If you are planning a trip to
South America, forget
Paramaribo!
Naturally that is my opinion and if someone had said that to me, I would have ignored the advice! You see, I have to learn everything for myself!
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| Supposedly the largest wooden church in the world. |
Seriously though, unless one is interested in seeing some nice
Dutch Colonial Architecture, poverty and underdevelopment,
Paramaribo can easily be overlooked. Actually, it is not as poor as
Haiti and come to think of it, I did not even see one beggar but while you can visit
Haiti , check into an
all inclusive and have a wonderful time
on the white sand beaches on a beautiful Caribbean coast and never know that poverty was the order of the day,
Paramaribo is not like that. True they do have a small resort where you find Eco inn, Terrica etc. but in Caribbean terms, they are way behind.
I get the impression of poverty there because of the proliferation of
derelict looking wooden houses. Granted some of them has expensive looking Japanese cars parked in front or even inside the yard but I still get the impression of poverty. Or maybe they are not really poor
but just not into houses. I never went inside one so can't say for sure. But this is the first time in the 21st century that I have been to a city and seen so many
derelict looking wood houses with dirt lawns and dirt sidewalks, not even a blade of grass anywhere.
Paramaribo is of course the capital of
Suriname, the smallest sovereign state in
south America. It is approximately 64,000 square metres with a population of
just over half million. It is very much like its neighbor
Guyana in terms of
climate, religion, proliferation of rivers, population make up and terrain although much more of
Suriname is virgin territory, 90% I am told. Also, like
Guyana, no retailer takes the mighty
US$ and
Jamaican music, especially dancehall is king. I was totally amused to hear Vybes Kartel music being played at a store in
Paramaribo which sells
Hindu paraphernalia including religious material!)
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| A moslem temple in Paramaribo |
To get there we travelled east on excellent roads for about 3 hours to the
Berbice bridge. It was when we were in
New Amsterdam that I realised for the first time that
Guyana once had a motor vehicle industry, for all over the place we saw a vehicle shaped like
a fully covered
Land Rover being used as taxis. I learnt that when
Guyana had its socialist experiment like we did in
Jamaica and there was a shortage of cars, the enterprising '
Guyanese made the
Tapir and twenty years later a number of them are still in very active use in the
Berbice county. After crossing the
Berbice bridge, we took a ferry at
Molson creek to
Suriname.(You know when you are in G
uyana however by the proliferation of animals on the roads, something you don't see in
Suriname.) One does not have to take the ferry however as there are speed boats which also take passengers from one side to the other as there is a great deal of traffic between the both countries, despite the fact that in
Suriname most people speak a dialect called
Tacky Tacky, a mixture of
Dutch, African dialects. English ....everything. Anyway, most people there speak
English to some degree.
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| Ready to board the ferry at Molson Creek |
Then we travelled about 3 hours, excellent roads, scenic country side but far less developed and populated than
Guyana, to
Paramaribo.
Paramaribo like
Georgetown is not
into zoning, so houses and business places exist side by side all over. However while in
Georgetown the wooden houses are being replaced at a rapid rate and are rarely seen in the commercial areas, the opposite is true in
Paramaribo.
On a morning walk I saw smoke coming out of one of the wooden houses and people frantically kicking in the doors before realising that the place was on fire. I expected the wooden house to go up in smoke as well as the other two other wooden structures on either side but I must say, their firefighting ability far exceeds ours. For withing 5 minutes 4 fire trucks and dozens of police were on the scene. Within minutes a truck with water was there too but it was not needed and a few minutes later another fire truck arrived.
I was absolutely amazed how quickly they got that fire under control and saved everything else. I guess when you have that many wooden structures you really have develop great fire fighting strategies. Another thing I found interesting was the many sidewalks which were mainly cobblestone and very wide. It didn't take me long to realise however that they were not only for pedestrians but also
bicycles and motor bikes and cars parked all over them too.
What I found most amazing about
Paramaribo was the number of casinos, from Royal Princess hotel Casinos and Best Western to
non- chain hotels. but they all seemed greatly under utilised!
I just could not come to terms with the underdevelopment of the place considering they export bauxite, agriculture (we saw thousands of acres of rice on the way) and oil. Of course it could be because of the politics as my short visit there gave me some serious insights into the place.
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| Board houses like these are all over commercial districts |
I have long been curious about how
Desi Bouterse could have become President after the 2010 elections and even more amazed that he could have been accepted as Chairman of
Caricom, considering his credentials. But after hearing the serious allegations about his predecessor, if these are true, I can see why he could be acceptable to the
Surinamese people. (I still can't see how he could be acceptable to
Caricom leaders however).
At this time, it seems the
Chinese are having a serious influence on
Suriname and hardly a corner you pass that does not have a retail outlet with
Chinese writing on it. It is alleged that the
Surinamese, even the
Chinese born are resenting this invasion and they blame the former president who is reputed to have taken away unused land and given the foreign Chinese titles for those properties, making a lot of money for himself privately. When the native owners saw structures going up on their land and checked, they found that their titles were no longer any good! Now such a scenario could really make someone like
Bouterse look good although in early 1980 he had led a military coup which overthrew the democratic government and declared a socialist republic.
In what is now recognised as an infamous period,
on 8 December 1982, the military under his leadership
, rounded up several prominent citizens who were accused of plotting against the government and executed them during the night.
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| Where the "enemies of the state" were executed. |
You know, the late, great
Motty Perkins used to say that
if robbers could make the law, stealing would not be a crime.
Well, I understood the full implications of th
is in Suriname, for while
Bouterse and other officials are currently standing trial for the
December murders of 1982, (the trial started in 2007 but has been stalled for several reasons), on
April 5th 2012, the government (headed by
Bouterse) passed an Amnesty law giving immunity to persons who committed
Human Rights violations between April 1, 1980 and August 19, 1992.
Naturally the
United Nations Human Rights Commission has objected to the legislation, but this seems to have no effect in
Suriname or with
Caricom Leaders.
Further, although
Bouterse was convicted
in absentia in the
Netherlands for drug smuggling, this too has had no effect on the electorate or our
brave Caribbean leaders.
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| The president's mansi |
Interestingly, I was told by a supporter of his that the only reason why the
Netherlands Government came after him was because
he had been acting as their agent in 1980 when he led the coup and he should have neutralized the country's independence status and put the
Dutch back in control of the country. (they gained independence from the
Dutch in 1975)
but he double crossed them.
Boy from what I have seen and heard here about
Surinamese politics, all things are possible!
