VZCZCXRO4248
PP RUEHGR
DE RUEHGE #0406/01 1241454
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041454Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3448
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0298
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GEORGETOWN 000406 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA/CAR 
DS/IP/WHA 
DS/ICI/PII 
CARACAS FOR DAO AND LEGATT 
PORT OF SPAIN FOR DEA AND LEGATT 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12598: DECL: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PGOV ASEC KCRM GY
SUBJECT: AFTERMATH OF SAWH ASSASSINATION 
 
REF: A.GEORGETOWN 372 
 
         ¶B. GEORGETOWN 205 
         ¶C. GEORGETOWN 137 
         ¶D. GEORGETOWN 111 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: More than one week has passed since the 
assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeo Sawh, with 
little progress on apprehending the killers. Various 
theories are circulating in an effort to explain why he was 
targeted, and the ruling PPP has publicly insinuated the 
involvement of the opposition PNC/R. The GOG has requested 
assistance from the USG, Canada and the UK, apparently 
without consulting key law enforcement figures, including 
the Minister of Home Affairs and the Commissioner of Police. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Ambassador met April 24 with Head of the 
Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, then later 
with President Jagdeo, to discuss the GOG's request for 
security related assistance in the wake of Sawh's killing. 
Jagdeo and Luncheon essentially admitted that the public's 
patience with the GOG's performance on security is wearing 
thin, and they are looking for a response that "captures the 
public's imagination". The GOG has also asked Canada and the 
UK for help. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Jagdeo's mood was somber, with a visibly furrowed 
brow. Minister Sawh's killing has clearly hit senior GOG 
officials hard. Their psychological moat that made them feel 
separated and protected from Guyana's security problem has 
vanished. According to Luncheon, Jagdeo has just about 
exhausted the Guyana security forces' investigative 
capabilities and so they are forced to seek greater 
international assistance. Post's impression is that Sawh's 
killing has really woken up senior GOG politicos to the loss 
of state control over the country's security. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Luncheon followed up with a written request. BEGIN 
TEXT OF LETTER: 
 
Subsequent to our meeting today, April 24th, 2006 in my 
office, I write to record the more salient features of my 
presentation and details of the request for assistance byt 
he Government of Guyana to the Government of the United 
States of America. 
 
The Government of Guyana recognises that the assassination 
of Minister Sawh has created the gravest threat to our 
democracy. Significantly, there are other threats associated 
with the existence of the criminal gang in Buxton and the 
intellectual authors of their crimes. Also the loss of the 
large number of AK-47 weapons from the military is still 
unexplained and recovery unrealised. 
 
It is in that context that the Administration is appealing 
for assistance in a number of areas including: 
 
¶1. Expanding Investigations into the loss of the AK-47 
weapons from the military and leading to the recovery. 
 
¶2. Enhancing the Criminal Investigation Department's 
investigation into the murder of Minister S. Sawh and his 
family. 
 
¶3. Provision of Crime fighting equipment for an elite force. 
 
The Administration highly appreciates the current assistance 
being offered and anticipates a timely response as this time 
of great threat to democracy and public safety in Guyana. 
 
END TEXT OF LETTER. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Notably, in follow-up discussions with the Minister 
of Home Affairs, Gail Teixeira, the Commissioner of Police, 
Winston Felix, and the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defense 
Force, Brigadier Edward Collins, Post has learned that none 
of them were consulted prior to dispatching this request. 
Rather, the request reflects what President Jagdeo, Luncheon 
and the Cabinet want during this moment of sorrow and 
 
GEORGETOWN 00000406  002 OF 002 
 
 
possibly panic. 
 
-------------- 
THEORIES 
-------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) EmbOffs have heard a great many theories since 
April 22 about the motive behind Sawh's killing. They can be 
divided into three schools of thought: 
 
¶A. Political. A militant, presumably Afro-Guyanese anti- 
government faction wants to gain greater political power but 
feels it cannot do so through Guyana's democratic process. 
The GoG is peddling this theory, and the GoG leadership is 
paranoid about a treasonous cadre of current and former 
military and police officers. This militant group is 
centered in Buxton, a coastal village approximately six 
miles east of Georgetown that is essentially beyond state 
control. A corollary to this theory is that Sawh was 
targeted in revenge for the January killing of prominent 
Afro-Guyanese journalist and rabble-rouser Ronald Waddell. 
To this end, the Joint services have engaged in a series of 
searches of Buxton, which have netted night vision goggles, 
military uniforms, and other pieces of military equipment. 
Ballistics tests performed at spent shells from the Sawh 
murder scene prove that the same weapons were used in the 
February 26 Agricola/Eccles massacre and another gruesome 
shooting/beheading in Agricola in March 2005. Notably, 
Luncheon fueled the political angle when he publicly mused 
in the April 27 post-Cabinet briefing that unspecified 
members of the PNCR have contacts with the bandits in 
Buxton. However, he explicitly stopped short of linking the 
PNCR to Sawh's murder. 
 
¶B. Sawh involved in criminal activities. Sawh was said to be 
close with criminal Salim Azeez, a suspected money launderer 
and alien smuggler. Azeez financed a fish farm, Newline Aqua 
Farm, which appears to be a money laundering operation. 
Azeez was previously arrested with several Guyanese and U.S. 
passports but later was acquitted of wrongdoing. As Minister 
responsible for fisheries, Sawh would have had an ostensible 
reason to meet with Azeez. Moreover, several tuned-in 
observers from a cross-representation of Guyanese society 
feel strongly that Sawh was a clean minister relative to 
many of his peers. 
 
¶C. Sawh took too strong a stand against criminal activity. 
Some are saying that Sawh took a lead role in urging the 
Cabinet not to issue forestry permits to suspect concerns, 
which pitted him against the drug lords. According to this 
reasoning, Shaheed "Roger" Khan - whose forestry application 
was mentioned in the 2006 International Narcotics Control 
Strategy Report (INCSR) - may then have had a hand in Sawh's 
killing. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
------------------ 
PRESSURE MOUNTS ON POLICE COMMISSIONER FELIX 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
------------------ 
¶7. (U) Pressure has continued to mount on Commissioner of 
Police, Winston Felix, to resign in the wake of the crime 
situation. In an April 25 press release, the Georgetown 
Chamber of Commerce and Industry added its voice to those 
who have called for Felix's resignation, expressing 
"absolute and total lack of trust and confidence in the 
leader of the police force". Despite speculation that he 
would not last through the weekend, Felix remains on the 
job. Some interlocutors suggest that Felix's impending 
retirement in October makes the potential political fallout 
of sacking him not worth the effort. Nevertheless, President 
Jagdeo pointedly called on the police force to produce 
results at Sawh's April 25 funeral, declaring that "no one 
can convince me that among the 5,500 [members of the police 
and army] and all the money that we send in that area, that 
we cannot find and mete out to them what they deserve for 
terrorizing our country and our people". 
 
BULLEN