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The '''Rupununi Rebellion''' was a [[secessionist]] [[insurrection]] in [[Guyana]] that began on 2 January 1969. Occurring less than two years after Guyana’s independence from the [[United Kingdom]], it constituted the country’s earliest and most severe test of statehood and social solidarity. The uprising was ultimately dispersed by the [[Guyana Defence Force]].
The '''Rupununi Rebellion''' was a [[secessionist]] [[insurrection]] in [[Guyana]] that began on 2 January 1969 led by the Hart family, who were wealthy cattle ranchers.<ref name="NYT69" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Special to The New York |date=1969-01-12 |title=GUYANESE MAY TRY REBELS WHO FLED |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/01/12/archives/guyanese-may-try-rebels-who-fled.html |access-date=2023-11-30 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Occurring less than two years after Guyana’s independence from the [[United Kingdom]], it constituted the country’s earliest and most severe test of statehood and social solidarity. After asking for assistance from [[Venezuela]], the rebels were ultimately dispersed by the [[Guyana Defence Force]], with the group's leaders fleeing to Venezuela.<ref name="NYT69" /><ref name=":3" />


== Background ==
== Background ==
The rebellion was led by the Hart family, a wealthy family that moved to Guyana from [[North Dakota]] in 1914.<ref name="NYT69"/> The family, which comprised six brothers and one sister, were American citizens and were educated in the United States.<ref name="NYT69"/> [[Valerie Hart]], a [[The United Force|United Force]] politician, owned a ranch at Moreru.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/01/18/features/the-rupununi-rebellion-1969/ |title=The Rupununi Rebellion, 1969|website=Stabroek News|author=[[David A. Granger]]|date=18 January 2009|access-date=7 December 2021}}</ref>
The rebellion was led by the Hart family, a wealthy family that moved to Guyana from [[North Dakota]] in 1914.<ref name="NYT69"/> The family, which comprised six brothers and one sister, were American citizens and were educated in the United States.<ref name="NYT69"/> [[Valerie Hart]], a [[The United Force|United Force]] politician, owned a ranch at Moreru.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/01/18/features/the-rupununi-rebellion-1969/ |title=The Rupununi Rebellion, 1969|website=Stabroek News|author=[[David A. Granger]]|date=18 January 2009|access-date=7 December 2021}}</ref> Her two brothers, James and Elmo, including two other Americans named Harry and Richard Lawrence, also led the rebellion.<ref name=":3" /> The son of a [[Czechoslovakia]]<nowiki/>n miner, Clement Tezarik, also participated in the plot.<ref name=":3" />


Motives for the rebellion are divided. The Guyanese government said that the Hart family forced indigenous peasants to join their cause.<ref name="NYT69" /> Valerie was present at the First Conference of Amerindians Leaders, named the "Cabacaburi Congress" in 1968. The Conference presented demands to Prime Minister [[Forbes Burnham]] who represented the community of around 40,000 indigenous people of the [[Rupununi]] district.<ref>Amerindian News Georgetown: vol 2, No 3, May 15th 1968.</ref> The movement defended the integration of natives to [[Guyana|Guyanese]] society, inconsonant with Burnham's [[Afrocentrism|afrocentrist]] policies.<ref name=":22" /> Factions within the indigenous society in South Esequibo felt threatened by the possible distribution of agricultural parcels among the sectors that had supported the Minister, which caused some of the inhabitants to rebel.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} According to Hart, the region's population rebelled against the government because their constitutional rights were not respected and because of continuous intimidation and repression directed against them.<ref name=":22" />
Motives for the rebellion are divided. The Guyanese government said that the Hart family forced indigenous peasants to join their cause.<ref name="NYT69" /> Valerie was present at the First Conference of Amerindians Leaders, named the "Cabacaburi Congress" in 1968. The Conference presented demands to Prime Minister [[Forbes Burnham]] who represented the community of around 40,000 indigenous people of the [[Rupununi]] district.<ref>Amerindian News Georgetown: vol 2, No 3, May 15th 1968.</ref> The movement defended the integration of natives to [[Guyana|Guyanese]] society, inconsonant with Burnham's [[Afrocentrism|afrocentrist]] policies.<ref name=":22" /> Factions within the indigenous society in South Esequibo felt threatened by the possible distribution of agricultural parcels among the sectors that had supported the Minister, which caused some of the inhabitants to rebel.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} According to Hart, the region's population rebelled against the government because their constitutional rights were not respected and because of continuous intimidation and repression directed against them.<ref name=":22" />
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=== Attack ===
=== Attack ===
Rebels began their attacks on Lethem in the morning of 2 January 1969, killing five police officers and two civilians while also destroying buildings belonging to the Guyanese government with bazooka fire.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book|last=Ishmael|first=Odeen|title=The Trail of Diplomacy: The Guyana-Venezuela Border Issue|year=2013|isbn=9781493126552}}</ref> The rebels locked citizens in their homes and blocked airfields in [[Lethem, Guyana|Lethem]], Annai Good Hope, Karanambo and [[Karasabai]], attempting to block staging areas for Guyanese troops.<ref name=":0" />
Valerie stayed in the capital of Venezuela, [[Caracas]], while her brothers and the Lawrences participated in the rebellion in Guyana.<ref name=":3" /> Rebels began their attacks on Lethem in the morning of 2 January 1969, killing five police officers and two civilians while also destroying buildings belonging to the Guyanese government with bazooka fire.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book|last=Ishmael|first=Odeen|title=The Trail of Diplomacy: The Guyana-Venezuela Border Issue|year=2013|isbn=9781493126552}}</ref> The rebels locked citizens in their homes and blocked airfields in [[Lethem, Guyana|Lethem]], Annai Good Hope, Karanambo and [[Karasabai]], attempting to block staging areas for Guyanese troops.<ref name=":0" />


