https://kiskadeewatch.com/guyana/cocaine-profits-moving-into-illegal-gold-mining-interpol/
Cocaine profits moving into illegal gold mining – INTERPOL
Criminal syndicates in the Americas are increasingly using illegal gold mining to move and conceal profits from the cocaine trade, INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza told a regional police conference in Georgetown on Wednesday.
Speaking at the opening of the 27th INTERPOL Americas Regional Conference, Urquiza described criminal groups that operate across several illicit markets at once. The same routes used to transport narcotics, he said, could also carry trafficked people, firearms and wildlife, while profits from cyber fraud could move rapidly through cryptocurrency networks.
“A growing number of syndicates are solving this by moving their drug capital straight into illegal gold mining,” he said after describing the difficulty traffickers face in moving and concealing cash.
Urquiza pointed to Operation Guyana Shield, conducted last December by authorities in Guyana, Brazil, French Guiana and Suriname, as an example of what investigators could uncover by following both the goods and the money. Officers seized gold and timber and traced mercury supplies and the proceeds behind them, he said.
“Seizures take away their cargo and following the money takes away their business,” he told delegates.
INTERPOL reported in January that the operation involved more than 24,500 checks on people and vehicles and led to 198 arrests across the four jurisdictions. Among those detained were three men in Guyana suspected of gold smuggling and money laundering. INTERPOL said they were found with unprocessed gold and US$590,000 in cash; the allegations against them remain allegations. Officers also seized mercury in Guyana and Suriname, including cylinders concealed in solar panels.
Urquiza said INTERPOL was developing a regional task force model to help police map criminal networks, identify senior targets and plan operations. He spoke of one task force based at its regional bureau in Buenos Aires and another dedicated to the Caribbean. Under the model, national authorities would choose targets and plan actions, with INTERPOL providing support.
He also said 14 countries from the Americas were participating in the pilot of INTERPOL’s Silver Notice system, which helps police seek information about assets linked to crime. He expressed hope that members would support making it a permanent capability at the organisation’s General Assembly later this year. The system is already operating as a pilot; its first notice was published in 2025.
INTERPOL President Lucas Philippe, addressing the same conference, said illegal mining increasingly intersected with firearms and drug trafficking, illicit finance and exploitation of people. He described Operation Guyana Shield as an illustration of that mix of crimes: officers looking into illegal gold mining also encountered firearms, cash, drugs, mercury and mining equipment.
Philippe urged the region’s law enforcement organisations to make their systems work together and avoid duplicating one another’s efforts. The task force approach, he said, was intended to bring limited personnel, expertise, data and funding into a common operational effort.
The two-day conference also placed financial crime high on its agenda. According to INTERPOL’s conference statement, fraud-related alerts across the Americas and Caribbean rose by 40% between 2024 and 2025. The meeting was due to examine money laundering, criminal use of cryptocurrencies and the tracing and recovery of assets.
Source: Kiskadee Watch
MV Barima families must not be coerced into signing away their rights
https://kiskadeewatch.com/opinion/letters/mv-barima-families-must-not-be-coerced-into-signing-away-their-rights/
MV Barima families must not be coerced into signing away their rights
Dear Editor,
The reported attempts to condition compensation to the family of MV Barima Chief Engineer Paul Seepersad upon signing documents absolving the Government of responsibility is deeply disturbing. The Guyana Government must publicly address and stop this illegal practice immediately, if this is so.
Compensation for death, funeral expenses, lost income, children’s support, trauma and other losses is not a political favour. It cannot lawfully or morally be used to purchase silence, obstruct accountability or pressure grieving families into surrendering their rights before the facts are fully investigated.
We have strongly cautioned all affected families against rushing into “full and final” settlement documents, because signing these agreements without independent legal oversight could permanently strip victims of their right to pursue future litigation or additional claims.
Moreover, this flagrantly contradicts what President Irfaan Ali has promised that the financial relief distributed under the state’s HEART Initiative is an “expression of national solidarity” and not formal legal compensation, and that it shouldn’t require an admission or waiver of liability.
The Seepersad family has stated clearly that they will not sign away their rights. Every affected family should receive the same protection.
No family should be asked to execute a release before:
- Receiving independent legal advice from a lawyer of its own choosing—not one selected by the Government;
- Obtaining full disclosure of the proposed compensation formula and all material terms;
- Knowing the results of the Commission of Inquiry and other investigations;
- Being informed of all possible claims against the State, its agencies, contractors and other responsible parties;
- Receiving sufficient time to consider the agreement without pressure, threats or financial coercion; and
- Being told whether accepting assistance would affect the right to sue, testify, participate in the inquiry or demand further compensation.
Any immediate humanitarian or funeral payment should be made without prejudice, meaning that families retain every legal right and remedy. The Government should publish the compensation framework, disclose whether releases have already been signed and confirm whether different families have been offered different amounts or conditions.
