Dear Editor,
I am saddened by the death of David de Caires, whose remains were cremated in Barbados.
David de Caires has been an outstanding advocate of media freedom and the independence of journalists.
The introduction of Stabroek News marked a breakthrough for press freedom due to the heavy hand of authoritarian restrictions, harassment of journalists and the near destruction of non-state newspapers during 1970-1985.
David de Caires stood tall during that period, and subsequently, as a defiant critic of the muzzling of the media, abuse of the judicial process, political despotism and more particularly, the undoing of the electoral process as the major pillar of our democracy.
Over the many years of our interaction on human rights and civil liberties issues, David de Caires exhibited tolerance for criticisms and the right to dissent, which probably informed his consistent opinion in his editorials, for example, against the punitive economic/trade blockade of Cuba by the outgoing Bush administration.
Whilst I was the country’s Minister of Information, de Caires was persistent in his representation to me for the Guyana Government to subscribe to the Declaration of Chapultepec, to guard against the use by the state of economic pressures on the press. It was ratified by the Guyana Government and it is to the credit of David de Caires that he remained true to his belief in the Declaration.
I join with all others in expressing condolences to Doreen and the rest of the family, and to Editor Anand Persaud and his media colleagues.
I also pay tribute to two other media stalwarts – Hawley Harris, the finest Guyanese cartoonist, and Basil Collins, a letter-writer of great conviction, who passed on recently.
Yours faithfully,
Moses V Nagamootoo
