Canada cancels Guyana security minister's visa

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): Pursued by allegations of his involvement in a death-squad that assassinates suspected criminals, Guyana's Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj has been barred from traveling to Canada, Guyana's Foreign Ministry said late Monday.

Guyana has asked the Canadian embassy to explain its decision to Guyanese police "otherwise the measure may be seen publicly as a sanction of some wrong-doing on the part of the minister," it said.

Presidential spokesman Robert Persaud said the Guyanese government understood that under Canadian law, cancellation of visas is automatic when certain accusations are pending against a visa holder.

The cancellation came after Guyanese citizen George Bacchus linked Gajraj to a death squad that allegedly hunts wanted people and suspects, after his brother Shafeek was shot dead on January 5.

Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald asked Bacchus, as well as opposition leader Robert Corbin, to submit written statements supporting their claims.

Meanwhile, President Bharrat Jagdeo has refused to ask the home affairs minister to resign or order an investigation into the allegations until Bacchus gives police his statement.

Bacchus, however, has not been heard of for a week.

Gajraj has denied the accusations but admitted he spoke by telephone with Axell Williams, an alleged hired hitman killed by unknown assailants last week. 

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