7435: Re: Protests intensify (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Bryant <gregandsusan@rainbowtel.net>

Wow, this is rich:

>The protests forced a shutdown of commercial life in most parts of the
>city,
>according to businessmen and diplomats.  "This is a manifestation of
>disagreements between the new administration and the main opposition
>groups," said one envoy on Tuesday. "We expect this will get  worse as a
>major opposition group wants extensive political reforms which the
>government is unwilling to make."

I wish, to be fair in assessing this, I could have copies of statements
like this made by "businessmen and diplomats" during the coup, say... or
during violence widely attributed to supporters of the opponents of Fanmi
Lavalas.

See, in the late 80's when the people were first advocating "extensive
political reforms" (such as democracy and legitimate uses of police and
army), they were met by violence from "the government" in response. I wish
I had before me statements from "businessmen and diplomats" regarding those
events. If anyone has them, I'd like to see them for comparison. As I
remember, the spin was completely the opposite. The tone was a lot more
supportive of the "government," despite the fact that those in power were
considerably more "unwilling" to reform the government... as evidenced by
the coup itself.

For what publication does "Canute James in Georgetown, Guyana" write?

Greg Bryant