Good-bye to All That!

May 25: Suriname General Elections
Progressive Reform Party: 20
National Democratic Party: 16
General Liberation and Development Party: 8
National Party: 3
Pertjajah Luhur: 2
Brotherhood and Unity in Politics: 2

Desiré Bouterse–Interpol fugitive, drug trafficker, convicted murderer–has been the protagonist of Suriname’s political history for four decades. A former dictator turned democratically elected politician of the smallest sovereign state in South America, Bouterse rose to power in a 1980 military coup and orchestrated the torture and killing of 15 political opponents during an alleged attempted counter-coup in 1982. He has shaped government policy ever since.

In May, the Surinamese people finally voted him out. His party, the National Democratic Party, fell back from an absolute majority to 16 seats out of 51 total in parliament. The new president, a former police chief and leader of the opposition, has brought the Bouterse era to an end. 

Critics in Dutch-speaking Suriname have invented a term for Bouterse: ‘democratuur.’ Democratic on paper, dictatorial in practice. Starting with  the 1980 coup, he ruled by fear and force, and while he left the public spotlight in the late 1980s, he has never been far from the centers of political power. In 2010 Bouterse ran for president and this time won a legitimate election, seemingly a different man. But he began chipping away at democratic institutions and the constitution almost immediately. 

Old laws were changed, and new laws were invented and pushed through parliament to keep his criminal friends, and himself, out of jail. Over the last decade Bouterse turned the country away from its traditional allies: the Netherlands, where he was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison for cocaine smuggling; and the United States, where his son is spending 16 years in prison after he was charged with drug and weapons trafficking in New York. Bouterse preferred to rely on friends in Venezuela, Cuba, China and Russia for foreign support. He maintained a warm friendship with  Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela. He relies on Cuba for health care assistance and even flies to Havana for his own medical operations. At the end of last year, Bouterse went on an official state visit to China, while more and more Russian delegations have been spotted in Suriname—though what exactly they are doing remains unclear.

He also pushed the country to the brink of financial ruin. Since 2010, Bouterse’s government ate through the country’s reserves while waving away talk of money problems. As the Surinamese dollar declined in value and as retail prices rose, the government continued to take out new loans to pay off others. A couple of months before the election, Suriname’s government admitted it had secretly used almost $200 million in banking reserves–citizens’ savings– to import basic goods like potatoes and onions. In the beginning of July of this year, the vault of the Central Bank of Suriname had only notes of 5 Surinamese dollars  ($.60) in store, the smallest notes the country has. Together they had a value of around less than $3 million, a shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars. Banks were forced to install a limit on cash withdrawals, causing a rush on ATMs throughout the country. 

The financial crisis spelled the end of Bouterse’s rule. With their electoral promise ‘Wo’ set’ en’ (“We will take care of it” in the unofficial, widely spoken local language, Sranan Tongo), the Progressive Reform Party of Chandrikapersad Santokhi won the trust of the people. Compared to Bouterse and his long track record, Santokhi – a former chief of police with no criminal record – came as a huge relief. 

Part of Bouterse’s support came from his outspoken criticism of the Netherlands, the country’s former colonizer. Suriname gained independence in 1975, but its relationship with the Netherlands remains contested. Many Surinamese speak Dutch in schools and Sranan Tongo at home or in the street. Suriname’s relationship with the Netherlands has cooled since 1982, but Santokhi has hinted at renewing ties.  

Many feared Bouterse would not leave without intervention. After the election on May 25, several weeks passed before the election results were made official. Stephano Biervliet, a 27-year old political activist was convinced Bouterse would do anything – including committing fraud – to win elections. So Biervliet and a couple of other civilians took it upon themselves to watch over the ballot papers until the results were published. For ten days Biervliet slept, ate, drank and went to the toilet in the sports hall where the ballots were collected to monitor any potential tampering. One night, he filmed men wearing shirts that said “Police” carrying away boxes of ballots at 12:30 in the morning. Immediately an opposition leader was called out of bed and, under pressure from the public, the boxes were brought back and kept separate for further inspection by the Independent Electoral Office.With international pressure mounting, Bouterse conceded defeat 27 days after the polls closed.

Bouterse hands over a country in distress. “The legacy left to us can't be described. We’re on the brink of a financial abyss,” Santokhi said in his acceptance speech on July 13. That day, the American credit rating agency Fitch Ratings downgraded Suriname from ‘junk status’ CCC to ‘Restrictive Default’, the lowest credit score the country has ever received. Two days later, Standard & Poor’s followed suit, condemning Suriname with a ‘Selective Default.” Suriname is officially unable to repay its debts in foreign currency. (When Santokhi was sworn in several days later, the country’s credit rating was returned to CCC.)

According to Winston Ramautarsingh, chairman of the Association of Economists in Suriname, there is no “quick fix” to clean up the financial mess Santokhi inherited. “The new government must remove short-term pressure by renegotiating with our creditors,” Ramautarsingh told me. “Then we need to start earning much more ourselves and become more creative.” For now, gold is Suriname's most important export product, accounting for almost 30 percent of the total government income in 2017. But due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in one of the largest gold mines in northeastern Suriname, future incomes will be disappointing. “Santokhi is going to have to take the bullet,” Ramautarsingh said “To avoid Suriname becoming poorer, he must take unpopular measures by the people, such as cutting subsidies for household electricity. We’re all going to have to sacrifice before things will get better.” 

In order to get Suriname out of its mess, Santokhi has been looking abroad for financial help. He is counting on support from the Netherlands, Suriname’s former colonizer, and the United States. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently promised collaboration during a telephone meeting with Santokhi.

Pompeo’s unexpected warmth may reflect another recent discovery: Since the beginning of the year, three different oil reserves have been found  off the coast of the country. According to estimates, Suriname can count on at least $50 billion in the coming years But the first oil revenues are expected to reach Suriname by 2026 at the earliest, and it remains to be seen how these revenues will be shared. If Santokhi wants to make use of the oil revenues to rebuild the country, he must remain in charge beyond the 2025 elections. In the meantime, he will have to boost the economy and regain the confidence of international creditors as well as local banks, without punishing the already poor population. Santokhi must do this during a global pandemic without foreign exchange reserves and with an empty treasury. 

Bouterse’s shadow hangs over all the decisions the new government has to take. Ramautarsingh warned that if the situation in the country gets worse, Bouterse could then use the dissatisfaction of the public to do again what he already did in 1980: commit a coup.

On the other hand, Bouterse’s own health may be in decline. He officially suffers only from a hernia, but he doesn't always come across as clear-minded. He might simply want to spend the rest of his days in a hammock with a glass of his favorite scotch in hand, watching Santokhi grow grey hairs cleaning up the mess he made. In the meantime, the people of Suriname must bear the consequences: high retail prices, high debt, poor credit ratings, a large budget deficit, no foreign exchange, weakened public institutions, corruption, high unemployment, increased poverty and a divided society.