Caribbean Corner

Surinamese citizens awoke to the sad news on Christmas Day after authorities confirmed the death of former military strongman and two-time elected president Desi Bouterse, almost a year after he went into hiding to avoid a 20-year jail sentence for mass murder committed 42 years ago. It is unclear as to exactly where and how Bouterse, 79, had died and how his lifeless body ended up in his riverside home, which was being closely watched by authorities for clues to his hiding place. His death sometime on Christmas Eve came just days after police had stepped up raids of possible hiding places of Bouterse, who had disappeared in mid-January, hours before he, trusted bodyguard Iwan Dijksteel, and three others convicted for the December 1982 mass murders of 15 government opponents, were scheduled to surrender to authorities to begin serving sentences. [caption id="attachment_69355" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Relatives of victims of the December mu...

US authorities have uncovered a major cocaine and weapons smuggling ring operating out of The Bahamas and have nabbed 11 locals including several police officers and a soldier triggering calls for a major overhaul of the police force protecting a country that is the nearest geographically to the US. The arrest of the group in the past week has placed tremendous political pressure on the administration of Prime Minister Phillip Davis with calls for the immediate resignation of Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe and Police Chief Clayton Fernander, who has since resigned. The main opposition Free National Movement (FNM) party dubbed the two as woefully ineffective as it called for their departure and a commission of inquiry into operations of a force that PM Davis admits has too many corrupt elements. [caption id="attachment_68757" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Bahamas' Minister of Homeland Security Wayne R. Munroe attends the 15th Con...