Guyana’s gangsters fend off police, flee into Amazon

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Guyana, not a country that generally gets much attention from the outside world, made the news this weekend when ‘a heavily armed gang suspected of killing 23 people in two recent massacres drove back a security assault at its hideout in dense Amazonian jungle,’ according to Guyanese police. Read the Associated Press story here.

‘Scores of soldiers and policemen surrounded the group, led by Guyana’s most-wanted fugitive, late Saturday near the South American country’s border with Suriname.’

‘But fugitive Rondell Rawlins and his gang repelled the initial attack and managed to escape deeper into the jungle after injuring three police officers, police spokesman Ivelaw Whittaker said. One gang member was killed.’

‘President Bharrat Jagdeo has accused Rawlins and his cohorts of planning meticulous and deadly assaults on the coastal village of Lusignan and the mining town of Bartica earlier this year. He also has linked Rawlins’ gang to the 2006 assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeo Sawh.’

Here’s an account from the Guyana Chronicle.

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City