Desi Bouterse, the brutal former dictator turned populist president of Suriname who was convicted of murdering a few of his political opponents, has died. He was 79.
Ronnie Brunswijk, the nation’s vp, who was Mr. Bouterse’s former bodyguard and later his rival, confirmed the loss of life in a submit on Facebook. The submit stated Mr. Bouterse had died on Tuesday, however didn’t say the place or give a trigger. News media in Suriname, a small South American nation, reported that Mr. Bouterse had been affected by an undisclosed sickness.
Mr. Bouterse was a divisive determine within the former Dutch colony of Suriname: a nationwide hero to some and a brutal dictator to others.
Born to a poor household in Suriname’s sugar belt on Oct. 13, 1945, he dropped out of highschool and enlisted within the Dutch Army.
Mr. Bouterse seized energy in a army coup in 1980 — 5 years after the nation’s independence from the Netherlands — and dominated Suriname via terror. In 1982, fearing a countercoup, he ordered his troopers to spherical up, torture and execute 15 distinguished dissidents. The victims included journalists, professors, legal professionals and others.
The killings, which have grow to be often called the “December Murders,” traumatized the nation and prompted the Netherlands to droop financial and army cooperation with its former colony.
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