy Stanton unlocked the door and had his hands raised above his head.
Police reportedly fired two shots, fatally wounding Stanton in the chest and side.
On May 12, 2002 police shot and killed Devon “Buckman” Gonsalves while attempting to arrest him for two murders and a series of robberies.
TSS officers followed Gonsalves to the yard where he was hiding and confronted him. Gonsalves was said to have sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and stomach.
On June 8, Rocky Anthony Brunoanish died in the Aurora Police Station lockup. An autopsy revealed that he died of a fractured skull and hemorrhaging from a severe beating. Prior to his death, Brunoanish reportedly asked for medical attention to no avail.
On June 9, Colin “Sadist” Cumberbatch was shot and killed in his home when police attempted to arrest him for a series of armed robberies.
On July 26, members of the TSS shot and killed three men – John Bruce, Steve Grant, and Adisena Houston – on Mandela Avenue. Accounts of the event conflicted; the police reported that the three men exited a car and fired at the officers, who then returned fire.
However, eyewitnesses stated that the police forced the men out of the car at gunpoint and shot them execution-style after officers found a pistol while body-searching one of the suspects.
On September 21, police shot and killed Dexter Dubissette in Georgetown. Police stated that Dubissette was killed during an encounter with members of the TSS, but eyewitnesses disputed the police statements.
They claimed that Dubissette was killed after being summoned to approach the vehicle in which TSS officers were riding.
On October 11, police shot and killed Shawn Welcome while he was in custody. And those reports were only from a section of 2002 report.
According to the United States State Department report, for 2003, security forces killed 39 civilians during the year, compared with 28 in 2002. In most cases, the police shot the victims while attempting to arrest them, according to the official reports.
The State Department continued that public investigations rarely were conducted into such killings; in general, police abuses were committed with impunity.
On January 18, police shot and killed Charles Hinckson and Marlon Wilson in a bathroom stall after they reportedly committed a robbery.
On January 29, police shot and killed Errol Immanuel. According to Stabroek News, Immanuel, an itinerant vendor, was sitting with a friend around 8:00 p.m. when a police van stopped, and the policemen confronted him.
According to eyewitnesses, Immanuel immediately raised his hands in the air, but one of the police officers fired two shots directly at him. The other man reportedly was arrested, tied to a fence, but subsequently released when reinforcements arrived.
According to a GPF press release, Immanuel was killed in a confrontation with police after he allegedly attempted to rob someone at knife-point.
On March 1, a police patrol fired on a car carrying five teenagers, killing 18-year-old university student Yohance Douglas and injuring Ronson Grey and O’Neil King.
On September 4, a policeman and a civilian accomplice beat to death Albert Hopkinson when he resisted arrest. The man’s body was flown to Georgetown for an autopsy, which showed signs of strangulation and a fractured skull.
People have gone to doctors and received a diagnosis. Some have chosen to ignore the doctors’ findings. That is called denial. I suppose President Ali chose to ignore the reports of extrajudicial killings.
