JAGDEO PROMOTES LT. COLONELS TO DEFENSE GENERAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GEORGETOWN 000795 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS CARACAS ALSO FOR DAO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MARR MCAP PGOV PINS PREL GY SUBJECT: JAGDEO PROMOTES LT. COLONELS TO DEFENSE GENERAL STAFF ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that Coast Guard Captain Gary Best, one of four officers promoted to O-6 rank last week, will be appointed the next Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defense Force (GDF). The other three new colonels will take senior positions in the GDF General Staff. Jagdeo's decision to side-step more senior colonels caused some grumblings within the GDF and received mixed reviews in the media. Guyana's main opposition party responded by offering to lend support to Guyanese wishing to topple the government. All four of the newly promoted officers have received extensive U.S. military training and their promotion to senior leadership positions should help strengthen the already cordial U.S./GDF relationship. END SUMMARY. -------------- THE BEST MAN FOR THE JOB -------------- ¶2. (U) Ending months of speculation, Jagdeo announced that newly promoted Captain Gary Best will be elevated to Commodore and appointed the next Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defense Force upon the formal retirement of Brigadier Edward Collins on September 26. Captain Best is one of four O-5 grade officers promoted to O-6 last week; also promoted by Jagdeo were Colonel Andrew Pompey, Colonel Bruce Lovell, and Colonel Mark Philips. Colonel Pompey will be the new Deputy Chief of Staff, Lovell will be the Colonel, General Staff, and Philips will be remain in charge of administration and quartering. -------------- GDF UNHAPPY? MAYBE NOT -------------- ¶3. (U) Some senior GDF officers have complained to the press and others that Jagdeo's move violated what they claim is a long-standing tradition that the Chief of Staff be appointed strictly based on seniority. These officers forget that two of the seven Chiefs of Staff since independence, both appointed by PNC presidents, came from outside of the GDF entirely. Forbes Burnham elevated a Deputy Commissioner of Police to be GDF Chief of Staff and a few years later President Desmond Hoyte made the Director General of the now defunct Guyana National Service Joseph Singh Chief of Staff of the GDF. The four new O-6 officers are all solid officers and are well respected within the GDF. -------------- MIXED REVIEWS IN THE MEDIA -------------- ¶4. (U) The newspapers were filled with letters to the editor questioning the motives behind the move -- many saw it as Jagdeo selecting and promoting only those officers who are loyal to him and the People's Progressive Party (PPP). Interestingly, the independent Stabroek News, an unrelenting critic of President Jagdeo, published an editorial strongly supporting Jagdeo's move, noting that the President's selection was entirely within the law and supported by precedent. The paper praised Jagdeo for selecting the officer he found to be the most qualified person rather than the longest serving. -------------- OPPOSITION OFFERS TO HELP TOPPLE GOVERNMENT? -------------- ¶5. (U) Amid the shake-up in the GDF top brass, the main opposition party, the People's National Congress Reform (PNCR),offerd to lend support to any Guyanese who seek to topple President Jagdeo's administration. PNCR leader Rober Corbin, speaking at a rally against the shake-up, said "I want to sound a warning to that gentleman... He is touching the wrong people... and now they are tinkering with the Army, and I want to say to you, long time gone, short time left." PNCR Chairman, Winston Murray, told the rally that the party was willing to offer leadership to those Guyanese who might want to "come out to the streets and demonstrate to the government that they want them out." This "mass rally" attracted only 300 participants, 200 of whom were delegates to the conference of the Guyana Youth Socialist Movement. Only one newspaper covered the potentially seditious remarks. Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Roger Luncheon, dismissed the threat noting that its seriousness was proportional to the size of the rally. GEORGETOWN 00000795 002 OF 002 -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (SBU) President Jagdeo's selection of a new GDF General Staff appears to be a positive step forward for U.S./GDF relations. All four of the new top officers have received significant training in the U.S. and are familiar with U.S. joint operational methodologies. Colonels Pompey, Lovell, and Philips have all completed the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the premier training environment for operational level leaders and staff officers. (Note: Best declined an offer to attend the Command and General Staff College as it came while he was completing a law degree.) We will now work with officers who share a similar training background and, hopefully, a similar outlook on the U.S./GDF relationship. THOMAS