Suriname Adding its Share to the Toxic Brew

The Left's moral compass is rudderlessly drifting in an ocean of ethical relativism. After having first declared common terrorists and pirates the victims of Western imperialism, yesterday a Jamaican drug lord was lauded as a hero of the people by the assembled lamestream media. The Obama ascendancy hasn't been able to stem the "blame America" culture.

But it can always get worse: the Left in Suriname have actually just voted into office a coalition led by a juntist, a convicted drug trafficker, and a mass murderer to boot: the former army sergeant Desi Bouterse, another "hero of the people".

The explanation how this came about differs from pundit to pundit: lack of historical insight in younger voters who make up sixty percent of the electorate (reasonable), a desire to look ahead rather than backwards (likely), moral relativism (decidedly), possibly all of the above (absolutely).

Bouterse's Mega Combination coalition led by his National Democratic Party (NDP) won the most seats. Provisional results give the multi ethnic coalition 23 of the 51 seats in parliament. The governing intellectual elite, gathered in the New Front only managed to win 13 seats.

The country's history is characterized by upheaval. After the Netherlands booted it into independence in 1975, the former colony quickly descended into chaos when the army sergeant returned to his native country in 1980, where he led a Leftist coup.

On 8 december 1982 a number of fifteen opponents of the military regime, mostly Leftists intellectuals, were rounded up and brought to Fort Zeelandia where they were summarily executed. The sad event is known as the December murders. The military tribunal which began in 2007 was adjourned, and resumed in 2009. The exact circumstances are unclear to this day.

Bouterse is trying to sabotage his prosecution by all means possible. Parliamentary immunity beckons, but he might even launch a bid for the presidency, which would derail the trial indefinitely.

In 1999 Bouterse was tried and convicted in absentia in the Netherlands for large scale drug trafficking. He received a jail sentence of eleven years, which he will almost certainly never serve.

The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Van Mierlo who recently passed away, narrowly halted Bouterse's arrest in Brazil 1997. How that came about is a bit of a mystery. Some sources maintain Van Mierlo discussed the affair with the US Government of the day (that would be Bill Clinton's) and for reasons best known to themselves decided the putchist should walk.

Others say the Netherlands had no exchange treaty with Brazil and that country would probably have refused to arrest Bouterse, leaving the Dutch Government with egg on its face. Yet others state Van Mierlo didn't want to jeopardize the rocky relations with its former colony.

Bouterse, a Latin American demagogue cut from the same cloth as Hugo Chavez, Lula da Silva and Evo Morales, are doing their damnedest to make history together with the likes of dictators Ahmadinejad of Iran and Kim Jong-il of  North Korea. Yet small fry, Bouterse is adding another tad to the already toxic brew concocted by the postmodern Presidency in Washington.

Happy history, all!

Update: Jan. 22, 2011

News broke today from the Wikileaks dump that Bouterse has been involved in drugs trafficking as late as at least 2006. He served as an MP at the time, but also had 'social and operational' ties with Shaheed 'Roger' Khan, whom the US saw as the main drugs lord of neighboring Guyana. Khan was extradited from Suriname to Trinidad where he was arrested. He is currently serving a 30 years prison sentence in the US. Bouterse approached him for the contract killing of the Minister of Justice and of a Judge.

Related dossier

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