Desi Bouterse’s murder conviction will not trouble him much
Suriname’s president can probably win re-election, if he wants to
TWO DAYS after a military court found Desi Bouterse, Suriname’s president, guilty of murdering 15 political foes, he returned home from a visit to China. A throng of supporters, many wearing the purple of his National Democratic Party, turned up to greet him at Paramaribo’s international airport on December 1st. Mr Bouterse brought back a promise of $300m to upgrade airports and roads and install solar power and 5G internet services. But the welcome was a defiant show of loyalty to a leader who has dominated his tiny country’s politics for four decades.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Desi’s unjust desserts”
From the December 7th 2019 edition
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