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CHAPTER 6 BLEEDING GUIANA * * * * * Situated on the northeastern coast of South America, British Guiana was the largest of the Anglophone Caribbean colonies. Its area of 83,000 square miles made it slightly smaller than the British Isles. In 1965 its population numbered only 605,000 and was concentrated in Georgetown, the capital city, and on the coastal belt. British Guiana was home to many ethnic groups. Indo-Guianese, who were the descendants of indentured servants from South Asia, numbered 297,000, constituting about 50 percent of the population. The African Guianese, the descendants of enslaved Africans , comprised about 192,000 persons, or 32 percent of the inhabitants. Racially mixed groups, generally referred to as "coloureds," amounted to 74,000 people. The descendants of Portuguese immigrants from Madeira numbered 7,000, other Europeans 3,000, Amerindians 28,000, and the Chinese 4,000. The modern political history of British Guiana began in 1950, when a young Indo-Guianese dentist, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, along with his Americanborn wife Janet, founded the People's Progressive Party (PPP). The new party receivedthe support of Forbes Burnham, an African Guianese attorney, who became its deputy leader. Attracting the votes of Indo-Guianese and African Guianese, the PPP won the elections that were held in April 1953 and Jagan became the first premier. His government was short-lived, however, as the British government became alarmed at Jagan's public assertion of Marxism and the behavior of his administration. It suspended the constitution a bare six months after Jagan had assumed office, returning British Guiana to crown colony status, or direct rule. The association between Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham ended in 1955 after a series of disputes based mainly on their rivalry for the leadership of the PPP and to some extent ideological differences. Twoyears later Burnham founded the People's National Congress (PNC), which attracted sub- B L E E D I N G G U I A N A 1 9 9 stantial support from the African Guianese population, while most IndoGuianese remained with the PPP. When the constitution was restored in 1957 with severe restrictions on the power of the elected legislature, the PPP won the new elections, and Jagan once again became the dominant political personage in the colony, although the office of premier no longer existed. The future did not augur well for British Guiana. Party alignment began to crystallize along racial lines, and Jagan's continued articulation of Marxist dogma earned him the antipathy of officials in the United Kingdom and the United States. This was the era of the Cold War and the political anxieties it engendered in the Americas. Fidel Castro's ascendancy to power in Cuba in 1959 and his alliance with the Soviet Union thereafter exacerbated American and British fears that British Guiana could become the second communist bastion in the hemisphere. The colony, however, remained sufficiently stable for the British government to call a conference of its leaders in London in March 1960 to determine its future. Delegates at the conference endorsed the principle of independence for British Guiana. In July 1961 full internal self-government was introduced, although responsibility for defense and external affairs remained with the British governor. But there was trouble on the horizon. In the general election held in late 1961, the PPP received 43 percent of the votes but won 20 seats in the 35-member legislature. The PNC won only II seats but received 41 percent of the votes. A newly formed party, the United Force (UF),received 16 percent of the votes, winning 4 seats. Led by Peter D'Aguiar, a wealthy businessman of Portuguese descent, this conservative party won the support of white voters, coloureds, and members of the middle class in general. Critics of Cheddi Jagan were disturbed bythe fact that his was a minority government, having received only 43 percent of the votes cast. They were troubled by his pro-communist rhetoric and his attempts to seek closer relationships with Cuba and the Eastern Bloc countries. His wife Janet, a gifted organizer and Marxist theoretician, was his acknowledged ideological mentor and principal adviser. Jagan's opponents feared independence under his leadership and were worried that he would continue to remain in office indefinitely if the "first past the post" electoral system were not changed. Indians, who comprised the largest sector of the multiracial electorate, were expected to remain the basis of his support. The period 1962-63 saw the country wracked by one crisis after...

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