Special Report on the Rodney Commission of Inquiry by Shaun Michael Samaroo

Father Rodrigues accuses PNC Government, Army, Police of Rodney assassination

– US Embassy officials visited Rodney’s home after assassination
– Father Rodrigues comforted, prayed for Rodney family on day of assassination

WHO assassinated Dr Walter Rodney?
The pain and emotion on the face of Catholic Priest, Father Malcolm Rodrigues, as he sought to provide evidence in Guyana’s search to unearth the truth to that question, was very visible yesterday from the witness box at the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry at the High Court in Georgetown.That question haunts Guyana to this day, 34 years after the populist political leader, while resisting the dictatorship government of the People’s National Congress (PNC), died under suspicious circumstances in a bomb blast as he sat in his car in Georgetown, on the evening of June 13, 1980.

‘Now pastoral, peaceful, and languishing in busy activity under the tropical sun, Georgetown sees the darkness, the terrors, the conspiracies and sinister political intrigues that stained its history unravel, as witness after witness reveal what really transpired under the PNC dictatorship, which resulted in Dr Rodney’s brutal death. With the Commission convened under the direct order of President Donald Ramotar, Father Rodrigues finally has the chance to shed light on this nation’s dark history, and to clear his soul and satisfy his good conscience, that justice in Dr Rodney’s death is coming to light. He spent his life, over three plus decades, advocating and leading the struggle for social justice and political freedom in Guyana. He played a major role in the struggle to end the dictatorship of the PNC Government, with free and fair elections ushered in in 1992’

