PROMINENT AFRO-GUYANESE JOURNALIST RONALD

UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 000111 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINS ASEC KCRM GY SUBJECT: PROMINENT AFRO-GUYANESE JOURNALIST RONALD WADDELL MURDERED ¶1. Prominent Afro-Guyanese journalist/television talk show host/politician, Ronald Waddell, was gunned down in front of his home at in the Subryanville section of Georgetown, seven doors down from the USAID Mission Director's residence, at approximately 8:30 p.m. on January 30. ¶2. Waddell hosted a controversial talk show and stood for parliament as a PNC/R candidate in the 2001 elections. He was a central figure in organizing post-election violence and was arrested and charged in May 2001 on two counts of sedition for inflammatory statements on the air. The government twice suspended his TV program for his on-air inflammatory remarks. In October 2005 Waddell praised the work of the "Buxton resistance", referring to armed Afro-Guyanese militants who turned Buxton Village into an armed camp where government security forces feared to enter and who kidnapped post's former RSO. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note to foreign missions condemning the Waddell's statement. The most recent suspension was still in force at the time of his death. Consular FSN recalls that Waddell had been deported from the U.S. fifteen years ago. Information available at Post suggests that Waddell did have a FBI record. ¶3. Several rumors are circulating in Georgetown to explain the killing. - One rumor is that the PPP/C government is responsible for the killing as retribution for Waddell's extreme anti- government stance. - A second rumor is that the opposition PNC/R or its fringe elements perpetrated the killing, hoping that blame falls on the PPP/C. - A third rumor, suggests that the killing is gang- related, the result of a drugs or other criminal deal gone sour. In post's judgement this is the more likely scenario. BULLEN