PAPA

My father (Papa) was stationed at Lethem Police Station in the Rupununi from 1964 until 1968. My family lived in Lethem and we attended school in St. Ignatius which was quite a distance away from Lethem. Some of my father’s colleagues (fellow police officers) were Burt Fraser, Reginald Jonas, Ayube Khan and of course their fearless leader Inspector Whittington Braithwaite. Lethem was like a small frontier town with people crossing to and from Brazil seemingly without needing passports and other travel documents. It did seem like a close knit community until January 2, 1969 when the police station was attacked. We were living in Georgetown at that time and were horrified to read that Inspector Braithwaite and other police officers had been murdered by terrorists and the police station had been destroyed. We were thankful that Papa was not one of the unfortunate police officers who were stationed at Lethem on January 2, 1969. We grieved with Mrs Ilene Braithwaite and her children and the widows and children of the slain police officers. It is unfortunate that other Guyanese supported by foreign nationals felt that they should resort to terrorism and murder in an effort to seize part of the country. Those terrorists are still at large and have never been held accountable. Some of the members of the Hart and Melville clan with Valerie Hart as the ringleader are responsible for the atrocities committed on that day. I am thankful that my Papa was not there and is still with us because our mother transitioned in June of 1975 and we would have been orphans then. Father’s Day is fast approaching and we will celebrate that day thankfully with our Papa.