Yesterday, the aged, sober-faced Father Rodrigues, clad in a simple shirt-jac, faced the Guyanese nation from the witness box at the Rodney Commission of Inquiry, and declared, his voice strong, assured and confident: “I believe that (Dr Rodney’s assassination) was clearly planned and carried out by the military arm of the (PNC) government, the army and police working together.”
That’s the first direct statement from a witness appearing at the Presidential Commission openly pointing a finger at the PNC Government, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force for “planning and carrying out” the deadly attack that caused Dr Rodney’s assassination.
A distinguished physicist, who graduated from Oxford University, Father Rodrigues took the vow of chastity, poverty and obedience to his choice to serve society as a Priest in 1962. Born in Georgetown in 1941, he had lived through colonial rule, political Independence, and the draconian dictatorship of the PNC Government.
Apart from studying physics at Oxford, in England, he also studied Theology and Philosophy.
He became a teacher in Guyana, serving on the Corentyne and at St Stanislaus College in Georgetown, before moving to become a distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Guyana (UG), attaining the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 1992.
Today, he is appearing at the International Commission that is probing how and why Guyana’s foremost Historian and world-renowned scholar, Dr Walter Rodney, was assassinated in his homeland as he led a popular mass resistance against the PNC Government’s iron rule over worsening human and socio-economic conditions in Guyana during the 1970s and 1980s.
With Georgetown’s citizens bustling about their daily chores in the city in hot sun and a soft breeze, vehicles traversing the streets around the High Court, where the Commission is meeting in an air-conditioned room, Father Rodrigues relived the memories of that dark day in his country’s history, and his role in its unfolding.
Now pastoral, peaceful, and languishing in busy activity under the tropical sun, Georgetown sees the darkness, the terrors, the conspiracies and sinister political intrigues that stained its history unravel, as witness after witness reveal what really transpired under the PNC dictatorship, which resulted in Dr Rodney’s brutal death. With the Commission convened under the direct order of President Donald Ramotar, Father Rodrigues finally has the chance to shed light on this nation’s dark history, and to clear his soul and satisfy his good conscience to see justice in Dr Rodney’s death come to light. He spent his life, over three-plus decades, advocating and leading the struggle for human development, education, social justice and political freedom in Guyana. He played a major role in the struggle to end the dictatorship of the PNC Government, with free and fair elections ushered in in 1992.
Father Rodrigues played a crucial role comforting and offering prayers and moral support to Dr Rodney’s widow, Patricia Rodney, and their three young children on the day that Dr Rodney was assassinated, and in the days following.
The first night after the assassination took place, on the night of Friday, June 13, 1980, he stayed up all night at the Rodney home in South Georgetown, and took phone calls and queries as the young children and newly widowed Patricia Rodney slept off the tragic shock of the assassination.
Father Rodrigues told the Commission, in his witness statement, that he was “integrally involved” in the workers’ union at UG, where he and world-renowned Guyanese Economist, Dr Clive Thomas worked together. The union “persuaded” UG to “have Dr Rodney give monthly lectures” at the university. Father Rodrigues said he developed a friendship with Dr Rodney, and attended his lectures. “I was impressed with his perspective,” he said of Dr Rodney.
Eventually, in 1976, the union at UG joined with several other organisations to form the Working People’s Alliance (WPA). The WPA engaged in picketing exercises in public and other peaceful forms of protest “as deemed necessary”, and picketed the High Court as Arnold Rampersaud was being tried for treason, Father Rodrigues said.
“During 1978 to 1979, letters of mine complaining of State interference in the Judiciary were published” in two independent newspapers, the Catholic Standard and the Contact, another Caribbean Church publication, he said.
By this time in 1976, the PNC Government was moving to nationalise all schools and businesses under State ownership and management. “All private schools were nationalised by the State. Exercise books with the face of then Prime Minister, the late Forbes Burnham, were distributed throughout the schools, and Forbes Burnham would boast publicly that the PNC has a hand in every home,” Father Rodrigues told the Commission.
These alarming events caused the WPA to declare itself a political party, with Father Rodrigues opting out of playing a role, but still participating in peaceful street protests and picketing exercises to protest deteriorating social, human and economic conditions in Guyana.
He said he saw, at these meetings, when “the audience was attacked with sticks and other weapons… The attackers were usually a combination of people dressed in the red, green and black uniforms of the House of Israel; persons dressed in the green uniform of the Young Socialist Movement (YSM) (Editor’s note: the YSM was then the youth arm of the PNC party), persons dressed in police uniform, and civilians.”
Father Rodrigues said that in 1979, persons dressed in YSM uniform attacked himself and a group of Dr Rodney’s supporters gathered at a protest at the High Court. The PNC’s YSM-dressed attackers beat people with batons, “resulting in injuries to several members in the crowd.” Police dressed in uniform “forced” members of the crowd to enter a bus, which drove them to an isolated, abandoned area and deserted them there, with several persons nursing serious injuries, including Reuben Gilbert, who suffered “many” broken ribs.
Then, on June 13, 1980, having just had a face-to-face meeting with Dr Rodney, Father Rodrigues heard the news of the deadly bomb blast. He immediately got to St Rose’s High School and accompanied Patricia Rodney and the three children, taking them to their home.
That day, a group of policemen showed up at the Rodney house saying they possessed a warrant to search the house. Patricia Rodney accompanied them on the search of bedrooms and living room. They left half an hour later. After that, a group of men visited the house, saying they were from the United States Embassy, and offered their sympathies to Father Rodrigues and the family.
Commissioner Seenath Jairam asked father Rodrigues if the US would have had an intelligence interest in Dr Rodney, and Father Rodrigues agreed.
After they left, Father Rodrigues stayed glued to the radio, listening for news of the tragedy facing the Guyanese nation.
The 6 am news the next morning on the radio carried a report on the assassination the day before, saying that Dr Rodney’s face was blown off, and unrecognisable. But when Father Rodrigues visited the morgue to identify Dr Rodney’s body, in the company of Dr Leslie Mootoo and three Policemen standing guard over the body, he found Dr Rodney’s face fully intact.
Father Rodrigues said he realised that the public information on the PNC Government-controlled radio station was “prepared prior to” the assassination, and that the only radio station in the country was peddling lies and fabrication.
The Catholic Priest said the PNC Government, Army and Police “clearly planned and carried out” the assassination.
The Commission adjourned after Father Rodrigues’ testimony looked like it would extend beyond the day’s schedule, as cross examination would have been intense and push past the day’s set time. Commission Chairman, Sir Richard Cheltenham adjourned the week’s hearings until next Monday, and asked Father Rodrigues to be on standby to resume his testimony, including expanding on his assertion that the PNC Government and its military arm had “planned and carried out” the assassination.