Violence, murders, rapes and anti-Indian prejudices played a critical role in the Wismar Massacre of 1964 in Guyana. Rumors were spread in district of Mackenzie- Christianburg-Wismar that Indians were killing Africans after an African couple was discovered dead in Buxton. Chief among those who were carrying this lie was Robert Jordan, a Member of Parliament for the PNC. Several Indo-Guyanese appearing before the Wismar Commission of 1964 were witnesses to the rumour mongering of Robert Jordan. Jaffar Ali Khan said that on May 23, he overheard Jordan addressing 50-60 people to ‘burn the houses and kill them if possible. You have sufficient lawyers to defend you.’
After the execution of the pogrom on May 25, more than 3000 Indo-Guyanese were beaten, raped, murdered, their properties torched and had to flee for their lives. Robert Rosane and Joseph Ramcharan of DEMBA (Bauxite Company) revealed the following statistics before the Wismar Commission: 363 DEMBA employees left, and a total of 744 families, comprising 3,399 individuals, were displaced.
After the massacre of May 25, the conspiracy of attacks on public buildings and commercial enterprises continued. The Sun Chapman that plied the Demerara River went up in flames after a loud explosion. Investigation revealed that the Chapman was used to transport dynamites and the heat of the engine caused the dynamites to explode. Forty-two Afro- Guyanese were killed in the explosion with a few seriously burnt. The Indo-Guyanese were blamed for the explosion to avenge the Wismar Massacre. The result was a further beating, looting and murder of the few families who were still employed with DEMBA. In the finality, all Indians employed with DEMBA were forced to abandon their work to save their lives.
The above information was released in two books – Failure of Protection: The 1964 Wismar Massacre and The Sun Chapman Disaster. The author is Dr Yog Mahadeo, a Guyanese who resides in Guyana with his family. He holds a Diploma in Journalism and Professional Writings, a Chartered Accountant, a law degree (UWI), a Master’s Degree (UWI) and a Doctorate in Finance. His father, Dharmacharya Budhram, was a well-known activist who was imprisoned for his struggles against the injustices of the Burnham dictatorship. In the aftermath of the Wismar Massacre, Pandit Budhram and others reached out to the victims.
The books highlighted the conspiracy of the US and the British to remove the elected PPP Government from office on the charge if being communist and aligned with the Soviet Union. Declassified documents from the US revealed that the CIA funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-Jagan trade unions through the American Labor Federation (AFL-CIO) that financed the 80-day strike in 1963, a build up to the Wismar Massacre of May 25,1964. The PNC’s hoodlums and criminals executed this plan of the US and the British with efficiency and precision, demonstrating a penchant for mayhem and destruction.
Most shocking for the victims of the massacre was the failure of the police to protect the criminals. Victims revealed that the police did nothing to save them. Shirley Mohammed testified before the Commission that when she, half-naked and clutching her baby, begged two policemen for help, they told her to “go along my way and search for Cheddi.”
The police were providing logistical support to the arsonists including transporting gasolene for use in arson attacks. Samuel Ramlochan testified that he saw police in jeep PP91 give two jerry cans of gasolene to known arsonists, who then set two houses on fire.
Janet Jagan, Minister of Home Affairs, after appealing to John Peter, the Police Commissioner, and failing to get him to deploy troops to Wismar, went on to submit a letter of resignation from her ministerial portfolio. She said to the Senate: “I have come to this decision to resign because I am not prepared to be a party to a government which has been stripped of its authority to maintain law and order and to protect the lives and properties of its citizens.” It was clear that the Police Commissioner was party to the conspiracy to remove the elected government of Dr Cheddi Jangan from office at all cost.
Dr Yog Mahadeo lamented the failure of the PPP to confront the racial insecurity and fears that lie dormant but ready to erupt with the slightest provocation. Subsequent PPP Governments beginning in 1992 with Dr Cheddi Jagan returning to power and to date have failed to bring to parliament for discussion the events surrounding the Wismar Massacre of 1964. Until recently, former President Granger was accusing the PPP and the Indo-Guyanese of ethnic cleansing with no response from the PPP or any Indo-Guyanese activists.
The British and US only demonstrated the length they were willing to go to ensure that Communism did not spread in the Caribbean. The result was 28 years of dictatorship under Forbes Burnham and Guyana becoming the poorest nation in the western hemisphere with half the Guyanese people fleeing the country.
The celebration of Independence Day on 26th May is deliberately done to bring shame to the Indo-Guyanese people. Equally damning is the renaming of Mackenzie- Christianburg- Wismar region as Linden, the first name of Burnham. Also, the victims of the massacre have not been compensated and no active politician is seeing it fit to raise this issue for discussion in parliament. However, in the case of the 42 victims of the Sun Chapman’s explosion, a monument has been built in Linden with every victim’s name inscribed.
Dr Yog Mahadeo has displayed rare courage to bring to the free world the injustices that were perpetrated against innocent Indo-Guyanese. He has succeeded in doing so without sacrificing the highest rigors of academia. His sources, listed throughout the books, include the declassified documents of the UK and US, the findings of the 1964 Wismar Commission and an extended bibliography.
These are books for all people to read to better understand our past and present challenges in the Caribbean. I have no reservation in recommending them to you.