Police mercilessly beat several including woman, child in Marudi mountain

GUYANA - Several policemen were Sunday in hot water in connection with the brutal beating of several persons including a woman and her young child on a trail to the gold bearing area of Marudi, Southern Rupununi.

At least two men and the woman and her child were taken to Aishalton Hospital for treatment, according to Vice President of the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Tony James.

Telephone contact with that remote interior area is virtually impossible. Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) was told that officials were meeting with residents at Aishalton to discuss the incident.

Police Commissioner, Leroy Brummel said the Divisional Commander has been instructed to carry out a thorough probe. Policemen senior to those allegedly involved in the incident are conducting the investigation after which the policemen who were on the operation would be brought out to Georgetown and possibly placed on close arrest.

“It doesn’t look good. From what I am hearing, one of the child’s feet might have been broken,” Brummel told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com). The video, which was apparently secretly recorded, can be seen here.

The persons, who were engaged in the physical encounter with the police, were alllegedly blocking the trail to prevent  Mines Officers from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and police from continuing "Operation El Dorado" to rid the area of illegal miners.

The APA official explained that the area was previously assigned to Vanessa Mines and now Romanex for several decades but little or no work was being done and the concession was left virtually idle.

Eventually, according to the former Toshao, coastlanders entered the area with excavators and other types of equipment to mine for the precious yellow metal.

James said that from what he has observed the area is a free-for-all and there is no monitoring of people entering the Amerindian settlement.

Well-placed sources said President Donald Ramotar's recent visit to the area where he promised to allocate a number of the illegal miners concessions might have exacerbated the situation.

Though the sources were sympathetic with the level of brutality meted out to the the persons, the officials noted that the miners were engaged in widespread illegal activities by mining gold and smuggling it to neighbouring Brazil rather than selling it to the government and paying the required taxes.

Author: Denis Scott Chabrol   
Source:  http://www.demerarawaves.com/index.php/201303045599/Latest/police-mercilessly-beat-several-including-woman-child-in-marudi-mountain.html

See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3qhM9vkn3M&feature=share

Amerindian villages getting rice huller machines

GUYANA - The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs will be providing rice hulling machines to several hinterland communities as efforts move apace to boost agricultural production in those areas.

Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that under a rice project funded by Spain, communities located in South Central and Deep South Rupununi will benefit from the programme. It is expected that the programme will build the capacity of the villages to produce their own rice.

The machines will be given to communities such as Shea and Achawib, Deep South Rupununi, Region Nine and others in Region Ten. Through the implementation of a $43M hinterland rice project under the purview of the agriculture ministry, several Amerindian communities in regions eight and nine have already benefited. Since its implementation the project has also benefited from assistance from the Guyana Rice Development Board and the National Agricultural Research Institute.

Karaudarnau community located in the Deep South Rupununi Region Nine has also received a machine. Toshao Arnold Stephens said since its operations over the past three years, the machine has produced about 20,000 tonnes of paddy from where the rice was sourced for the ‘Hot meal’ hinterland school feeding programme. “Since we acquire the rice huller, farmers have been increasing their production…it benefits the community and encourages farmers to produce more,” he said

Source: Stabroek News