PARAMARIBO – Former Surinamese President Desi Bouterse, 79, died on Tuesday following a short illness, well-placed sources have confirmed.
They said that he died at his hiding place and that the body had since been transferred to the capital, Paramaribo.
The family has not yet announced anything, but several members of his National Democratic Party (NDP) as well as close family friends have confirmed his death. Members of the NDP have gathered at the party center in Geyersvlijt to comfort each other and await the formal announcement.
Bouterse first came to power when he and 15 other soldiers of the National Army carried out a successful coup on February 25, 1980, deposing the democratically elected government of Henck Arron. The coup was welcomed by large parts of society and the military rulers initially received support from left-wing political parties.
Bouterse ruled from the time of his seizure of power as chairman of the then Policy Centre as de facto head of government until the elections of 25 November 1987 when the Front for Democracy and Development (NPS, VHP and KTPI), led by Arron, achieved a resounding victory winning won 40 of the 51 seats in parliament.
However, this defeat did not diminish the political power of Bouterse and the military. He remained commander of the National Army and on December 24, 1990, the army staged another coup after Bouterse had clashed with the government led by President Ramsewak Shankar.
The so-called ‘telephone coup’ was accompanied by the threat of an armoured car at Independence Square, the barrel of which was aimed at the Presidential Palace, where Shankar had his office.
Johan Kraag was then elected president with the cooperation of then VHP and parliamentary chairman Jagernath Lachmon, and Jules Wijdenbosch became vice-president.
The subsequent elections that were held in 1991 were again lost by Bouterse and the NDP and Ronald Venetiaan became president. After the 1996 elections, the NDP did come to power, after some of the VHP assembly members and the KTPI broke away from the New Front and entered into a convention with the NDP.
Bouterse then put Jules Wijdenbosch forward, who was elected president and in May 2000, Wijdenbosch held early elections after weeks of public demonstrations against his failed economic policy.
The New Front then came back to office and Bouterse had to wait until 2010 to be elected president, Bouterse was re-elected as president for a second term in 2015.
But Bouterse and his bodyguard, Iwan Dijksteel, had been on the run from justice since December 2023, after they were both charged and convicted with the December 8, 1982, murders of 15 men including journalists, military officers, union leaders, lawyers, businessmen and university lecturers. Bouterse was given a 20 year jail term, wDijksteel was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
The prosecution had alleged that the men were arrested on the nights of December 7 and 8, and transferred to Fort Zeelandia, the then headquarters of the Surinamese National Army. They said the men were tortured and summarily executed.
Bouterse, who was not present when the Court of Justice had issued the ruling in December last year, had appealed against his conviction that had been handed down in August 2021, when the Court Martial of Suriname upheld the 2019 military court ruling of a 20-year-jail term following a trial that had been going on for several years.
In 2017, Bouterse, along with 23 co-defendants, appeared in the military court after the Court of Justice had earlier rejected a motion to stop the trial.
Bouterse had been placed on an International Police (INTERPOL) Red Notice list, which is an official request to law enforcement authorities worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. It is based on an arrest or court order issued by the judicial authorities in the requesting country.
Earlier this week, the police carried out raids at Bouterse’s home as part of operation ‘Christmas bread’ but came up empty handed. The Suriname Police Force has not issued any statement regarding the raids. (CMC)
