Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05PARAMARIBO768
2005-11-29 09:51:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Paramaribo
Cable title:  

THE BATTLE FOR THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF SURINAME'S

Tags:  PGOV PREL SOCI ECON NS 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

290951Z Nov 05
UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000768 

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR -- LLUFTIG
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI ECON NS
SUBJECT: THE BATTLE FOR THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF SURINAME'S
MAROONS

REFS: (A) PARAMARIBO 607 (B) PARAMARIBO 751

(C) PARAMARIBO 318

UNCLAS PARAMARIBO 000768

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR -- LLUFTIG
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI ECON NS
SUBJECT: THE BATTLE FOR THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF SURINAME'S
MAROONS

REFS: (A) PARAMARIBO 607 (B) PARAMARIBO 751

(C) PARAMARIBO 318


1. (SBU) Summary. Suriname's "Maroon" population came to
political prominence in the 2005 elections, with their five
seats in parliament the key to the governing coalition's
thin margin (29 of 51 National Assembly seats). The Maroons
are descendants of escaped African slaves living primarily
in the isolated interior but with increasing urban numbers.
This pivotal role has made the Maroons a prized political
constituency, earning their concerns attention from both
their government partners and an ambitious NDP opposition.
End summary.

New Attention to Old Woes by New Front Plus


2. The current governing New Front Plus (NF-Plus)
coalition in Suriname reached its majority by embracing the
five seats captured by the A-Combination (AC),the result
of Suriname's Maroon populations coalescing politically for
the first time since independence. AC parlayed the king-
making power of its seats into three cabinet positions, the
first time the party had occupied either parliamentary or
ministerial seats.


3. Where the previous New Front government had frequently
been accused of ignoring the needs of the Maroon
constituency, New Front Plus has rolled out several well-
publicized events involving Maroon ministers in a bid to
repay that support. Most active has been the Minister of
Regional Development Michel Felisie, who recently laid the
first stone of a small hydroelectric plant in the interior
that will provide electricity to 13 villages. The AC
ministers were also out in force at a recent rainforest
arts festival held in Paramaribo.


4. Since the election, the AC's Maroon base has had high,
some say unrealistic expectations of their political
leaders. These expectations confronted harsh reality when
the government's doubling of gasoline prices in September
led many in the AC's base to criticize the government and
the AC for failing to cushion the price shock for their
largely poverty-stricken constituency. While AC leaders
have shown no willingness to support demands for a reversal
of the fuel hike, they have been quick to stress their

understanding for hardship it has caused, particulary to
those in remote areas, and have begun developing proposals
to ease that pain. Some ideas discussed thus far are
establishing subsidized boat routes to act as bus lines
along interior rivers and setting up regulated pump
stations where gasoline prices match the government set
rate found in the capital.

Bouterse's NDP Makes its Bid for the Maroons


5. The fuel price controversy provided a hook for the NDP
to curry favor with Maroon groups both in the interior and
the city. Bouterse's NDP had already, with hard
campaigning and big promises, won 4 out of the 10 available
interior seats in May's election, up from 3 in the 2000
election. In Paramaribo the NDP won almost a third of the
17 available seats, but it may now be eyeing the AC's one
Paramaribo seat, won with eight percent of the voters. To
build support, NDP party members have strongly criticized
the government for ignoring the interior's economic
hardships and are promoting the NDP as the defender of the
interior while simultaneously tapping into the discontent
of Maroons living in the capital.


6. (U) Bouterse consistently rails against the higher price
of fuel in the interior during political rallies and street
demonstrations, calling for a reversal of the price hike.
Maroon NDP parliamentarian Andre Misiekaba has been very
outspoken in DNA debates and submitted a motion, which was
defeated, to provide financial compensation to interior
inhabitants to offset price increases. Two of his NDP
colleagues recently claimed there would be social unrest in
the interior if the government does not take measures to
ease the effects of the new gas price. Bouterse and his
party supporters have also been working the streets of
disadvantaged neighborhoods in Paramaribo that have
significant Maroon populations to rally support. (See ref
B). Local residents were quoted as saying they had voted
for the AC but were disappointed in their performance, so
they now supported the NDP.

Maroons: Not a Political Monolith



7. (U) It is unlikely that either the NDP or the AC will
ever speak for all Maroons, because their voting patterns
are roughly divided along tribal and geographic lines. The
AC's base lies in the eastern district of Marowijne where
in the last election it won two of the three available DNA
seats and garnered double the votes of the NDP, which lost
its only seat there. The majority of Maroons living in
Marowijne are from the Aukaner tribe, one of the major
Maroon tribes. (See ref C). All three AC cabinet members
and five DNA members stem from the Aukaner tribe and are
members of either the ABOP or BEP parties. The third AC
party, Seeka, consists primarily of members of the
Saramaccan tribe who live mainly in the southern districts
of Brokopondo and Sipilawini. It is among this tribe that
the NDP enjoys its strongest support. Of the seven
available DNA seats in the two districts during May's
election, the NDP won four while the AC won only two. The
New Front picked up the last seat.


8. (SBU) Late in October, suspected NDP mischief brought
the tribal differences within the AC to light, when a group
calling itself the AC Action Group demanded the AC pull out
of the governing coalition within 48 hours or face
unspecified consequences. It claimed widespread coalition
support at a press conference. AC leaders dismissed the
group as inconsequential low ranking party members and
ignored the ultimatum, whose deadline passed with no action
taken. Not long after the Action Group emerged, media
reported that elements within the NDP were behind the
stunt. An AC member told the Embassy that an internal
coalition investigation led to the same conclusion. There
were even unconfirmed media reports that after the group's
first press conference, the group's members were at a bar
having drinks with Bouterse. The Action Group's leaders
belong to the SEEKA party and the Saramaccan tribe, whose
members are reportedly unhappy with their party and tribe's
lack of DNA and cabinet positions, despite the success of
their coalition.


9. (U) The mistrust between the AC and NDP also surfaced
recently when AC leader Ronnie Brunswijk, former rebel
leader, convicted narcotics trafficker, and DNA member,
demanded that President Venetiaan allow AC ministers to use
their own security personnel as opposed to the regular
security detail from the Surinamese Central Intelligence
and Security Services (CIVD). Brunswijk justified the
request by saying the Ministers should have only trusted
personnel surrounding them. Media reports went further and
claimed that the AC leaders suspected CIVD security agents
assigned to the AC ministers of being loyal to the NDP and
of working as informants.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


10. (SBU) The NDP's political strategy is to attack what
they see as the weakest link in the New Front Plus
coalition, the AC. The NDP likely wants to drive the AC
into confrontation with its New Front partner over interior
and urban poverty issues and create enough unrest among the
AC base that the AC might step out of the governing
coalition. This would strip away President Venetiaan's
parliamentary majority in the National Assembly and
paralyze the political process. For Bouterse, there may be
additional personal value in constraining the government's
maneuvering room and confidence, should he hope to coerce
the government into abandoning his pending prosecution for
the murders of 15 prominent opposition members during his
military rule in 1982. Embassy reckons that for the
present the AC leaders believe their opportunities to
affect change for their constituents, and themselves, argue
for them staying in the coalition. However tensions are
real and parties will continue to vie for Maroon support.

BARNES


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