This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GEORGETOWN 000254 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TAGS: SNAR PREL KCRM KPAO GY
SUBJECT: INCSR Sparks Lively, Constructive Debate in Guyana 
 
REF: GEORGETOWN 205 
 
¶1. SUMMARY. The 2006 INCSR has resonated with the Guyanese public 
and generated considerable dialogue in the media in the two weeks 
since its release.  All television and radio news programs 
carried the 2006 INCSR as their lead story on March 1 and the 
next morning.  TV news and talk shows revolved around the INCSR 
for two weeks with coverage falling off only in the past few 
days.  The INCSR was the main topic of 49 articles, editorials, 
columns, letters, cartoons, and advertisements in Guyana's three 
main daily newspapers in the two weeks following its release. 
Twenty-one of the forty-nine references to the INCSR occurred in 
the second week following its release, showing that the narco- 
trafficking story is not going away.  The GoG has tried to shift 
the public's attention to the few positive (or at least 
innocuous) points in the report.  The INCSR's release also 
coincided with a spate of brazen crimes in Georgetown believed to 
be associated with drug gangs (reftel).  The result has been a 
lively public debate over the nexus between narco-trafficking, 
armed gangs, and political power in Guyana - a continuing debate 
that has given the INCSR story "legs" in the local media.  END 
SUMMARY 
 
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Headlines 
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¶2. All three leading newspapers ran ominous headlines drawing 
attention to the INCSR's message, even the government-owned 
Guyana Chronicle.  Following is a sample of INCSR-related 
headlines: 
 
-- "Drugs corrupting Guyana on 'dangerous' scale" (March 2, 
Stabroek News, page 1) 
-- "Endemic corruption still plaguing Guyana's drug fight" (March 
2, Kaieteur News, page 3) 
-- "Government inefficiency, other factors hindering anti-money 
laundering fight" (March 2, Kaieteur News, page 3) 
-- "Drug gangs threaten Guyana's democracy" (March 2, Guyana 
Chronicle, page 1) 
-- "Boycott drug lords businesses - Teixeira" (March 3, Stabroek 
News, page 1) 
 
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Editorials 
---------- 
 
¶3. The editorial pages of the independent Stabroek News and 
Kaieteur News have both used the INCSR as evidence with which to 
excoriate the GoG for its failure to make tangible headway in 
fighting narco-criminality.  The Guyana Chronicle, on the other 
hand, has broadly accepted the reports conclusions, but has tried 
to deflect responsibility for the ineffective counter-narcotics 
fight away from the government and onto the society as a whole. 
Following are excerpts from the most pertinent editorials: 
 
-- Kaieteur News, March 3: "A staggering assessment" 
BEGIN TEXT. The US State Department's International Narcotics 
Control Strategy Report 2006 gives a staggering assessment of the 
perilous extent to which drug trafficking and money laundering 
have infiltrated and corrupted Guyana; all law-abiding residents 
of Guyana must pay the most scrupulous attention to the report 
and take urgent and appropriate action. 
 
The report plainly states what many Guyanese have long suspected: 
that the drug trade and its spin-offs are deeply and dangerously 
entrenched in Guyana. The account pulled no punches as it spelt 
out the US State Department's current knowledge of how the drug 
trade has compromised Guyana's internal and national security and 
infiltrated every aspect of the social, political and economic 
fabric of the nation. . . 
 
There is no question that the government and the law enforcement 
agencies in Guyana, who are the servants of the Guyanese people, 
were very much aware of the general picture painted by the US 
State Department's report on the drug trade. Therefore, the 
report might be a blunt appeal to the people of Guyana to hold 
their servants accountable for the debacle the nation's war on 
drugs has been so far. It is time for the masses of law abiding 
people of Guyana to put inexorable pressure on the government and 
the law enforcement agencies to get their act together and mount 
a much more convincing fight against the drug trade.  END TEXT 
 
-- Stabroek News, March 7: "Times that try men's souls" 
BEGIN TEXT. . . . The ethnic politics has been with us for fifty 
years but the really depressing new element, as highlighted by 
the recent US report, is the emergence of wealthy and ruthless 
drug traffickers who pose a threat to the state and its citizens. 
Ms Gail Teixeira, the Minister of Home Affairs, has attracted 
some attention, much of it critical, by suggesting that citizens 
should not shop at businesses owned by drug traffickers and 
should not socialise with them. Not, perhaps, the last word in a 
sophisticated counter-narcotics strategy, yet it had the distinct 
merit of taking a clear, moral position on this issue at a time 
when so many unfortunate compromises have been made by members of 
the government both in terms of concluding contracts with 
traffickers and money launderers and patronising their 
nightclubs. . . 
 
