THE United States Embassy issued a statement on Thursday, distancing itself  from any suspicion that it was the particular “foreign mission” that had requested, of the Guyana government, that Suriname’s President Desi Bouterse be arrested. “The U.S. did not request Guyana to arrest President Bouterse last year. President Bouterse is the democratically elected President of Suriname and we respect the results of free and fair elections.  
“We look to maintain our good ties with Suriname. The United States values our friendship with democratic nations across our hemisphere. We stand, steadfastly, with others in support of sovereignty, independence and stability.
“We share mutual values and face common challenges and we work with our partners across the region to meet those challenges, including improving citizen safety, social inclusion, advancing economic opportunity and strengthening democratic institutions,” the Embassy statement said, in the wake of remarks by President Bharrat Jagdeo, on Tuesday, at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Annual Officers’ Conference.
At that forum, a senior GDF officer alluded to recently published WikiLeaks reports of alleged encounters between the Suriname President and Guyanese drug trafficker Roger Khan now serving jail time in the U.S.
The officer asked what would be the outcome of the relationship between the two countries, if the revelations are found to be true.
President Jagdeo, responding, said sometime ago, a particular agency/foreign mission, had asked that Guyana arrest Bouterse and the Guyanese Head-of-State said no to the request.
According to the latter: “I said (to them) you need to get some other countries to do this. I also said, if the people of Suriname, overwhelmingly, chose him (Bouterse) as their leader, who are we, as Guyanese, to say who we could work with?”
“If the people of Suriname, through a democratic system, chose their leader, we have to work with their legitimate representative.”
President Jagdeo, referring to WikiLeaks, a website developed by Julian Assange and operated by Sunshine Press in Sweden, said he is happy to see whatever comes out on Guyana.  (Wendella Davidson)