=== Counterattack ===
=== Counterattack ===
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The following day, on 4 January, captain Edgar Gavidia Valero flew to [[Santa Elena de Uairén]] sent by the Venezuelan government with the orders that the Venezuelan military institutions had to unblock the airfields and start the evacuation of both the Amerindian population and the uprising leaders. Hours afterwards, Guyanese soldiers arrived at the area.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=4 July 2020 |title=Guyana: De Rupununi a La Haya |url=https://www.eneltapete.com/historia/1407/guyana-de-rupununi-a-la-haya |access-date=2021-03-13 |website=En El Tapete |language=es}}</ref> Members of the failed uprising fled to Venezuela for protection after their plans unravelled, with Hart and her rebels being granted Venezuelan citizenship by birth since they were recognized as being born in the [[Guayana Esequiba]] disputed territory.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":32">{{Cite book|last1=Briceño Monzón|first1=Claudio A.|title=La Cuestión Esequibo: Memoria y Soberanía|last2=Olivar|first2=José Alberto|last3=Buttó|first3=Luis Alberto|publisher=[[Universidad Metropolitana]]|year=2016|location=Caracas, Venezuela|page=145}}</ref>
The following day, on 4 January, captain Edgar Gavidia Valero flew to [[Santa Elena de Uairén]] sent by the Venezuelan government with the orders that the Venezuelan military institutions had to unblock the airfields and start the evacuation of both the Amerindian population and the uprising leaders. Hours afterwards, Guyanese soldiers arrived at the area.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=4 July 2020 |title=Guyana: De Rupununi a La Haya |url=https://www.eneltapete.com/historia/1407/guyana-de-rupununi-a-la-haya |access-date=2021-03-13 |website=En El Tapete |language=es}}</ref> Members of the failed uprising fled to Venezuela for protection after their plans unravelled, with Hart and her rebels being granted Venezuelan citizenship by birth since they were recognized as being born in the [[Guayana Esequiba]] disputed territory.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":32">{{Cite book|last1=Briceño Monzón|first1=Claudio A.|title=La Cuestión Esequibo: Memoria y Soberanía|last2=Olivar|first2=José Alberto|last3=Buttó|first3=Luis Alberto|publisher=[[Universidad Metropolitana]]|year=2016|location=Caracas, Venezuela|page=145}}</ref>


Indigenous groups denounced that Guyanese forces had attacked and killed Amerindians in the region. A pilot of the Guaica airline, who stayed at Lettem, described that after two [[Douglas C-47 Skytrain|C-47]] planes landed, Guyanese forces burned houses, tortured inhabitants and raped women.<ref name=":1" /> Opposition leader [[Cheddi Jagan]] attempted to send two of his Amerindian personnel to the region in order to observe possible atrocities, but they were held at the airfield Lethem by GDF troops and flown back to [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]]. Bishop of Georgetown R. Lester Guilly traveled to the area and stated witnessing no atrocities.<ref name=":42" />
Opposition leader [[Cheddi Jagan]] attempted to send two of his Amerindian personnel to the region in order to observe possible atrocities, but they were held at the airfield Lethem by GDF troops and flown back to [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]]. Bishop of Georgetown R. Lester Guilly traveled to the area and stated he witnessed no atrocities.<ref name=":42" />


