The murderer died a murderer. That is the first thing Nirmala Rambocus (74) says about the death of former president of Suriname Desi Bouterse. Her brother Soerinder Rambocus was one of fifteen opponents of Bouterse’s military dictatorship who were murdered on December 8, 1982, better known as the December murders. 42 years after the murders, and a few days after exactly one year after his final conviction for them, Desi Bouterse died on Wednesday at the age of 79.
Nirmala Rambocus was one of the relatives who, just before the statute of limitations for the crimes in 2000, successfully requested the Public Prosecution Service of Suriname to initiate the criminal investigation that ultimately led to the conviction. That conviction is worth a lot to her, even now that Bouterse died before he could serve his sentence – he fled after his conviction. “He avoided punishment, but will go down in history as a convicted murderer.”
“He avoided punishment, but will go down in history as a convicted murderer.”
Nirmala Rambocus
Last year, Rambocus and two others reported NRC about the impact of the events of 1982 on their lives. She had to flee Suriname after the December murders and, apart from an occasional visit, did not return. She didn’t feel safe there. She would prefer to spend her last years in the country, she said NRC“but I still have no guarantee that it is safe. The killers are still walking around freely.”
She does not yet know what Bouterse’s death means for her relationship with Suriname and a possible return – he is no longer there, but other criminals from that time are still there, she says. “And I have now found my way here in the Netherlands, although involuntarily.”
Kitlyn Tjin A Djie (71) also stayed away from Suriname for a long time. She already lived in the Netherlands in 1982 for her studies, but was visiting family in Suriname at the time. That night, at her mother’s insistence, she took the last plane back to the Netherlands. Suriname was no longer safe. For fifteen years she stayed away from her home country, for twenty years she did not speak about the events. In recent years she has started talking. With family, friends, fellow Surinamese. As a result, she was able to give it a place. “I hope Suriname is ready for that too.” The news about Bouterse gives her the “incredible desire” to go there.
Now healing can begin, is the first thing she thought when she heard about Bouterse’s death. Her sister texted the news from church service on Wednesday morning. “Christmas is not the time when we have to express all kinds of terrible thoughts, but you might call this justice,” says Tjin A Djie. The fact that Bouterse avoids his prison sentence does not bother her: “He is not remembered by Suriname as a hero but as a criminal. We don’t know where he was, but he spent his last year on the run.”
“I have put a large part of my life in a box. That feels like a loss.”
Kitlyn Tjin A Djie
What she sees a lot around her – both in Suriname and in the Surinamese community in the Netherlands – is that families have fallen apart. Bouterse’s dictatorship (1980-1988) split the country, one saw him with his promises as a savior, the other saw him as a murderer and corrupt dictator. Processing a past as complex as that of Suriname and making it open for discussion takes time, says Tjin A Djie. “I wish his death will accelerate that process. That is also a call to grandparents who lived through that time: tell the stories to your children and grandchildren.”
That is difficult, she knows, because there is sadness behind it anyway. “Whether that is because you stood behind someone who is no longer there and has been found guilty of terrible crimes, or because his crimes have affected you personally.” It also brings back emotional memories for her. “I have put a large part of my life in a box. That feels like a loss.”
Memories also come back at Rambocus. For years, she went to the Surinamese consulate in Amsterdam every eighth of the month to protest, hold a vigil for the victims and sing the national anthem. Wi mu’ seti kondre bunwe must do good for the country, she quotes. She finds it difficult to put words to her feelings now. “Confused, relieved, emotional: I still have to process it.” The most important thing, she believes, is that Bouterse can no longer obtain amnesty – something his NDP party has already hinted at if it wins the May 2025 elections.
“Now Suriname is freed from misery.”
Moen Nehal
The curse of the citizens of Suriname rested on Bouterse, says Moen Nehal (72), and has now cost him his life. “We don’t actually say things like this, but he caused so much misery that I am happy about his death.” She also fled her native land. Moving back is no longer possible. “We have now settled here with children and grandchildren,” but from now on she visits with a different feeling. “This gives peace to my heart.”
Although she will continue to avoid certain places she liked to visit before. De Waterkant in Paramaribo, for example, the oldest street in the city along the Suriname River, which starts at Fort Zeelandia – the site of the murders. Or inland, where a devastating war raged between 1986 and 1992 and where Bouterse’s soldiers caused the ‘Massacre of Moiwana’ by shooting 39 innocent villagers in that inland village, looking for opponent and rebel leader Ronnie Brunswijk (the current vice president). .
Nevertheless, December has become a cheerful month again, says Nehal. That month was always difficult for her – and for all of Suriname, she thinks. “Now Suriname is freed from misery.” She will sing the national anthem at Christmas dinner.
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