propaganda press! freedom in Guyana

By Sharief Khan, Guyana Chronicle
THE Guyanese shot dead after a row with Venezuelan soldiers at Eteringbang in the border region with Venezuela, was hit in the heart and lung, a post mortem on the body yesterday showed, a police official said.
After the post mortem in Georgetown, the body of Parasram Persaud, also known as `Paul’, 29, of Catherine, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, was handed over to relatives for burial, the official told the Guyana Chronicle.

Police said Persaud had been living at El Dorado in Venezuela for the past seven years and was fatally shot about 18:30 h Friday as Venezuelan soldiers were pursuing fuel smugglers in three boats at Eteringbang on the Guyana side of the Cuyuni River.

Police said the shooting took place opposite San Martin in Venezuela.

Foreign Minister Dr Rudy Insanally yesterday told the Guyana Chronicle that while no formal request had been made, the Guyana Government would see what can be done to help relatives get the body back to El Dorado for burial.

Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Dr Odeen Ishmael, said Tuesday that Persaud’s mother and all his other relatives live at El Dorado and want the Guyana Government to help ship his body back there for burial.

He said about 150 Guyanese live at El Dorado, just west of the border between the two countries, and the community is very upset at the killing of Persaud who was married to a Venezuelan woman with whom he had two children, aged nine and two years.

He told the Guyana Chronicle Guyanese in El Dorado are claiming that the killing of Persaud stemmed from a row started by Venezuelan soldiers who were drinking at a river side bar at Eteringbang on the Cuyuni River in Guyana.

The Guyanese envoy in Caracas stressed that these were preliminary reports and the embassy would be speaking further with Guyanese from El Dorado to get a full report of what transpired late last Friday.

Venezuela has ordered a top-level probe into the fatal shooting and wants to ensure the incident does not affect current close bilateral relations.

Ishmael told the Guyana Chronicle Tuesday from Caracas that Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolas Maduro, phoned him that afternoon to advise that he was meeting a very senior police official who has been tasked with conducting the full probe.

“Minister Maduro expressed condolences to the relatives of the dead Guyanese, and also to the President (Bharrat Jagdeo) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana, and said that as soon as he obtains a report from the investigation he would convey it to me”, Ishmael said.

“He hopes that this incident would not interrupt the very good relations currently existing between Guyana and Venezuela. He added that the problem of contraband trade across the border is leading to much corruption and is hoping that the two countries can soon work out modalities to stem this problem”, he added.

Insanally told the Guyana Chronicle the matter was raised at a meeting here Tuesday between a team led by President Jagdeo and a high-level delegation from Venezuela.

“We expressed our concern and they assured us an investigation has been authorised”, he said.

“They have undertaken to provide a full report and investigate to see where responsibility lies; we were guaranteed that”, the Foreign Minister said.

Police here Monday confirmed they were investigating the shooting to death of a Guyanese fuel smuggler by Venezuelan soldiers in the border region last Friday.

Ishmael said a Guyanese from the El Dorado community phoned the Guyana Embassy claiming that the Venezuelan soldiers shot Persaud at point bank range after he refused to take a boat with fuel moored at Eteringbang back across the river to San Martin in Venezuela.

He said the man claimed that three members of the Venezuela National Guard, including a Lieutenant, were drinking at a mobile river bar moored at Eteringbang, when Persaud and others arrived in boats with fuel from Venezuela.

Ishmael said the man told the embassy that the Venezuelan soldiers accosted Persaud and his group and when they declined to return with the fuel and the vessels to San Martin, the three soldiers left for reinforcements.

The Venezuelan soldiers returned and after Persaud again refused to obey instructions to return to San Martin, an argument broke out, and they opened fire, the Guyanese from El Dorado told Ishmael.

Persaud was hit and fell overboard and the Ambassador said the man claimed the Venezuelan soldiers also shot up the barrels of fuel as they left.

According to the Guyana police, Persaud and eight other persons bought petrol in thirty-seven 45-gallon drums at about 10:00 h last Wednesday at El Dorado.

The group, at about 05:00 h Friday, left in five boats (four wooden and one steel) which were propelled by outboard engines with the fuel to be smuggled into Guyana, police said.

According to the police, at about 14:00 h, when crossing the Son of a Bitch falls, two of the boats encountered difficulties and sank. The men retrieved the fuel and continued on their journey in the three remaining boats.

However, police said, when they were in the vicinity of Eteringbang in the Cuyuni River, they were intercepted by a boat with three Venezuelan soldiers who ordered them to drive to San Martin.

The group refused and headed in their boats to the Guyana shore where they were held captive and ordered to lie face down, guarded by one of the soldiers, police said.

The statement said three of the men who were with Persaud in one of the boats escaped into bushes on the river bank and the six others who were held captive were ordered to lie face down.

Two of the soldiers left for reinforcements, the police said, and returned after which several shots were fired and they returned to Venezuela.

Persaud’s body, with a gunshot wound in the left side chest, was later recovered from the river but the fuel could not be found, police said.

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earlier reportrs stated that this man’s name was Paul Singh. in this story he is listed as Parsram Persaud also known as Paul. we’re going to stick with this