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Vol. 31, Issue 22 BROOKLYN EDITION May 29-June 4, 2020
VOTERS
DUMP
BOUTERSE
Defeated Surinamese prez
faces 20-year jail term
By Bert Wilkinson
A new political era could
be spawned in the Caribbean
Community nation of Suriname
after voters on Monday
decided to dispense with the
National Democratic Party
(NDP) of former military
strongman Desi Bouterse, paving
the way for a multiparty
coalition led by the Indo-dominated
Hindustani VHP party
to run the country for the next
five years.
Bouterse’s NDP which had
been seeking a third consecutive
term, stumbled at the proverbial
tape, declining from 26
to 16 seats in the 51-member
parliament, while watching the
VHP move from nine to 20 as
the NDP was weighed down
by several withering scandals
including the recent theft of
$200 million from the country’s
central bank. Voters say
they had grown tired of NDP
missteps and of its sometimes
arrogant and dismissive
responses to problems in the
society. It was time for change.
The defeat of the NDP in the
general elections now means
that the VHP of former Police
Chief and Justice Minister
Chan Santokhi will most likely
find it very easy to form a multiparty
coalition with ABOP,
a party supported largely by
Maroons in the southeast near
French Guiana, the middle
class National Party of Suriname
(NPS), the Javanese-supported
Pertjajah Luhur (PL)
and at least two other parties
which won seats. The VHP
and the NPS had collaborated
in the past to form the New
Front alliance which had run
the country of about 580,000
for several terms. Both have
already signaled plans to do
so again with the NPS planning
to throw in its four seats
in the ring and ABOP which
gained two seats to bring it to
seven indicating likewise. PL
won two seats. It had five seats
in the last parliament and the
NPS just two.
All of the above have made
public vows not to make any
alliance with the NDP as most
of those like the ABOP which
had in the past worked with
the NDP in government walked
away, vowing never to have a
political link up again, complaining
of domination and
unprincipled political traits.
A party or alliance needs a
majority of 26 seats to form a
government and 34 to elect a
New York State Attorney General, Letitia James. REUTERS / Lucas Jackson, File
James files amicus brief to halt arrest of
Caribbean immigrants at state courthouses
By Nelson A. King
New York Attorney General,
Letitia James has led a coalition
of 14 attorneys general in
the United States in continuing
efforts to halt US federal
immigration arrests of Caribbean
nationals and other noncitizens
in and around state
courthouses without a judicial
warrant or court order.
In an amicus brief filed
in support of the plaintiffs
in Ryan, et al. v. U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement,
U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, et al.,
James and the coalition on
Tuesday urged the court to
uphold a Massachusetts district
court’s preliminary
injunction that effectively
halted these arrests by U.S.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE).
Tuesday’s amicus brief follows
a suit James filed last year
challenging the legality of the
federal government’s expanded
policy of arresting Caribbean
and other immigrants in
or around state courthouses
in New York, and an amicus
brief she filed earlier this year
opposing the same policy in
the State of Washington.
“ICE’s continued efforts to
arrest immigrants at or near
state courthouses endanger
us all and threaten every
New Yorker’s safety,” James
said. “These unconstitutional
arrests have skyrocketed since
President Trump took office,
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