The recent passing of Lt Col (rtd.) Hartley Liverpool (Aug 25) should remind us that we still got two active border controversies – in the south-east from Suriname, who claim our New River Triangle (NRT); and in the west from Venezuela, who claim our entire Essequibo region. While we’re all chummy with Suriname now, it was Col Hartley Liverpool’s bravery back on August 19, 1969 – 53 years ago almost to the day – along with that of some of his GDF squaddies – that repulsed the Surinamese from physically seizing and occupying 6000 sq miles of our country!! That’s more than THREE TRINIDADS!!
Six months after we’d become independent, Venezuela seized our half of Ankoko island – which they still occupy! And even as Suriname’s Government was jawboning our Govt that they owned NRT, they sneaked in troops to create military bases to take physical possession of our remote piece of real estate. What to do?? Well, what followed should remind our present crop of leaders that while they talk softly (or even “skin teeth”), we’d better have a stick ready at all times!! The land and water (river) approaches to NRT were treacherous, but the GDF’s air transport of troops to put down the Rupununi Uprising earlier in January had sent them to the drawing board to figure out how to do the same to the NRT.
Their intel revealed that the Surinamese troops were creating an airstrip (“Tigri airstrip”) that was almost complete, but they’d blocked it with oil drums. The GDF had two Twin Otters whose notable feature was they were STOL – Short Take Off and Landing – needing less than 300 metres to land! The GDF recruited three civilian pilots to join their one, and practised short landing – and got it down to 100 metres!!! All the while manoeuvring between oil drums until they were satisfied they could pull off the operation. They waited until the runway being built by the Surinamese army was long enough, and Aug 19 was designated for “Operation Climax”!!
Captain Martin Nascimento commanded No. 1 Company; Captain Asad Ishoof, No. 2 Company; Lieutenant Harry Hinds, the Medium Mortar Platoon; and Lieutenant Marcus Munroe, the Reconnaissance Platoon. The aircraft was piloted by Captains Roland da Silva, Michael Chan-A-Sue, Philip Jardim, and Anthony Mekdeci. But what was unique was, since the Twin Otter has a small 3-foot baggage space in the nose of the aircraft, then Warrant Officer Liverpool agreed to squeeze himself in – armed with a machine-gun!! Guyana had its first “nose-gunner”!!! This had to’ve taken real guts!!
So, our troops took off from Apoteri, 90 miles away. The first plane with Liverpool zeroed in on the airstrip with his guns blazing. The Surinamese troops were shocked out of their wits and fled!!
We converted their base into “Camp Jaguar”!! May Lt Liverpool RIP!!
…PNC’s blushes
Your Eyewitness must confess he’s feeling a twinge of sympathy for the PNC. As you, dear readers, would know, he firmly believes that for democratic governance to function as it was meant to do, an EFFECTIVE Opposition’s absolutely necessary. If nothing else but to keep the Government on the straight and narrow – or at least from not running off a cliff with the country’s treasury in tow!! And right now – after Aug 2, 2020 – things haven’t been exactly hunky dory with our major Opposition – the PNC.
Now some folks are dumping on PNC-APNU Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton for the less-than-stellar performance since. But that’s not fair, since we gotta admit he was given basket to fetch water. It wasn’t just the bruising battle to become the leader, but the internecine warfare conducted to deny him that position. Like the foisted MPs who aren’t loyal to his vision of where the party ought to be going.
He should clean house.
…justice
To point out that the revelations coming out of the affaire Bascom are scandalous isn’t necessarily attacking the GPF, but actually defending the value of “justice” that they, as an institution, were established to help dispense.
