Former Surinamese Justice and Police Minister Chandrikapersad Santokhi has been appointed chairman of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), the security organ of the Organisation of American States (OAS), according to Radio Nederland.
The 48th meeting of CICAD where the 51-year-old Surinamer was elected, took place at the OAS headquarters in Washington. Santokhi will be remembered by Guyanese as the man who was justice minister at the time Guyanese drug trafficker Roger Khan was arrested in the neighbouring country. Santokhi made all of the major announcements in relation to Khan’s case.
Radio Nederland said that Santokhi’s candidature was proposed by Brazil and supported by Mexico and other Caribbean countries. The report said that Suriname’s President Desi Bouterse also supported Santokhi’s candidature for the CICAD post, even though the two were political rivals. Santokhi was a candidate for the presidency himself in the talks following the May 2010 elections.
The president of the former Dutch colony was himself convicted for drugs offences in absentia in the Netherlands in 2000. The report added that in a press release issued by the Surinamese cabinet, Santokhi is quoted as assuring the body that he would do his utmost in the fight against drugs. OAS Secretary-General Albert Ramdin – also a Surinamer – said Santokhi’s appointment was an acknowledgement of the efforts made by the Surinamese government on the illegal drugs trade in recent years, Radio Nederland said.