== Aftermath ==
== Aftermath ==
That same night, Valerie Hart fled with her family to [[Ciudad Bolívar]], before going to Caracas to request military aid from the Venezuelan government; according to her, her goal was, on behalf of the rebels, to create an independent region of Guyana.<ref name="SRL">GONZÁLEZ, Pedro. La Reclamación de la Guayana Esequiba. Caracas: Miguel A. García e hijo S.R.L. 1991.</ref> The day after the uprising, on the afternoon of 3 January 1969, Hart met in [[Caracas]] with the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister {{ill|Ignacio Iribarren Borges|es}} at the [[Yellow House (Venezuela)|Yellow House]], the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hart explained the uprising to Iribarren Borges, citing Burnham's policies as its motives, and said that the rebels had the intention of turning the Rupununi into an independent territory under Venezuelan protection. Iribarren Borges replied that Venezuela was bound to the 1966 [[Geneva Agreement (1966)|Geneva Agreement]] with the United Kingdom and Guyana, and that Venezuela could not intervene in favor of the rebels even if it wanted to.<ref name=":1" />
That night of the attack, the Hart family to [[Ciudad Bolívar]], before going to Caracas to request military aid from the Venezuelan government; according to Valerie, her goal was, on behalf of the rebels, to create an independent region of Guyana.<ref name="SRL">GONZÁLEZ, Pedro. La Reclamación de la Guayana Esequiba. Caracas: Miguel A. García e hijo S.R.L. 1991.</ref> The day after the uprising, on the afternoon of 3 January 1969, Hart met in [[Caracas]] with the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister {{ill|Ignacio Iribarren Borges|es}} at the [[Yellow House (Venezuela)|Yellow House]], the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hart explained the uprising to Iribarren Borges, citing Burnham's policies as its motives, and said that the rebels had the intention of turning the Rupununi into an independent territory under Venezuelan protection. Iribarren Borges reportedly said that Venezuela was bound to the 1966 [[Geneva Agreement (1966)|Geneva Agreement]] with the United Kingdom and Guyana, and that Venezuela could not intervene in favor of the rebels even if it wanted to.<ref name=":1" />{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2023}}


Minutes after, questioned by journalists after leaving his office, the Minister declared that "Venezuela is not considering aiding the Guyana rebels". Interior Affairs Minister Reinaldo Leandro Mora declared that "the movement would not have failed if Venezuela had intervened". In a press conference nearby, in the Antímano Lounge of El Conde hotel, Valerie Hart declared indignate that: "I want it to be well understood that if the Venezuelan government, by pressure of the United States, does not lend any help to the Rupununi people, it would be equal to support the Burnham government".<ref name=":1" />
Minutes after, questioned by journalists after leaving his office, the Minister declared that "Venezuela is not considering aiding the Guyana rebels". Interior Affairs Minister Reinaldo Leandro Mora declared that "the movement would not have failed if Venezuela had intervened". In a press conference nearby, in the Antímano Lounge of El Conde hotel, Valerie Hart declared indignate that: "I want it to be well understood that if the Venezuelan government, by pressure of the United States, does not lend any help to the Rupununi people, it would be equal to support the Burnham government".<ref name=":1" />{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2023}}


Guyana said that Venezuela organized the uprising, which Venezuela denied.<ref name="NYT69"/> Prime Minister of Guyana, [[Forbes Burnham]], said during a meeting with prime ministers of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] that Guyana would present a denunciation against Venezuela to the [[United Nations]].<ref name="NYT69" /> Burnham said in a speech following the incident that the rebellion was the "beginning" and that Guyana "must therefore expect further acts of aggression and intimidation from the new imperialism on our western doorstep."<ref name="NYT69"/> Concerns related to the incident from both Guyana and Venezuela led to the {{ill|Port of Spain Protocol|es|Protocolo de Puerto España}} in 1970.<ref name=":22" />
Guyana said that Venezuela organized the uprising, which Venezuela denied.<ref name="NYT69"/> Prime Minister of Guyana, [[Forbes Burnham]], said during a meeting with prime ministers of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] that Guyana would present a denunciation against Venezuela to the [[United Nations]].<ref name="NYT69" /> Burnham said in a speech following the incident that the rebellion was the "beginning" and that Guyana "must therefore expect further acts of aggression and intimidation from the new imperialism on our western doorstep."<ref name="NYT69"/> Concerns related to the incident from both Guyana and Venezuela led to the {{ill|Port of Spain Protocol|es|Protocolo de Puerto España}} in 1970.<ref name=":22" />

