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- <text id=91TT0008>
- <title>
- Jan. 07, 1991: World Notes:Suriname
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Jan. 07, 1991 Men Of The Year:The Two George Bushes
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 66
- World Notes
- SURINAME
- A Christmas Eve Coup
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> The military was the grinch that stole democracy in
- Suriname last week as the three-year-old civilian government of
- President Ramsewak Shankar was toppled in a bloodless coup on
- Christmas Eve. Officially, the former Dutch colony's new leader
- is Commander Ivan Graanoogst, the chief of the military police,
- but the real power is apparently in the hands of Commander Desi
- Bouterse, military ruler of the country from 1980 to 1988.
- </p>
- <p> In recent months Bouterse has been using his position as
- head of the army to usurp civilian authority. Graanoogst was
- believed to have initiated the coup on Bouterse's orders.
- Bouterse resigned in pique two weeks ago, following an incident
- at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in which Dutch authorities
- prevented him from being interviewed by journalists. The U.S.
- denounced the coup, and the Netherlands cut off aid to Suriname,
- which last year amounted to $28 million. Graanoogst pledged to
- hold new elections within 100 days.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
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