The reported arrangement is especially troubling because families remain without complete answers, the Commission of Inquiry has apparently not obtained statements from some relatives, and the vessel and other crucial evidence must be properly preserved and examined. The State cannot conduct or control an inquiry while simultaneously attempting to secure releases shielding itself from liability.
Paul Seepersad reportedly served aboard vessels for more than two decades and had previously expressed concerns about unsafe conditions. His family deserves truth, dignity, independent representation and fair compensation—not a document designed to extinguish its rights.
President Irfaan Ali’s Government must immediately prohibit coercive, deceptive and/or cajoled releases, appoint an independent compensation administrator, provide equal treatment to every victim and allow all families to participate meaningfully in the Commission of Inquiry.
The victims’ families are entitled to compensation and accountability. They must never be forced to choose between financial survival and justice.
They will not-and must not-sign away their rights.
Yours faithfully,
Hon. Albert Baldeo
Former Magistrate, Senior State Counsel and State Prosecutor (GUYANA); Community Leader, Judicial Delegate (NY,USA); President, Guyana Beyond Borders
Discussion
Source: Kiskadee Watch
Guyana’s judiciary now operates in fear, it is detectable
https://kiskadeewatch.com/opinion/letters/guyanas-judiciary-now-operates-in-fear-it-is-detectable/
Guyana’s judiciary now operates in fear, it is detectable
Dear Editor,
At last! At last, someone with the courage.
To contemplate and question, even challenge, the mighty American Eagle. Who knows what next it will swoop to destroy? My thanks to Justice Courtney Abel, in his silver headed years, the head of the UG Department of Law spoke. He said what had to be said. Squeeze Justice Gino Persaud yesterday, there could be others today. Definitely some hesitancy tomorrow. Will this ruling please the president? How will the U.S. ambassador react to a judgment away from public sight? What will the U.S. State Dept do?
In my first writing in the immediate aftermath of the “visa review” development impacting Justice Persaud, I alluded to the chilling effect on the fraternity. Looking over its shoulder with tentativeness, in timidity. Second-guessing itself. Less for judicial sagacity and acumen, and more of where would the U.S. stand on this? Bluntly, Guyana’s judiciary now operates in fear. It may not be palpable; but it is audible. It is detectable. Fear has its own smell.
This is now less a matter of judicial independence, and more of this. What merit, what standing, national sovereignty? The U.S. barged into Caracas and took out a president. The U.S. put in its own president. In Guyana, the U.S. reached above and around Guyana’s president, Guyana’s Judicial Service Commission, and Guyana’s chancellor and effectively sidelined a sitting judge. Is Guyana still a country, or is it the doormat and toilet of the U.S? If President Ali has any salt left in him, he should raise that question with Ambassador Nicole D. Theriot in their next face-to-face encounter. I would have grabbed the nearest phone, and let her hear that in the sharpest terms. But the so-called special relationship reminds of the limitations to what he signed onto, his role. A bit player, a nobody, in the Great American chessboard.
Hon Attorney General Anil Nandlall faced the public from his cyberspace den and had his say. The PPP government is not pleased with Justice Persaud’s rulings. But the PPP government’s hands are clean. No involvement in U.S. “view review”. Neither initiation tabled nor hint whispered off the record. What to make of the Hon Anil Nandlall’s representation in this instance? I struggle. For he is the same scholarly citizen, who has told many (and himself) that Guyana is a country where the rule of law reigns, and respect for law and order is paramount. When I look at what Guyanese have for law, and how men feature dominantly in how that law is sometimes applied, sometimes weaponized, and oftentimes wielded, there is difficulty reconciling the PPP Government being hands-off re visa review, despite its disagreement(s) with Justice Persaud.
Of greater concern to me is how the U.S. can swoop and savage a sitting Guyanese jurist. If there, then where else, and with what limit? Where is the Guyana Bar Association?Where is the Judicial Service Commission? Did the chancellor speak and I didn’t read? I have read about cultural imperialism. Now I come across the blatant and arrogant projection of American imperialism into the very heart of the Guyana construct. The Ugly American is back. He is uglier than before. Go ahead! Mark me. Make my day.
What is Guyana and Guyanese today? Sitting ducks or turkeys in a barrel? A pack of bleating sheep just shorn of its wool, and left with only its meow? There is passive and there is docile. Good Lord! Does it have to be of the most obsequious and odious variety. Americans can be attracted to and approve money launderers in Venezuela, but is full of righteous wrath re Gino Persaud.