The truth is the government has shown no will or capacity to 
tackle this increasingly menacing problem. Its plan launched last 
year seems to have been stillborn, those tasked to deal with it 
have shown no energy or imagination, and citizens look on with 
despair as the situation continues to deteriorate and traffickers 
operate with virtual impunity and increasing violence.  END TEXT. 
 
-- Guyana (Sunday) Chronicle, March 12: "Giving due praise" 
BEGIN TEXT. Whatever the real or perceived shortcomings in 
responses by the Guyana Government and Police Force to drugs- 
related crime, they have been specifically commended in the 2006 
Narcotics Report by the United States for their efforts in the 
battle against the illegal drugs trade. . . 
 
The reality today is that rather than sitting on the sidelines 
and criticizing the police or CANU - which agency continues its 
own commendable efforts - representatives of all sections of our 
society should be willing to offer all possible assistance to 
help ensure rapid and effective responses in the exposure, 
capture and trial of those among us bent on spreading fear and 
wasting lives by their terroristic and profit-seeking criminal 
activities.  END TEXT. 
 
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Government Response 
------------------- 
 
¶4. Answering a question about the INCSR March 3, President Jagdeo 
accused the U.S. of having "tremendous double standards" on drugs 
and crime.  Jagdeo claimed that the U.S. has not provided 
adequate support for Guyana's drug fight.  He also pushed 
responsibility for Guyana's narco-trafficking problem away from 
the GoG and onto the public at large, urging them to "help make 
the case" against drug dealers.  Minister of Home Affairs Gail 
Teixeira called on Guyanese to boycott drug lords' businesses. 
This in turn sparked much controversy in the press because she 
did not divulge the names of such drugs lords and their 
businesses.  Interestingly, neither did the press name names of 
well known narcotics traffickers. 
 
¶5. The Government Information Agency (GINA) placed a full-page ad 
in the three leading newspapers March 12 under the headline "What 
the U.S. reports really said", referring to the INCSR and the 
2005-06 Human Rights Report.  The ad contended that the political 
opposition "deliberately ignored and misrepresented important 
elements of the reports" and provided several quotations from 
each report.  For the ad, GINA selected excerpts that were either 
anodyne (i.e., "Guyana is also a member of the Organization of 
American States' Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission") 
or out of context (i.e., "Guyana launched its ambitious 2005-2009 
National Drug Strategy Master Plan in June", failing to mention 
the INCSR's strong criticism that the GoG has not yet implemented 
any part of this plan).  Post is actively working to inform the 
Guyanese public of the full extent of our counter-narcotics 
assistance to Guyana, including with an address by the DCM to the 
graduation ceremony of an FBI Community Policing course. 
 
¶6. Former President of Guyana - and still the matriarch of the 
ruling PPP party at age 85 - Janet Jagan addressed the INCSR in 
her regular column for the Weekend Mirror, the PPP's organ. 
While calling the INCSR "worthy of deep consideration" by the 
GoG, her advice to the U.S. is to incarcerate and rehabilitate 
American drug users "by the millions, and then the drug trade 
would stop". 
 
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Electronic Media 
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¶7. All of the electronic media houses that feature news programs 
(including the state-owned TV and radio stations) carried the 
2006 INCSR as their lead story on March 1 and the next morning. 
The private TV stations continued carrying follow-up news stories 
for several days thereafter.  Television talk-shows continue to 
have segments on, or informed by, the INCSR.  On several talk- 
shows the moderators and/or guests have had the INCSR with them 
on camera, going through the report paragraph by paragraph and 
repeatedly quoting text. 
 
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Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. The 2006 INCSR has sparked a lively, constructive debate in 
Guyana.  The independent media have relied heavily on the INCSR 
when criticizing the GoG for its lack of action in bringing drug 
traffickers to justice.  But even though the INCSR refers 
explicitly to "known drug trafficker Shaheed 'Roger' Khan", no 
one has mentioned Khan's name in print or on the air for fear of 
retribution and/or legal action.  Post believes that the INCSR 
and the resulting debate are having a positive impact - 
increasing pressure on the GoG to take concrete action against 
narco-criminality rather than just talk about it. END COMMENT. 
 
BULLEN