Dutch Extradition Request for Desi Bouterse Fails Twice

For the second time within a year the Netherlands requested the extradition of Desi Bouterse on charges of drug trafficking. Bouterse, who is now State Advisor to the president of the Republic of Surinam, came to power in the former Dutch Guyana and established a military junta in 1980. Since the late eighties, it became clear that the military government in Surinam was heavily involved in drugs trading. Etienne Boereneen, second to Bouterse, was then prosecuted and convicted in the United States. In the nineties, Bouterse founded a political party, the National Democratic Party, which won the latest free election. The party was also able to deliver the current Surinam President, Jules Wijdenbosch... [more]