Desire bouterse biography sample

The military dictator of Suriname between 1980 and 1987 and the most important offstage politician afterward, Desi Bouterse was born on October 13, 1945, in a small village in that nation.

Educated by Catholic friars, he became a sergeant-major in the Dutch army. He returned in 1975 to Suriname to become a leading noncommissioned officer in the small national army. Involved in a labor conflict about the rights of the union of NCOs with the post-colonial government, he staged a coup in 1980 Bouterse became the army leader, a full colonel, and the de facto ruler of Suriname with a series of façade civilian cabinets.

Desire bouterse biography sample pdf

In 1981 he proclaimed himself the leader of a socialist revolution. He gradually was implicated in illicit business activities.

In December 1982 the military murdered fifteen civilian opposition leaders, a watershed in Suriname politics.

A growing civilian opposition produced a period of transition governments, followed by free elections in 1987.