A video of a police rank beating at least three men who appeared to be trying to protect a woman and her child who were protesting a Guyana Geology and Mines Commission operation in Region Nine recently has evoked outrage.
The video -titled ‘Police brutality in Marudi Mountains’- was posted to YouTube (https://www. outube. com/watch?v=GSC JuyWo4yM). A group of police and GGMC Mines officers could be seen standing around as one rank beat the men. The child was lying on top of his mother who was on the ground as the men used their bodies in an attempt to protect them from the blows. The policeman used a stick to inflict the blows. There were other police around with guns.
When contacted yesterday Police Commissioner (ag) Leroy Brumell told Stabroek News that he has asked the police commander in the area for a full report and a probe has been ordered.
“Come off the road…ya’ll come off the road… come off the f#$@ road,” the policeman could be heard shouting even as he beat the men with a stick while heavily armed ranks looked on. Persons were heard shouting to the policeman to stop. “You cyan touch the child,” one shouted.
They even told the police ranks that the beating was being recorded and noted the presence of a reporter but the policemen paid them no heed.
Stabroek News was told that the GGMC officials and police were along a road leading into the Marudi Mountain Area when persons formed themselves into a barricade preventing them from proceeding. The police were a part of a group spearheaded by the GGMC as part of its ‘Operation El Dorado’ that was going to do a follow up visit on illegal miners at the site of the Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd concession.
A relative of one of the protestors told Stabroek News that the police shouted at the protestors to move from blocking the road but they responded that they would not allow them to enter the area.
A woman and her 10-year-old son then proceeded to lay on the trail then other persons joined the huddle on the ground. This apparently angered the police. One of the policemen then collected what appeared to be a machete and chopped a branch of a nearby tree and proceeded to beat the group including the woman and child as he shouted expletives.
“They didn’t care. Them is sadist they beat everybody them ain‘t care is who. We know is illegal yes but they have a way to do everything man,” the relative said. He said that yesterday police also arrested several persons and took them into custody but efforts to confirm this proved futile.
An official at the GGMC told Stabroek News that Romanex had notified the agency of the presence of illegal miners and acting on this tip, the officials went into the area. The continuation of ‘Operation El Dorado’ was announced last week and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment had said that cease work orders were slapped on three unauthorized dredges and 11 others were instructed to move on. Of the 14 dredges in operation, ten were Guyanese owned and the remaining four were Brazilian owned.
There were eight six-inch dredges and six four-inch dredges. Some of the operations were also being supported by excavators. The ministry release said that most of the personnel employed by the dredges were Guyanese and of thirteen Brazilians, eight were without work permits.
GGMC Commissioner Rickford Vieira told Stabroek News that charges will soon be laid against the persons found operating illegally. Vieira said that when his officers visited the location there was “massive mining going on.” He said that there were no records of production and the GGMC believes that the gold mined in the area is smuggled out to Brazil.
He said that most of the persons who were working illegally on the Romanex claim were part of a group of small miners from the Rupununi that had petitioned the Ministry of Natural Resources to be allowed to mine on the Prospecting Licence of Romanex.
They had claimed in their correspondence to the ministry that Romanex is occupying state lands while failing to execute the terms of its mining licence.
About 20 dredge owners had formed themselves into a group calling itself the Marudi Syndicate. They had requested the relinquishing of an agreed and negotiated acreage of land controlled by Romanex Guyana from its Mining Licence or Prospecting Licence. According to the letter from the Rupununi Miners Association, dispatched in December of last year, 193 petitioners inclusive of dredge owners, workers and other persons are legitimately involved in mining at Marudi and are directly affected by the actions of Romanex Guyana.
The GGMC official explained that lands from one company or person cannot be taken and given to another person because a petition is filed.
The official added that Romanex is scheduled to commence operations soon and it is hoped that the illegal persons would be moved so that the company can begin its work. Last week, the GGMC was directed by the Ministry of Natural Resources to review the Mining Licence held by Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd.
A statement from the GGMC said that the Marudi Mountain Mining Licence was granted to Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd. on the 17th April, 2009 after being held as a Prospecting Licence (large scale) from 1990 to 2009 by the said company.
“The site visit revealed no mining or exploration on behalf of the company was ongoing, while the Company had earlier committed to carrying out exploration activities within the early part of 2013, however, it is evident that no work is expected to commence on the property in the near future as no mining plan has been submitted”, the statement said.
The investigation resulted from the recent Operation El Dorado in Marudi Mountain.
