Authorities must ensure that fishermen are free to work without fear

Dear Editor,
A few days ago, I urged Government to handle the issue with Vishnu Persaud carefully, lest it becomes one totally about race more than about his alleged poor performance executing the voter education exercise for the past two general elections.
Today, I take time out to commend both the Police and the Public Security Ministry for breaking up a terrible gang of men who had spread terror to the Berbice fishing community through a reign of terror dating back to more than a decade.
Googling some of the previous piracy attacks, it is clear to me that this has been going on for far too long. While researching, I came across a Stabroek News story back in February of 2007 pertaining to fishermen complaining to then Security Minister Clement Rohee about how fearful they were of going to sea. Some have migrated; others have abandoned the industry completely.
Luckily for all of us, the leaders of the gangs which had for years been operating on the Corentyne coast with impunity overstepped their bounds in a very big way with the brutal killing of about 15 men off the Suriname coast in late April.
The massive Police and governmental response by authorities in Guyana and Suriname appears to have now led to the demise of the gang, with its leaders before Guyanese courts. Several henchmen are also facing piracy charges. The response must have caught them by surprise.
And until I read it in local papers, I was completely unaware that Guyanese law allows Police to charge a pirate or alleged pirate for an act committed in or outside Guyana’s waters.
So, surely, the gang leaders were unaware of this exceptional clause, and will likely pay for it with extended jail sentences, if not the death penalty. Going forward, many of us will closely monitor activities on the high seas, to see if the gang and its leaders have in fact been wiped out, or if new ones will emerge.
Whatever it may be, authorities must keep their foot on the pedal to ensure that fishermen are free to work without fear of being attacked, tied to weights, and dumped overboard.
They must do so, as hard as it is to believe that they were Guyanese who had done these heinous things to their fellow countrymen, some of whom lived in the same community as their victims.

Sincerely,
Winston Mars