THE People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has taken note that the PNCR has been expressing outrage at the statement made by President Bharrat Jagdeo at Babu John on March 6, 2011.
And, as gleaned from media reports, they have even lodged complaints with OAS Deputy Secretary General Mr. Ramdin.
But according to the PPP, in doing so, PNCR seeks to distort the events that are in Guyana’s history. “The outrage being expressed by Corbin is an attempt to blame the victims for the crimes of the PNC. It is also an attempt to distort and re-write history,” it said in a statement, adding:
“They are trying to hide the fact that the PNC regime had turned the Guyana Defence Force into an arm of that party. They had made the Army swear loyalty to the PNC and not to the Guyanese people. David Granger at that time was one of the main proponents of the ‘paramountcy of the Party’ concept. He himself virtually admitted this, when he revealed that he was a member of the PNC at the time.  It is the PPP/C Government that has professionalised the army.
“Corbin in describing the events also failed to say that the electoral demands of the Guyanese people were reasonable, in that they were simply asking for the votes cast at the elections to be counted at the places of poll. This is a routine thing today.
“The crowd that had gathered at the scene was unarmed. Moreover, the two protestors who were shot by the soldiers did not die on the spot. They were thrown into a truck and denied prompt medical attention. They bled to death.”
The PPP said too that Corbin quoted from the Report of the ensuing Commission of Inquiry into the events, but that he should be reminded, however, that the Commission was set up by the PNC regime with the express intention to cover up the crime and justify the murders.
The PPP further pointed out in its statement that the same Commission of Inquiry “actually reflected the times we were living in, with the paramountcy of the Party.”