Revision as of 04:50, 30 November 2023

Rupununi Rebellion

Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region of Guyana
Date2 January 1969
Location
Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo
Result Guyanese victory
Belligerents

Guyana (1966–1970) Guyana

Rupununi separatists Support:

Commanders and leaders
 Valerie Hart
Elmo Hart
James Hart
Averrel John Melville
Strength
200 soldiers[4] 120–300 rebels[5][6]
Casualties and losses
  • 5 police officers killed
  • 2 civilians killed
  • 20 total wounded[7]

The Rupununi Rebellion was a secessionist insurrection in Guyana that began on 2 January 1969 led by the Hart family, who were wealthy cattle ranchers.[1][8] Occurring less than two years after Guyana’s independence from the United Kingdom, it constituted the country’s earliest and most severe test of statehood and social solidarity. After asking for assistance from Venezuela, the rebels were ultimately dispersed by the Guyana Defence Force, with the group's leaders fleeing to Venezuela.[1][8]

Background

The rebellion was led by the Hart family, a wealthy family that moved to Guyana from North Dakota in 1914.[1] The family, which comprised six brothers and one sister, were American citizens and were educated in the United States.[1] Valerie Hart, a United Force politician, owned a ranch at Moreru.[9] Her two brothers, James and Elmo, including two other Americans named Harry and Richard Lawrence, also led the rebellion.[8] The son of a Czechoslovakian miner, Clement Tezarik, also participated in the plot.[8]

Motives for the rebellion are divided. The Guyanese government said that the Hart family forced indigenous peasants to join their cause.[1] Valerie was present at the First Conference of Amerindians Leaders, named the "Cabacaburi Congress" in 1968. The Conference presented demands to Prime Minister Forbes Burnham who represented the community of around 40,000 indigenous people of the Rupununi district.[10] The movement defended the integration of natives to Guyanese society, inconsonant with Burnham's afrocentrist policies.[3] Factions within the indigenous society in South Esequibo felt threatened by the possible distribution of agricultural parcels among the sectors that had supported the Minister, which caused some of the inhabitants to rebel.[citation needed] According to Hart, the region's population rebelled against the government because their constitutional rights were not respected and because of continuous intimidation and repression directed against them.[3]

Events

Preparation

At a 23 December 1968 meeting, rebels finalized plans of a separated Rupununi state.[11] Some scholars, including Harold Eugene Davis and Pedro González, have said that Venezuela supported and sponsored the Rupununi rebels and their secession movement.[2][3] The Guyanese government said that Valerie was provided facilities in Venezuela where she could make radio broadcasts promoting her movement.[1] In an effort to receive support from Venezuela, Valerie and her rebels stated that they would grant Venezuela control of Guyana's disputed Guayana Esequiba territory in exchange for assistance.[12]

Attack

Valerie stayed in the capital of Venezuela, Caracas, while her brothers and the Lawrences participated in the rebellion in Guyana.[8] Rebels began their attacks on Lethem in the morning of 2 January 1969, killing five police officers and two civilians while also destroying buildings belonging to the Guyanese government with bazooka fire.[13] The rebels locked citizens in their homes and blocked airfields in Lethem, Annai Good Hope, Karanambo and Karasabai, attempting to block staging areas for Guyanese troops.[11]

Counterattack

News about the insurrection reached Georgetown by midday prompting the deployment of policemen and soldiers of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).[11] GDF troops arrived at an open airstrip 5 miles (8.0 km) away from Lethem.[11] As troops approached, the rebels quickly fled and the uprising ended.[11] About thirty of the rebels were arrested following the uprising.[13]

The following day, on 4 January, captain Edgar Gavidia Valero flew to Santa Elena de Uairén sent by the Venezuelan government with the orders that the Venezuelan military institutions had to unblock the airfields and start the evacuation of both the Amerindian population and the uprising leaders. Hours afterwards, Guyanese soldiers arrived at the area.[14] Members of the failed uprising fled to Venezuela for protection after their plans unravelled, with Hart and her rebels being granted Venezuelan citizenship by birth since they were recognized as being born in the Guayana Esequiba disputed territory.[3][15]

