I am overjoyed that the issue is being kept alive - but at last count it appears that 2 letters stating that some GDF personell committed atrocities on Amerindians (mostly Makushis) in the aftermath of the December 31st 1968 rancher led & Venezuelan backed Rupununi rebellion have been published, yet 4 letters exonerating all the GDF personell stationed in the Rupununi for 7 months (from January - July 1969)have been published; is this fair & balanced journalism?

It is very easy for anyone with acess to the internet to type my name 'Damon Corrie' in any major search engine (such as 'Google') and peruse several dozen pages of info about me, my ancestry, my actions (not mere words) and my 'qualifications to represent Indigenous peoples in the Americas and the Caribbean' as Mr. Gokarran Sukhdeo so kindly alluded to. Perhaps Mr. Sukhdeo can direct the reading public where we might be able to ascertain that he is who he claims to be and not a GDF apologist masquerading as an Indian who conveniently was present in the Rupununi for 7 months (strange how that time period corresponds to the tour of duty for most GDF soldiers sent to 'crush the rebellion' by former President Forbes Burnham). None of the victims I met (subsequent to Mr. Bomparte) saw any civilians accompanying the GDF soldiers - except for a few PNC officials on rare occaissions during 1969

. I followed up on Mr. Bomparte's investigation (between 2000-2005) and have met with all 100+ victims he interviewed between 1993-1999 (in Guyana, Brazil & Venezuela), I needed to confirm for myself that the upsetting accounts he recorded were accurate as they really shocked me, so I do not know how Mr. Sukhdeo could say "Maybe we can indeed put a closure to this incident if the people with firsthand information were approached" - if 100+ victims are not 'people with firsthand information' then I do not know who is. Maybe in his mind - and the minds of all other GDF apologists - only GDF personell should be relied on to give us the facts; sounds very 'Burnham-like' to me. I would also like to know how he reached Santa Helena in Venezuela without a VISA - since no record of anyone with that name has ever obtained a VISA from Venezuelan or Brazillian authorities. My family is well connected in diplomatic circles and I only had to ask a favour of two of my fathers friends to ascertain this.

At least Mr. Desmond Roberts (retired GDF colonel) was honest enough to state up front who he really is, although I found his reference to anyone who claims that the GDF did anything wrong (myself & Professor Seelochan specifically) as being 'rebels' quite revealing into the mindset of someone who sees the world in black & white - 'either you are with us or you are against us'. Another 'Burnham-like trait, perhaps that is why certain GDF officers and Amerindian Chiefs were forced to swear oaths of loyalty to President Burnham in 1969.

Mr. Roberts also referred to my 100+ victim accounts and Professor Seelochan Beharry's 12 international independent sources of information as being 'flimsy evidence', intelligent readers can judge for themselves.

I personally believe that poor people in general can more easily be intimidated by authority than middle or upper-class people, no-one can bribe me into submission or silence, I do not lose sleep over money and I laugh at threats; but wave some money/threats in the face of the financially powerless and you can get them to say or do whatever you want; I would not be suprised if a few letters are published in the press by people claiming to be Amerindians who lived through the GDF occupation of the Rupununi - and who either exonerrate the GDF totally or only admit to lesser crimes being comitted.

On a personal note, I do not claim to represent ALL Amerindians in Guyana - only those who either joined the Confederacy or who on an individual level, turned to me to help them seek justice; no personality, association or organization can honestly claim to represent ALL Guyana's Amerindians. Each one of us has followers and opponents within every Amerindian community in Guyana, this is the nature of democracy - no government ever has-or will ever have the support of 100% of the population. What I claim NOT to be - is an 'armchair leader', the kind of leader who claims to love their own people yet marry a non-Amerindian, spends donated funds not personal funds, and talks a lot but does very little physically - certainly nothing that puts their life in peril no matter how important the issue. When illegal drug cultivation by threatening non-Amerindians was a major problem for a certain Amerindian village and the Police did not act on our tip-offs, I equiped a group of trusted volunteers and led them personally to deal with the matter; call it vigilantism - If you must - but the problem was solved.

A check with Foreign Affairs (in Guyana) can also confirm that my father was one of 10 businessmen in Barbados to be invited to have dinner with the late President Cheddi Jagan many years ago, and I can tell you that he mentioned during a private moment with my father on that occassion that he was not sure about the complete loyalty of the GDF to the PPP Government; he also mentioned that "Amerindians paid a heavy price at the hands of the GDF in 1969".

Once again I must re-iterate that not ALL GDF personell stationed in the Rupununi in 1969 are guilty of wrong-doing, but those who are need to tell the truth and opologize to their victims. Believe it or not I do have a few fine upstanding gentlemen friends who are either active or retired GDF personell, and thanks to them I have an admission of guilt from a retiree and assistance in determining that a death threat sent by e-mail to me was from a member of the GDF. The latter was not difficult, I merely paid to have the IP number of the senders e-mail traced and gave the name to my active-duty friend in the GDF, who was then able to confirm several days later that the name in the IP trace was a member of the GDF. In the future - be smart enough go to an internet cafe if you want to send me death threats, then at least I will not be able to trace it back to you.

Lastly, I would like to offer a possible solution to the entire issue of whether any atrocities took place or not, if the GDF has nothing to hide I would expect them to fully support me on this one - not make some convenient excuse like "we do not think it is necessary as it would be a waste of money since we are completely innocent".

Here is my offer:
Since I was trained in 2001 by the International Training Centre of Indigenous Peoples (in Sisimiut Greenland) on how to present a case at the World Court in the Hague - I will volunteer my services to represent the 100+ victims I have on record and I will secure the funding to table the case and fly the victims to the Netherlands, the GDF can pay for its commanding officers who served in the Rupununi in 1969 to attend and deny all the 'flimsy' claims from my side; we then leave the credibility issue to be decided by the honourable Judges of the World Court. One of us will leave with a moral victory.

Readers must firstly be aware that most Rupununi Amerindian villages do not get daily deliveries of newspapers as coastal communities do - so it is impractical to expect timely responses from Amerindian residents those areas. Also, the respondents should be carefully scrutinised as there are many 'political pimps' who are indeed Amerindian residents of all interior villages - but who have 'put their mouth where the soup leaks' and use their superficial 'credentials' to masquerade as the bearers of truth regarding all issues concerning Amerindians - while conveniently concealing their various party affiliations.

Yours faithfully,

Damon Gerard Corrie
Founder & President
Pan-Tribal Confederacy of Indigenous Tribal Nations
www.pantribalconfederacy.com

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