PARAMARIBO--The new political party Strei! (Battle) that was nearly left out of the general elections scheduled for next month, has found itself in the news again in striking fashion, following an incident at the home of one of its leaders. Candidate Rodney Cairo who serves in the military, has filed a police report and is now in hiding “for his own protection”, after officers from the National Security Service DNV tried to arrest him. Strei! Party leader Marsha Neus has charged that the incident was an attempt to scare Cairo into backing out of the elections.
The incident happened at Cairo’s home in Paramaribo, around 3:00am Thursday. In a Facebook post, Neus showed security video footage of four armed and masked men clad in black, who tried to load Cairo into a van they had arrived in – one of them a Dutch national, Neus reported, showing a copy of the man’s ID card. She said that police rushed in after a neighbour alerted them of someone being kidnapped, upon which the four men released Cairo. She was surprised to see the police officers let the four men go. “How could the police hold them and then let them go?” she asked, hinting that the order must have come from higher up in DNV.
She said Cairo was missing some documents that had been taken without his permission, with proof against people he was going up against, as well as mobile phones. She said Cairo had suffered bruises during the scuffle, that still caused him discomfort.
She was convinced that the incident was linked to a video message Cairo had posted on his Facebook page the previous week, in which he charged at government, with specific aim at Defence Minister Ronnie Benschop. The former member of the National Army’s Commando Unit recited a list of questions about irregularities at the Army and called out the minister for not fixing problems, ending with a call to his followers to make sure Benschop does not return to the Defence Ministry after the elections. Many called this insubordination.
Launched in August 2018 by anti-government protestors, Strei! has positioned itself as fiercely against the policies and “mismanagement of current President Desi Bouterse.” Some were hinting that Bouterse’s strong army ties are obviously being used to send a message to Cairo, who serves in the army.
Neus said the party had meanwhile discussed the incident with Cairo, “ … because there have been serious threats made to his person and regarding his political career. But we see no reason to withdraw him as a parliamentary candidate for the elections,” the Strei! party leader said. With the help of the party, Cairo has since also filed a formal police complaint for abduction and theft of his property during the incident Thursday. The party also announced it would request an investigation into the matter by the Prosecutor’s Office.
The incident took another turn on Sunday, when Police Chief Roberto Prade took responsibility for the police officers stepping down. “It [the attempted arrest of Cairo –