Opposition leader Cheddi Jagan attempted to send two of his Amerindian personnel to the region in order to observe possible atrocities, but they were held at the airfield Lethem by GDF troops and flown back to Georgetown. Bishop of Georgetown R. Lester Guilly traveled to the area and stated he witnessed no atrocities.[13]

Aftermath

That night of the attack, the Hart family to Ciudad Bolívar, before going to Caracas to request military aid from the Venezuelan government; according to Valerie, her goal was, on behalf of the rebels, to create an independent region of Guyana.[16] The day after the uprising, on the afternoon of 3 January 1969, Hart met in Caracas with the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Ignacio Iribarren Borges [es] at the Yellow House, the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hart explained the uprising to Iribarren Borges, citing Burnham's policies as its motives, and said that the rebels had the intention of turning the Rupununi into an independent territory under Venezuelan protection. Iribarren Borges reportedly said that Venezuela was bound to the 1966 Geneva Agreement with the United Kingdom and Guyana, and that Venezuela could not intervene in favor of the rebels even if it wanted to.[14][unreliable source?]

Minutes after, questioned by journalists after leaving his office, the Minister declared that "Venezuela is not considering aiding the Guyana rebels". Interior Affairs Minister Reinaldo Leandro Mora declared that "the movement would not have failed if Venezuela had intervened". In a press conference nearby, in the Antímano Lounge of El Conde hotel, Valerie Hart declared indignate that: "I want it to be well understood that if the Venezuelan government, by pressure of the United States, does not lend any help to the Rupununi people, it would be equal to support the Burnham government".[14][unreliable source?]

Guyana said that Venezuela organized the uprising, which Venezuela denied.[1] Prime Minister of Guyana, Forbes Burnham, said during a meeting with prime ministers of the Commonwealth of Nations that Guyana would present a denunciation against Venezuela to the United Nations.[1] Burnham said in a speech following the incident that the rebellion was the "beginning" and that Guyana "must therefore expect further acts of aggression and intimidation from the new imperialism on our western doorstep."[1] Concerns related to the incident from both Guyana and Venezuela led to the Port of Spain Protocol in 1970.[3]

See also

  • Tigri Area, another territorial dispute involving Guyana

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Guyana Reports End of Uprising, Says Venezuela Aided Rebels". The New York Times. 6 January 1969. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b Davis, Harold Eugene; Wilson, Larman Curtis (1975). Latin American Foreign Policies: An Analysis. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 191-196. ISBN 9780801816956.
  3. ^ a b c d e f González, Pedro (1991). La Reclamación de la Guayana Esequiba. Caracas.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ [1], La insurrección de Rupununi.
  5. ^ [2], The Trail of Diplomacy: The Guyana-Venezuela Border Issue (Volume Two).
  6. ^ Ishmael, Dr. Odeen. "The Trail of Diplomacy - A Documentary History of the Guyana-Venezuela Border Issue"
  7. ^ [3], The Rupununi Revolt.
  8. ^ a b c d e Times, Special to The New York (1969-01-12). "GUYANESE MAY TRY REBELS WHO FLED". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  9. ^ David A. Granger (18 January 2009). "The Rupununi Rebellion, 1969". Stabroek News. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  10. ^ Amerindian News Georgetown: vol 2, No 3, May 15th 1968.
  11. ^ a b c d e Braveboy-Wagner, Jacqueline Anne (2019). The Venezuela-Guyana Border Dispute: Britain's Colonial Legacy In Latin America. Routledge. ISBN 9781000306897.
  12. ^ González, Pedro (1991). La Reclamación de la Guayana Esequiba. Caracas. pp. 14, 45–47.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ a b c Ishmael, Odeen (2013). The Trail of Diplomacy: The Guyana-Venezuela Border Issue. ISBN 9781493126552.
  14. ^ a b c "Guyana: De Rupununi a La Haya". En El Tapete (in Spanish). 4 July 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
  15. ^ Briceño Monzón, Claudio A.; Olivar, José Alberto; Buttó, Luis Alberto (2016). La Cuestión Esequibo: Memoria y Soberanía. Caracas, Venezuela: Universidad Metropolitana. p. 145.
  16. ^ GONZÁLEZ, Pedro. La Reclamación de la Guayana Esequiba. Caracas: Miguel A. García e hijo S.R.L. 1991.
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