The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) yesterday said that the attempts by two Stabroek News reporters to find information on who heads Guyana’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) should be applauded by members of the public.
The effort by the SN reporters triggered an instruction by the Office of the President to the Guyana Police Force to investigate the matter. Police on Monday questioned the Editor-in-Chief of Stabroek News, Anand Persaud and then intercepted the car that had been used to transport the reporters to the intelligence centre in the Castellani House compound and ordered the driver to Eve Leary to make a statement. This action was condemned by Persaud and the Guyana Press Association.
In a statement, the WPA said “It is important to note the secrecy that surrounds the operation of this unit which tremendously impacts the lives of Guyanese. It is also important to note that in more developed countries the agencies which are charged with responsibility for surveillance on the populace are themselves not free from scrutiny by the media. To all appearances government has taken a decision that the least known about the CIA the better. This action confirms WPA’s initial concerns that the establishment of the central intelligence body had more to do with spying on opponents than with crime fighting”.
The WPA, a constituent of A Partnership for National Unity, said it believes that the public should understand and support the efforts of Stabroek News and other media houses to provide them with information on the work of this unit. It argued that the public’s inability to learn what is occurring in Guyana has the “danger of strengthening the oligarchy’s clout over the populace.”
It added that the probe launched by the government of the actions of SN’s reporters has “signaled that any effort to acquire information on the functioning of the CIA will be resisted and dealt with by brutal force. It is another assault on freedom of the press and yet another attempt by the PPP/C government to trample on the fundamental rights of Guyanese.
“WPA therefore takes this opportunity to call on all Guyanese to show solidarity with SN’s reporters and condemn this latest assault on our freedoms”, the party added.
