HISTORY
Arawak and Carib tribes lived
in the region before Columbus sighted the coast in 1498. Spain
officially claimed the area in 1593, but Portuguese and Spanish
explorers of the time gave the area little attention. Dutch settlement
began in 1616 at the mouths of several rivers between present-day
Georgetown, Guyana, and Cayenne, French Guiana.
Suriname became a Dutch colony
in 1667. The new colony, Dutch Guiana, did not thrive. Historians
cite several reasons for this, including Holland's preoccupation
with its more extensive (and profitable) East Indian territories,
violent conflict between whites and native tribes, and frequent
uprisings by the imported slave population, which was often treated
with extraordinary cruelty. Barely, if at all, assimilated into
European society, many of the slaves fled to the interior, where
they maintained a West African culture and established the five
major Bush Negro tribes in existence today--the Djuka, Saramaccaner,
Matuwari, Paramaccaner, and Quinti.
Plantations steadily declined
in importance as labor costs rose. Rice, bananas, and citrus fruits
replaced the traditional crops of sugar, coffee, and cocoa. Exports
of gold rose beginning in 1900. The Dutch Government gave little
financial support to the colony. Suriname's economy was transformed
in the years following World War I, when an American firm (ALCOA)
began exploiting bauxite deposits in East Suriname. Bauxite processing
and then alumina production began in 1916. During World War II,
more than 75% of U.S. bauxite imports came from Suriname.
In 1951, Suriname began to
acquire a growing measure of autonomy from the Netherlands. Suriname
became an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on
December 15, 1954, and gained independence on November 25, 1975.
Most of Suriname's political
parties took shape during the autonomy period and were overwhelmingly
based on ethnicity. For example, the National Party of Suriname
found its support among the Creoles, the Progressive Reform Party
members came from the Hindustani population, and the Indonesian
Peasant's Party was Javanese. Other smaller parties found support
by appealing to voters on an ideological or pro-independence platform;
the Partij Nationalistische Republiek (PNR) was among the most
important. Its members pressed most strongly for independence
and for the introduction of leftist political and economic measures.
Many former PNR members would go on to play a key role following
the coup of February 1980.
Suriname was a working parliamentary
democracy in the years immediately following independence. Henk
Arron became the first Prime Minister and was re-elected in 1977.
On February 25, 1980, 16 noncommissioned officers overthrew the
elected government. The military-dominated government then suspended
the constitution, dissolved the legislature, and formed a regime
that ruled by decree. Although a civilian filled the post of president,
a military man, Desi Bouterse, actually ruled the country.
Throughout 1982, pressure
grew for a return to civilian rule. In response, the military
ordered drastic action. Early in December 1982, military authorities
arrested and killed 15 prominent opposition leaders, including
journalists, lawyers, and trade union leaders.
Following the murders, the United States and the Netherlands suspended economic and military cooperation with the Bouterse regime, which increasingly began to follow an erratic but often leftist-oriented political course. The regime restricted the press and limited the rights of its citizens. The economy declined rapidly after the suspension of economic aid from the Netherlands.
Continuing economic decline
brought pressure for change. During the 1984-87 period, the Bouterse
regime tried to end the crisis by appointing a succession of nominally
civilian-led cabinets. Many figures in the government came from
the traditional political parties that had been shoved aside during
the coup. The military eventually agreed to free elections in
1987, a new constitution, and a civilian government.
Another pressure for change
had erupted in July 1986, when a Bush Negro (aka Maroon) insurgency,
led by former soldier Ronnie Brunswijk, began attacking economic
targets in the country's interior. In response, the army ravaged
villages and killed suspected Brunswijk supporters. Thousands
of Bush Negroes fled to nearby French Guiana. In an effort to
end the bloodshed, the Surinamese Government negotiated a peace
treaty called the Kourou Accord, with Brunswijk in 1989. Bouterse
and other military leaders blocked the accord's implementation.
On December 24, 1990, military officers forced the resignations of the civilian President and Vice President elected in 1987. Military-selected replacements were hastily approved by the National Assembly on December 29. Faced with mounting pressure from the U.S., other nations, the Organization of American States (OAS), and other international organizations, the government held new elections on May 25, 1991. The New Front (NF) Coalition, comprised of the Creole-based National Party of Suriname (NPS), the Hindustani-based Progressive Reform Party (VHP), the Javanese-based Indonesian Peasant's Party (KTPI), and the labor-oriented Surinamese Workers Party (SPA) were able to win a majority in the National Assembly. On September 6, 1991, NPS candidate Ronald Venetiaan was elected President, and the VHP's Jules Ajodhia became Vice President.
The Venetiaan government was
able to effect a settlement to Suriname's domestic insurgency
through the August 1992 Peace Accord with Bush Negro and Amerindian
rebels. In April 1993, Desi Bouterse left his position as commander
of the armed forces and was replaced by Arthy Gorre, a military
officer committed to bringing the armed forces under civilian
government control. Economic reforms instituted by the Venetiaan
government eventually helped curb inflation, unify the official
and unofficial exchange rates, and improve the government's economic
situation by re-establishing relations with the Dutch, thereby
opening the way for a major influx of Dutch financial assistance.
Despite these successes, the governing coalition lost support
and failed to retain control of the government in the subsequent
round of national elections. The rival National Democratic Party
(NDP), founded in the early 1990s by Desi Bouterse, benefited
from the New Front government's loss of popularity. The NDP won
more National Assembly seats (16 of 51) than any other party in
the May 1996 national elections and in September 1996, joined
with the KTPI, dissenters from the VHP, and several smaller parties
to elect NDP vice chairman Jules Wijdenbosch president of a NDP-led
coalition government. Divisions and subsequent reshufflings of
coalition members in the fall of 1997 and early 1998 weakened
the coalition's mandate and slowed legislative action.
In May 1999, after mass demonstrations protesting poor economic conditions, the government was forced to call early elections. The elections in May 2000 returned Ronald Venetiaan and his New Front coalition to the presidency. The NF based its campaign on a platform to fix the faltering Surinamese economy.
In the national election held on May 25, 2005, the ruling NF coalition suffered a significant setback due to widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the economy and the public perception that the NF had produced few tangible gains. The NF won just 23 seats, falling short of a majority in the National Assembly, and immediately entered into negotiations with the Maroon-based "A" Combination and the A-1 Coalition to form a working majority. Desi Bouterse’s NDP more than doubled its representation in the National Assembly, winning 15 seats. Bouterse, the NDP’s declared presidential candidate, withdrew from the race days before the National Assembly convened to vote for the next president and tapped his running mate, Rabin Parmessar, to run as the NDP’s candidate. In the National Assembly, the NF challenged Parmessar’s Surinamese citizenship, displaying copies of a Dutch passport issued to Parmessar in 2004. Parmessar was eventually allowed to stand for election, and parliament later confirmed his Surinamese citizenship. After two votes, no candidate received the required two-thirds majority, pushing the final decision in August 2005 to a special session of the United People’s Assembly, where President Venetiaan was reelected with a significant majority of votes from the local, district, and national assembly members gathered. His running mate, Ramdien Sardjoe, was elected as vice president. While the Venetiaan administration has made progress in stabilizing the economy, tensions within the coalition have impeded progress and stymied legislative action.
Long-anticipated legal proceedings began in November 2007 with the issuance of summonses to 25 defendants accused of participating in the December 8, 1982 murders of 15 political opponents of the former military-dominated government. The court martial tribunal convened on November 30 and met again on December 17. A series of preliminary motions and hearings will precede the actual start of the trial.
