Walter Rodney was assassinated by Gregory Smith, a sergeant of the Guyana Defence Force, by means of an explosive device, on June 13, 1980. Smith was acting on behalf of the State of Guyana. Rodney was Burnham’s most prominent victim but there were others, including from the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), the political party that Rodney helped to form and of which he was one of its leaders. The Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Rodney’s assassination concluded on April 22, 2014: “We have no hesitation in holding that Gregory Smith was responsible for Dr. Walter Rodney’s death on 13 June, 1980 and that in so doing he was acting as an agent of the State having been aided and abetted so to do, by individuals holding positions of leadership in State agencies and committed to carrying out the wishes of the PNC administration.” The COI also determined that the assassination could not have occurred without the knowledge of then Prime Minister Burnham.
