The fact that Desi Bouterse was convicted more than forty years after the December murders is good news for Jerry Bergraaf from Tilburg: “I thought: they are going to cover it up. I’m glad they got this done.” Jerry was just a child when it happened, but the sadness of that time is still vivid in his memory. Tilburg has a large Surinamese community, but Jerry is one of the few who wants to talk about the drama of that time.
Jerry came to Tilburg when he was eighteen and grew up in Suriname. He was still a child of fifteen when the December murders took place in 1982: the mass murder of fifteen opponents of the then military regime led by Desi Bouterse.
These were turbulent times. Two years before, Bouterse had staged a coup: “We didn’t live that far from the barracks, so we heard all the shots. Soldiers ran for their lives. And no one knew what was going on.” But in Jerry’s memory, the residents were initially quite proud: “Everyone was hoping for change, because the country wasn’t doing so well.”
“A boy came to school crying, his uncle had been murdered.”
How different it was two years later. Jerry heard the shots again, this time from Fort Zeelandia. There were victims in his immediate environment: “A boy I knew came to school crying. His uncle, André Kamperveen, owner of ABC Radio, had been murdered. He told what happened and you will never forget it.”
Three families at Jerry’s high school were affected. “I was a child, I couldn’t place the drama properly yet. But I have never forgotten the sadness.”
Now that Jerry has lived in Tilburg for a long time, he notices that the drama of the past is experienced completely differently in Suriname than here. “We believe that justice should prevail. But the Surinamese youth don’t know it. It was so long ago, they haven’t experienced it and they think Bouterse is a good person. Because as president he did good things for them.”
“Talking about it is difficult.”
In the Surinamese community of Tilburg, Jerry notes, the condemnation of Bouterse is taboo: “Talking about it is difficult. Many members of the Maroon community live in Tilburg. They have had their own battle with Bouterse.”
Because Bouterse is also seen as primarily responsible for the Moiwana massacre in November 1986. At least 39 innocent Surinamese Maroons were murdered. Jerry: “People don’t talk about that, it’s difficult.”
Now that Bouterse has been convicted, Jerry is afraid of the consequences. “He has a big following. Suriname is unstable, with a debt of 3.5 billion. I was there in February and I have never seen so many beggars. Real poverty, the people are just hungry. And this is on top of that. I’m holding my breath.”
YOU MAY ALSO FIND THIS INTERESTING:
Jerry was ashamed of his origins but is now proud: ‘Wants to pass it on’