The unease which some native Surinamers feel about the increasing intrusion of Brazilian miners into their country exploded into serious disorder including arson, assault, rape and robbery in the towns of Albina and Papatam on Christmas Day.

The incident that ignited the violence − the murder of a Surinamer by a Brazilian in St Laurent, Guyane − arose out of a personal dispute over a debt “for smuggling Brazilians,” itself an illegality. At first glance, the ferocity and intensity of the subsequent riot seemed to be out of proportion to the crime and suggested that the causes lay deeper within the relationship between the two groups.  The animosity was not sudden and resentment between the natives and foreigners has seethed for several years.

The Christmas Day riot was the worst, but only the latest, expression of that resentment between Surinamers and Brazilians. The latter for the most part have been entering the country, some of them illegally, to work for gold-mining companies. At present, it is estimated that there are more than 18,000 Brazilians who constitute about four per cent of Suriname’s population.

Illegal economic activities have spawned social problems. Influential locals collaborate with aliens in illegal migration and mining. The US Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report has designated Suriname a destination for girls from Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Guyana to work as prostitutes. In short, some aspects of the Brazilian presence are disruptive.

Ominously, similar abuses became evident in Guyana over the last 15 years. A Guyana-Brazil consular conference was convened to consider the problem of illegal mining by Brazilian ‘garimpeiros’ as long ago as August 1995. It established that, owing to lax law enforcement, Guyanese ‘front men’ had been cooperating with Brazilians to circumvent mining regulations.

Guyana’s hinterland west of the Essequibo River has been especially vulnerable to abuses by aliens. But the administration would be ill prepared to respond to the sort of disorder that occurred in Suriname as a result of a similar situation. There seems to be little day-to-day coordination of the enforcement activities of the state agencies in the hinterland.

The Environmental Protection Agency; Guyana Energy Agency; Guyana Forestry Commission; Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and Guyana Revenue Authority, in addition to the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Defence Force, do not possess among them sufficient aircraft, boats, personnel, vehicles and other resources to enforce the law in widely dispersed mining areas. The Police Force’s ‘E’ & ‘F’ Divisions comprise approximately 70 per cent of this country’s territory or an area of 152,000 km² that is contiguous with Brazil and Venezuela.  All too frequently, Brazilians enter and leave at will.

An indeterminate amount of Guyana’s gold and diamonds is removed with little benefit to Guyanese citizens or the state. Worse, there has been massive environmental degradation as a consequence of reckless mining practices.

Former presidents of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association − Alfro Alfonso and Stanislaus Jardim − have reported the restlessness of local miners over Brazilian irregularities, explicitly warning the administration about the “disturbing” lawlessness in the mining industry. Amerindian communities have complained about environmental degradation caused by mining by Brazilians and others. Head of the Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department Seelall Persaud last October publicly warned that the opening of the Takutu River bridge was expected to pose a “serious threat” as more guns and cocaine may be smuggled into Guyana.

In light of the Christmas Day events in Suriname, it would be irresponsible of the administration to continue to ignore the evidence of illegalities surrounding Brazilian activities in the hinterland.