SURINAME’S newly elected president Desi Bouterse, has received a diplomatic snub from President Barack Obama on his current visit to New York for the new session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The SUNDAY SUN was reliably informed that Bouterse was the only head of government from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to have been excluded from United States’ traditional reception for foreign leaders attending the UN General Assembly.
However, Bouterse did participate with other CARICOM Heads of Government in a meeting at UN headquarters that discussed a range of outstanding matters.
Eleven years ago Bouterse, who headed a successful military coup in 1982 against an elected government, was sentenced in his absence by a Dutch court on claims of cocaine trafficking. He never served the sentence and, under Suriname’s law its nationals cannot be extradited to any foreign state.
Still pending is an on-and-off military court trial for his alleged involvement in the killings of 15 political opponents, including five journalists in 1982.
The court trial has again been suspended since Bouterse’s inauguration as President on August 12. (RS)
