- fear of visa revocation cited

The stance taken by several western countries of revoking the visas of persons cited for human rights violations is being cited as one of the main reasons for the reluctance of several officers to head an elite squad to hunt down criminals in Guyana .

Kaieteur News understands that a number of senior officers who were approached to head such a unit have declined, citing the possibility of their visas being revoked for human rights violations.

President Bharrat Jagdeo had last week stated that he supports the establishment of an elite squad to aggressively hunt down criminals and return Guyana to some semblance of normalcy with regards to crime.

He had accused the Guyana Police Force of being lethargic.

According to a senior police officer, while the Force is inclined to accede to the President's wishes of forming crack units, very few officers are inclined to be part of such a body.

“No one wants to head such a unit. Many feel that their visas will be revoked by governments such as the United States of America and Canada which are both inclined to clamp down on human rights violations,” the officer said.

The officer explained that once an officer's name is linked to human rights violations, countries such as the US and Canada will cancel the visa.

The governments of the United States of America had cancelled the visas of former Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj, former Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald, and a few other officers when

revelations of extra judicial killings surfaced in 2004.

Gajraj, who is now Guyana 's High Commissioner to India , was accused of having links to a killing squad that was responsible for the deaths of several persons who were reportedly linked to criminal activities.

The British Government had refused to allow two others senior police officers to be part of a programme in that country, because of their alleged links to human rights violations.

Kaieteur News understands that ever since the September 11 bombings, the security agencies in US and Canada have been investigating several military and law enforcement officials in countries like Guyana , Nigeria , Zimbabwe and Haiti , who are linked to human rights violations.

In some cases the families of some of these officers have also been victims of visa revocations.

Just last week, a military officer in Nicaragua had his US visa revoked because of alleged human rights violations.

One police officer who asked to remain anonymous said that for him, the revocation of a visa is secondary, since he would always put his country first.

He noted that since the President spoke about his support for the crack units and the need for the police to become more aggressive in the fight against crime, no move has been made to take up his challenge.

“Police Commissioner Felix could set up ten crack squads, but the attitude of policemen will remain passive because of the threat of their visas being revoked,” the officer explained.