Continue to rid the Stabroek Market Area of thugs, muggers
I have been reading the Chronicle Online for sometime now and I am always very pleased to read your fair and balanced reporting. I would really appreciate if you can publish this letter because I speak for many Guyanese and tourists as well who visit Guyana regularly. Many Guyanese living abroad would often times swear not to come back because of the fear of being mugged or killed. Unfortunately, some of these muggings go unnoticed by the police. My intent is not to demoralize any one ethnic group in Guyana but it seems however that this mugging spree is especially directed towards people of Indian descent and mixed race people.

I have personal experience of a horrifying encounter during my trip to Guyana last year. By the way, I am a Guyanese living in the United States for many years. After a 28-year absence I paid a visit to Guyana to see if I could establish a business. Not only was I happy and proud at the progress of Guyana has made, but shocked as well because I nearly got robbed and possibly killed by three Afro-Guyanese "rasta hoodlums". It quickly dawned on me that the paradise I once knew has been changed forever for the worst. I had heard of many muggings but now I experienced it myself.

I purposely visited the Stabroek Market area, which now makes the slums of Calcutta or Soweto pale in comparison to the present scene at the Stabroek area. In the 1960s and into the early 1970s one was proud to go to Georgetown and visit the market. I was taking a picture of the Stabroek

Market clock when suddenly, out on nowhere, three hoodlums approached me and surrounded me, a technique they must have used many times before. They accused me of taking their picture and wanted to take away my camera. There were no policemen around and given the makeup of the stalls and the crowd I could have easily gotten mugged and killed had I not stood my ground.

My life flashed in front of me as I stood there trying to reason with these thugs. They all seemed intoxicated. I thought to myself that I traversed the world over and as an engineer visited many countries. I thought to myself that I even proudly served in the American military during the Vietnam era and now I am back in my own native land to be bullied because of who I am! None of the passersby even dared to get involved because these thugs seemed to have a hold on their turf. Luckily I was able to walk away from that experience by God's Grace.

I urge President Jagdeo and his leadership to please CONTINUE to clean up the Stabroek Market Area and get it back to where it once was. Guyana is a beautiful place. Let's not further tarnish places like Stabroek Area by providing a safe haven for thugs and criminals.
Thanks
Harry Jagernauth

 

DECEMBER 18, 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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