Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo today denied making a derogatory remark about Amerindian persons.
A statement from the Opposition Leader follows:
It was brought to my attention that the government and its cohorts have been circulating a clip from my last press conference with the claim that I made derogatory remarks about our Amerindian people .
The audio of two words – everybody ( cut short by me ) and people taken out of context is being used to substantiate this false claim .
The truth is, in context of my criticism of the AFC for its lack of credibility and betrayal of Guyanese and the consequent loss of political support for that party I said “ it is an avalanche , it’s not trickles , it’s a deluge – everybody ( cut short ) , people who believed that they stood for something that was different , have now seen the true nature of the AFC” . The discussion had absolutely nothing to do with Amerindians .
This statement was made at a press conference with the entire media Corp present including all the Newspapers and not a single person there thought I made a derogatory statement . In fact there was an extensive question and answer session and the matter never came up .
I would urge people to look at the entire press conference particularly the beginning where I spoke extensively about the struggles of indigenous peoples .
Only warped minds or desperate politicians ( and there are many around now ) would think that after a lifetime of struggling for greater respect , rights and development for our Amerindian brothers and sister , I would resort to the use of a word that I find personally reprehensible .
I will address this issue further at my upcoming press conference .