Whatever this “visa review” entails, it had better be good. Wherever other Guyanese are, there was Justice Courtney Abel. And next to him, little ole me.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
Discussion
Source: Kiskadee Watch
Delayed intelligence gives cross-border criminals advantage – PM
https://kiskadeewatch.com/guyana/delayed-intelligence-gives-cross-border-criminals-advantage-pm/
Delayed intelligence gives cross-border criminals advantage – PM
Information gathered through international police cooperation must reach the officers who can act on it in time to make a difference, Prime Minister Mark Phillips told the INTERPOL Americas Regional Conference on Wednesday.
Opening the two-day meeting at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Lilendaal, Phillips warned that criminal organisations could move people, money and illicit goods across several jurisdictions before investigators established the connections between their cases.
“Once an investigation crosses a national boundary, any delay can shift the advantage to the offender and place justice further out of reach,” he said.
He said INTERPOL’s secure communications network, notices and diffusions could help an officer checking a person at a border or police station discover a connection to an investigation elsewhere. Such systems would be effective only if the information was accurate, available when needed and used in accordance with the law, he added.
“Intelligence cannot protect the public when it fails to reach the official required to act upon it,” Phillips said.
He cited December’s Operation Guyana Shield as an example of coordinated action. Authorities in Guyana, Brazil, French Guiana and Suriname conducted more than 24,500 checks and made 198 arrests during the operation against illegal gold mining and related crime, according to INTERPOL. Phillips said its importance lay not only in those results but in showing that authorities could pursue criminal activity spanning several territories when they worked together.
Phillips also referred to Guyana’s extradition of Harry Narine Rajkumar to Canada in February 2025. Rajkumar had been arrested following an INTERPOL Red Notice, and the extradition allowed him to face criminal charges there.
Those examples did not remove weaknesses in the system, Phillips said. Intelligence could be delayed by poor coordination or uncertainty about which agency had authority to act. He called for clearer channels among the police, immigration authorities, the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit and their overseas counterparts.
He placed particular emphasis on safeguards. Information shared by another country had to be protected and used lawfully if partners were to trust one another, he said. Governments had to respond to organised crime while remaining accountable for the powers they exercised.
Phillips asked delegates to use the meeting to identify obstacles to cooperation and settle how an officer handling an urgent case could obtain help from another jurisdiction. A conference agreement, he said, would have value only if it led to a faster response when a real investigation crossed a border.
Discussion
Source: Kiskadee Watch
President lobbies strongly at UN for Rodrigues-Birkett as SG
https://kiskadeewatch.com/guyana/president-lobbies-strongly-at-un-for-rodrigues-birkett-as-sg/
President lobbies strongly at UN for Rodrigues-Birkett as SG
President Irfaan Ali yesterday made an unusually personal appeal at the UN General Assembly for Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett to become the organisation’s next Secretary-General, urging the Security Council’s permanent members to look beyond the size of the country that nominated her.
Ali first linked her candidacy to his argument that the UN needs leadership capable of restoring trust and defending its Charter at a time of conflict and division.
“Guyana has put forward the candidature of Her Excellency Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett for the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations,” he said. “She has served her country, represented the developing world, and worked within the multilateral system with a deep understanding of both its promise and its imperfections.”
He said the next Secretary-General must be able to bridge differences between rich and poor countries and between large and small states, while defending the UN Charter “not only when it is politically convenient, but precisely when its principles are under pressure”.
Ali then departed from a conventional account of her qualifications to speak about her life and character.
“An indigenous woman coming from a small indigenous village, defying the odds—the odds against indigenous persons, the odds against women, the odds against poverty—defying every challenge and rising to the top amidst those challenges,” he said. “Her character is built on struggle, sacrifice, and commitment.”
He told delegates that fellow permanent representatives at the UN knew her “character, her integrity, her will, her commitment, her love for humanity”.
“And I know that this world will be a better place with Carolyn Rodrigues as the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” he said.
“In the humblest of ways, I call on the P5, the Security Council, and every member here to look beyond the small country that nominated her,” Ali continued. He pointed to CARICOM’s endorsement and asked that she be given the opportunity to help shape the UN’s future.
As Ali spoke about Rodrigues-Birkett, the video shared on his Facebook page panned to Ministers Deodat Indar and Ashni Singh and Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud seated next to her and clapping loudly.
The speech was of added significance because of a reported US objection to her candidacy. According to The New York Times (NYT) Washington opposes Rodrigues-Birkett over her characterisation of Israel’s actions in Gaza. The NYT reported that the United States had signalled it would veto her.
The Security Council must recommend a candidate to the General Assembly, and any of its five permanent members—the United States, Britain, France, China or Russia—can prevent a recommendation by using a veto.
Three informal Council straw polls have so far failed to establish a clear front-runner. Former Costa Rican vice-president Rebeca Grynspan led in two, while Rodrigues-Birkett led in one. Earlier this year, Rodrigues-Birkett delivered her vision statement and told member states that she would be open and accessible if chosen to lead the organisation.
Discussion
Source: Kiskadee Watch
Discussion