PERMIT me to refer to an article in the Kaieteur News (Thursday July 17, 2014) in your newspaper under the caption, “Amerindian Leaders demand freeze on Bai Shan Lin’s permit”. Please allow me to state the following:

After reading the article my first reaction was to have consultations with the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), which I did, since the Bai Shan Lin (BSL) state forest permit in Region 9 “may affect the traditional lands and natural resources within proposed land title areas for the Wapishiana people,” according to the letter sent to the GFC.
The maps shown to me by the GFC clearly revealed that the BSL state forest permit in Region 9 will in no way affect village titled lands and proposed land extensions officially applied for under the Amerindian Act 2006 by the south and south-central Amerindian villages in the Rupununi.
I received information from the Rupununi that the GFC on Saturday July 12, 2014 at Lethem took the opportunity of officially informing concerned village leaders with the displaying and examination of maps that the BSL forest permit will in no way affect village titled lands and resources including areas of extensions. But, unfortunately, a few of the village Toshaos have been misled as usual by the vice president of the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Tony James, who said: “We have heard through the grapevine that the BSL is coming in, but we don’t know from where.”
This is simply an example of the APA’s poor leadership to Amerindians. Instead of finding out the truth about the BSL’s forest permit in Region 9 from the relevant authorities, he prefers to send a mischievous letter to the anti-Government sections of the media. But this is not strange since Tony James boasts in communities that he supports the PNC/APNU, the party which, when in Government neglected and abandoned the Amerindian people prior to 1992. What a Shame!
A village Toshao showed me a copy of the letter sent to the Kaieteur news on Bai Shan Lin. The letter was dated July 7, 2014 and carbon copied to the European Union, FLEGT Programme, Kingdom of Norway and the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights on Indigenous Peoples. These carbon- copied letters, however, will be ignored since they are not credible or factual and are designed to mislead the international community.
Further, at a recent meeting in Georgetown with the National Toshaos Council (NTC), the GFC explained to the Toshaos the matter of the BSL forest permit in Region 9, with the aid of maps, showing that the BSL forest permit will not affect village titled lands and proposed land extensions. The NTC was satisfied with the explanations and clarifications by the GFC.

PETER PERSAUD