U.S. Embassy Paramaribo Confirms No Terrorism Contingency Plan

Ambassador Ostrander reports Suriname’s low security threat environment just 14 months before the 1980 coup.

Date: December 15, 1978

The U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo reported to the State Department that it had never developed a formal contingency plan for terrorism, citing the complete lack of terrorist activity and the general low-security threat in Suriname at the time.

Details:

  • In a cable to the Secretary of State, Ambassador Nancy Ostrander confirmed that a "post contingency plan for terrorism has never been developed."
  • The justification for this was the "non-existence, thus far, of terrorist activities in Suriname, and low security threat in general."
  • The Embassy proposed delaying the drafting of such a plan until it received updated instructions on the matter from the State Department.

Significance: This cable provides a stark assessment of the security environment in Suriname just 14 months before the 1980 military coup. The fact that the U.S. Embassy viewed the threat from terrorism as so negligible that it had not even drafted a formal contingency plan underscores the profound peace and stability that characterized the country in its early post-independence years. This document serves as a crucial benchmark, illustrating a tranquil security situation that would be violently and irrevocably shattered by the Bouterse-led coup and the subsequent political violence.

Source:

U.S. Embassy Paramaribo Cable 1978PARAMA01665d, "TERORRISM: CONTINGENCY PLANS," December 15, 1978.

Link:

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978PARAMA01665_d.html

Internal Link:

Date:
December 15, 1978
Categories:
Desi Bouterse, Log, Matthew Smith, Military & Intel
Tags:
Cable, Contingency Planning, Security, Terrorism
Boxes:
MW Zotero
Years:
1978
Persons:
Nancy Ostrander
META DATA
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