Dear Editor,
I write to authenticate the claims made by Mr Lionel Peters, in letter captioned ‘Guyanese are entitled to know the truth about their sordid past’ (SN, October 9), about his role in the struggle against the dictatorship since the 1970s, as well as in uplifting the lives of people in various communities on the Corentyne. I prefer not to comment on his take on events relating to how the late Mrs Janet Jagan became prime minister and subsequently the presidential candidate of the PPP/C. Others who were present during the deliberations of the Central Committee are better positioned to corroborate or negate Lio’s claims. Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran has stated emphatically that Lio’s report on the deliberations is inaccurate, and I have no reason to dispute Mr Ramkarran’s version of events.
What cannot be disputed, however, is the important role played by Lio in organizing activities to build support for the PPP (as a youth from the 1970s) as well as his loyalty to the late Dr Cheddi Jagan. Lio seemed to have had a personal problem with Janet, as I picked up in between the lines in conversations with him. He felt Janet did not like him.
I am not a supporter or member of the PPP or a friend of Lio, but I am somewhat familiar with his role in the PPP and it would be unfair for the public not to acknowledge and recognize his important contributions in the struggle that brought the PPP to office in October 1992. All of his claims of organizing people on the Corentyne are correct. And yes, he was a regular victim of harassment, intimidation, and physical abuse by thugs and goons of the dictatorship frequenting the police station for his pro-democracy activities.
I know of Lio because I interacted with him (on political issues) during the 1970s before leaving to further my studies in NY and during my regular summer visits to Guyana from 1981 (almost annually during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s) till his departure from Guyana around 2002 (subject to correction). He was always committed to the PPP until his break in 1997 when he joined Hoyte to campaign against Janet because of his difference with her. He returned unofficially to the PPP supporting President Jagdeo right after Janet’s resignation in 1999 and later also became upset with Jagdeo leaving Guyana as a broken man who had done so much for party and country but was never rewarded.
I know of Lio delivering Mirror newspapers for years on the Corentyne and in the Georgetown area, as well as working for GEC on the Corentyne. He subsequently became a news reporter for Mirror and later on an investigative reporter. He organized youths and sports activities and defended Cheddi and the PPP to the end in discussions with various people all over the coast. During my visits, he invited me, a fellow reporter and political activist, to accompany him to news conferences and to softball games he organized. He was very dedicated to his job and in my estimation few in the PPP worked as hard as he did.
I recognized between 1993 through 1995 in conversations that Lio was disenchanted with his exclusion from a role in government, although he would deny he was interested in government employment. He indicated to me that he had given enough of his time to the PPP and that he would leave politics and enter into “business” or further his studies at UG, and had so informed Cheddi. High officials in the PPP told me Lio had become a victim of his performance at the Mirror. Cheddi and Janet could not do without his services at Mirror and as such they could not appoint him to another position although Janet did not seem to have a fondness for Lio. President Cheddi told me he wanted Lio to continue with party activities. Some years earlier, during an interview before he became President, Cheddi had also intimated to me that Lio and others did not need to study at university and that he (Cheddi) “could teach them” about politics, economics and journalism.
I have not seen Lio for several years and have been told he is not in good health. I wish him well and hope he writes more often. The nation needs to know about his role and bitter experiences fighting for the freedom of Guyanese during the anti-dictatorial struggle.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
