Bouterse’s home raided

Facing continuing allegations that government is making no concerted effort to locate missing former President Desi Bouterse, police on Sunday surprisingly raided and searched his riverside home, in an operation codenamed “Christmas Bread” that authorities said was designed to capture him and enforce his 20-year jail sentence for mass murder back in 1982.

The early morning raid in the residential neighborhood did not produce Bouterse, 79 nor his longtime and trusted bodyguard Iwan Dijksteel. Dijksteel’s home was also raided but it is unclear whether authorities were acting on any credible intelligence about the whereabouts of the two.

The former military strongman, credited with staging military coups in 1980 and 1990 before winning elections as a two-term civilian president in 2010, disappeared in mid-January of this year, on the day he was to surrender to begin serving his time along with Dijksteel and three others convicted of murdering 15 government opponents during the height of military governance in December of 1982.

The 15, including four journalists, clergymen, academics and labor leaders, were dubbed as collaborators with The Netherlands and other western nations to reverse the February 1980 coup. They were executed at a colonial era Dutch fort that is ironically located next to the presidential secretariat where Bouterse had served two consecutive terms before his National Democratic Party (NDP) lost power in the 2020 general elections.

The raids came two weeks after surviving relatives and friends held ceremonies in Paramaribo, the capital to observe the 42nd anniversary of the killings at monuments in the city and as the December 8^th foundation announced plans to petition the government to rename the Desi Bouterse highway in the city. Foundation Chairman Sunil Oemrawsingh, chairman of the foundation, said a formal petition will be sent to cabinet for approval as “it is unacceptable that a road in our country is named after a convicted criminal.”

Bouterse was in late 2019 sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the murders. He appealed to a higher court but the conviction was upheld for him, Dijksteel and three other former soldiers. The three have since reported to prison and have begun their sentences. Initially, authorities say they were acting on reports that the two had been  flown to a secret location in Venezuela, but rumors about Bouterse hiding out in Suriname have swirled persistently in recent weeks.

His NDP, identified by polls as likely to win the largest bloc of the 51 assembly seats in general elections in May, has already said it would pardon him if it is able to form a coalition government with other parties. The governing Hindustani-led VHP administration has been criticized for not going after Bouterse with any verve because of alleged secret plans for a coalition with the NDP next year.