U.S. intervention in British Guiana
Subtitle: a Cold War story
By: Stephen G. Rabe.
Series: The new Cold War history
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
Subjects: United States. Central Intelligence Agency -- History -- 20th century; Subversive activities -- Guyana -- History -- 20th century; Cold War; Guyana -- Politics and government -- 1803-1966; Guyana -- Politics and government -- 1966-; Guyana -- Relations -- United States; United States -- Relations -- Guyana
Description: In the first published account of the massive U.S. covert intervention in British Guiana between 1953 and 1969, Stephen G. Rabe uncovers a Cold War story of imperialism, gender bias, and rascism. When the South American colony now known as Guyana was due to gain independence from Britain in the 1960s, U.S. officials in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations feared it would become a communist nation under the leadership of Cheddi Jagan, a Marxist who was very popular among the Sputh Asian (mostly Indian) majority. Although to this day the CIA refuses to confirm or deny involvement, Rabe presents evidence that CIA funding, through a program run by the AFL-CIO, helped forment labor unrest, race riots, and general chaos that led to Jagan's replacement in 1964. The political leader prefered by the United States, Forbes Burnham, went on to lead a twenty-year dictatorship in which he persecutred the majority Indian population.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: British Guiana, 1831-1953; title: Imperial adjustments, 1953-1960; title: Covert intervention, 1961-1962; title: Proportional representation, 1963-1964; title: Guyana, 1965-1969.