Suriname’s Fourth of July Message

F-2012-32749

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R 061933Z JUL 82

FM Amembassy Paramaribo
TO Secstate WashDC 0000

Confidential Parimaribo 1437
Released in full
E.O. 12065: GDS 07/06/88 (La Roche, Richard R.) OF-M
TAGS: PDIP NS US
Subj: Suriname’s Fourth of July Message

  1. (C) The embassy commemorated Independence Day with a vin d’honneur on July 5. The turn-out on the part of Suriname officialdom was unprecedented and something of a puzzle. With the exception of Garrison Commander Maj Roy Horb and three ministers (Sital, Health; Leeflang, Internal Affairs; Hardjoprajitno, Culture, Youth, Sport and Information), everybody in the leadership showed up. Acting President Ramdat Misier’s response to a reading of President Reagan’s July 4 message was a political statement delivered by a ceremonial prop. The presence of Commander of the National Army Lt Col Bouterse and Foreign Minister Naarendorp lent emphasis.
  2. (U) The Acting President read the below quoted response:

Quote – It is undoubtedly of great importance to all peoples of the world, that the United States, one of the great nations, has so emphatically expressed its belief in freedom and independence. Indeed real democracy is based on the consent of the governed and there is no doubt about it that there can only be one form of democracy, that one where the voice of the people is heard.

However, it is important to realize that there are several ways to apply democracy. We believe that the application can vary from one society to the other. For instance, the model of democracy which we have experienced in our country before the Suriname revolution has turned out to be unfit for the aspirations of our people. That is why we are following a model in democratizing our society and in establishing a new order. In this model we work from the grassroots of society in an effort to achieve real popular involvement in our democratic process.

There is no doubt in my mind, Mr. Charge d’Affaires, that your government will understand the struggle of the Suriname people to establish a democracy according to our own thinking and we know that we may rely upon the sympathy of the countries in our region, among which the United States plays such an important role.

In the name of the Policy Centre, the Board of Ministers and the people of the Republic of Suriname, I wish the President, the government and the people of the United States of America, prosperity and great success in their efforts towards peace and friendship in the world.
Unquote.

  1. (C) Comment: The appeal for US understanding of the “grassroots” democracy experiment is mildly stated and consistent with past GOS statements. Foreign Minister Naarendorp has regularly urged our forbearance with respect to this democratization model and he probably wrote the speech. The large turn-out, however, is not so in keeping with that at past celebrations; Bouterse himself, for example, had never attended any embassy-sponsored function. Yet this time he came and remained for an hour. The best considered (if perhaps ungenerous) explanation we can come up with is that the good attendance was part of a PR campaign to show the big democracies (Bouterse also came to the Dutch and Venezuelan national day celebrations) that all was normal and that concerns about a radical turn left were quite unjustified.

LaRoche

Source:

C05267149

Link:

Internal Link:

https://surinamepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Suriname-Fourth-of-July-Message-July-1982-C05267149.pdf

Date:
July 6, 1982
Categories:
Desi Bouterse, Foiled Coups & Plots, Planned Suriname Invasion
Tags:
Boxes:
F-2012-32749
Years:
1982
Persons:
Desi Bouterse, La Roche, Roy Horb
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