The sergeants' coup in Suriname

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

In 1980, a group of 16 army sergeants, led by Dési Bouterse, seized power in the small South American country of Suriname, overthrowing the government in a swift and violent coup d’état. The coup came just five years after the country was granted independence from the Netherlands. The country’s first president, Johan Ferrier, was forced to leave Suriname after the coup. Rosemarijn Hoefte, professor of the history of Suriname at the University of Amsterdam, and Johan Ferrier's daughter, Cynthia, have been sharing their memories of that time with Matt Pintus. (Photo: Johan Ferrier. Credit: Alamy)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're listening to Witness History on the BBC World Service with me, Matt Pintus.
0:10.5	Today, the military coup that changed Suriname forever.
0:15.6	In 1980, a group of 16 army sergeants seized power in the small South American country,
0:23.6	overthrowing the government in a swift and violent coup d'etat.
0:30.1	It's the 25th of February, 1980, and Johann Ferrier is waiting anxiously inside the
0:38.8	presidential residence in Suriname's capital, Paramarabal.
0:44.0	His police forces have been overwhelmed, and the perpetrators, 16 of the country's leading
0:50.0	army sergeants, are on their way to confront him.
0:53.2	The president stepped to them.
0:54.9	If I have to leave, I'll leave it centrally.
0:57.8	But to Ferrier's surprise, his departure isn't part of the sergeant's plan.
1:03.5	No, no, no, we don't want you to leave.
1:06.2	Please, you have to stay and be the president.
1:09.2	Everything stays as it is.
1:12.0	That's Ferrier's daughter, Cynthia McLeod.
1:14.8	She remembers how, after a promising start to the relationship between the sergeants and
1:19.3	her father, it quickly turns sour.
1:22.2	The parliament was put on hold, the militants put a curfew, and then my father insisted
1:30.8	that the parliament be opened again.
1:33.9	But the parliament wouldn't be reopened, and Ferrier's time as president was coming to
1:38.4	an end.
1:39.5	He told the sergeants he couldn't be their president, and they agreed.
	...

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