Désiré Delano Bouterse Suriname
Who is Desi Bouterse?
An army colonel and one-time anti-democratic leader, he is now the national president of the main opposition party, the Nationale Democratische Partij (NDP), and a member of the Surinamese parliament.
Why watch him?
Bouterse's anti-democratic tendencies have attracted media attention in recent weeks. After retaining the NDP's presidency on 16 December, he called for a national cabinet to replace the current governing coalition, which was elected democratically last year. According to him, the government is “corrupt" and the parties in the ruling coalition are “pursuing ethnic politics instead of safeguarding national interests". His comments were carefully tailored to force the government to call off investigations over human rights' breaches during his de-facto rule.
Born: 13 October 1945
Place of Birth: Paramaribo
Public Life: He was the Chairman of the National Military Council from 1980 until 1988 and de-facto ruler of Suriname during that period. He briefly served as president in 1982. He ran for the presidency after democracy was restored in the 1990s without success.
Timeline:
1980: Commands the military coup that ousted the recently democratically-elected government. Despite formally handling power back to civilians, Bouterse becomes the de-facto ruler of Suriname.
1982: 15 opposition leaders are executed, prompting Western governments to impose economic sanctions against Suriname. Bouterse denies any involvement in the order to kill the military's opponents, but later on accepted “political responsibility" for the killings.
1986: Guerrilla war breaks out. Massacre of ethnic Maroon civilians at the hands of the military. Again, Bouterse denies having ordered the killings, blaming the military command in charge of operations against the guerrillas.
1988: Resigns as Chairman of the National Military Council. Democratic rule is restored in 1991.
1993: Forced to leave the command of the Surinamese army, restoring the military command to the civilian government.
1997-1999: Indicted for cocaine smuggling by a Dutch court but has a request for his extradition denied by the Surinamese government. Convicted in-absentia to 16 years in prison in the Netherlands.
2005: Fails to win the presidency by a narrow margin. His NDP, however, wins 15 seats in the 51-seat parliament. He becomes a congressman.
Strengths
Bouterse is still popular, despite his despotic past. His NDP is the largest party in congress. Recently, Suriname featured among “the most corrupt countries in the world", according to the Corruption Perceptions Index by the NGO Transparency International. The country ranked 90 out of 163 in this year's survey. Social and ethnic tensions have been rising in recent months. The population may be now prepared to support Bouterse and accept a stricter regime.
Weaknesses
The fact that Suriname fared poorly in a global corruption ranking is hardly the exclusive responsibility of the current government. Bouterse's anti-democratic regime helped to create the privileged elites that still ravage the state. His conviction for drug trafficking by a Dutch court makes him disliked in Europe and, significantly, in Washington.
Prospects
The reason why Bouterse is making so much noise now is the probe over human rights' abuses that took place during his rule. He called for a halt to the investigations and said that amnesty for any crime committed during de-facto military rule should be considered as an option to resolve the issue peacefully. It seems that he has sufficient influence to persuade the government to stop, or at least delay, any court case against him and his clique with threats to take over power. A military coup in Suriname, however, would not go down well with the international community, leaving Bouterse without any foreign support.