‘One of the most repugnant industries known to the history of humanity’
–President Jagdeo on African Holocaust Memorial Day
TODAY we join with the our brothers and sisters in the universal African Diaspora who, in one way or the other, will be observing African Holocaust Memorial Day [Maafa] around the world, as a memorial of one of the most repugnant industries known to the history of
humanity: the Trans-Atlantic Trade in Captive Africans. It is with a deep sense of satisfaction that I issue this message on my own behalf and, more importantly, on behalf of the Government and people of Guyana.    The diverse proceedings across Guyana collectively comprise this proud nation’s own positive response to the
500 years of suffering of Africans and the African diaspora, through slavery, imperialism, colonialism, invasion, oppression, dehumanisation and exploitation.
I acknowledge with mixed feelings the long, hard history from the dismantling of an institution that accumulated great material wealth from the trafficking in persons from the continent of Africa to the Caribbean, to where we now stand as a nation.  It has been a history
burdened by controversies, unspeakable atrocities and adversity.  It has been a history of genocide.  It is the history of the African Holocaust when every conceivable device was deployed to break a proud and powerful people and reduce them to commodities.
It is difficult to believe that just two centuries ago, for those Europeans who thought about the issue, the shipping of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic was morally indistinguishable from shipping textiles, wheat, or even sugar.
The trade in captive Africans constituted the most important reason for contact between Europeans and Africans for nearly two centuries.
This was the largest transoceanic migration of a people until that day, and it provided the Americas with a crucial labor force for their own economic development. The trade in captive Africans is thus a vital part of the history of  millions of Africans and their descendants who helped shape the modern Americas, the Caribbean and of
course Guyana, culturally as well as in the material sense.
Today, as we gather by the waters of the Atlantic, let us remember that even by the most conservative estimates, 12 million souls were arbitrarily and brutally removed from Africa, but only about 10.5 million survived the horrendous journey across the Atlantic.   Let us
remember those who survived and mourn those who did not, and resolve that we will never forget the African Maafa.
As we reflect on this tragedy, let us also take the further opportunity to acknowledge and express our gratitude for the struggle and achievement of the past generations of Africans whose sacrifice and contributions paved the way for the creation of this celebrated
national fabric.
Today, the Government and People of Guyana join with progressive forces worldwide in promoting October 12 being declared African Holocaust Memorial Day.