By Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
Email: gordon@caribbeannetnews.com
GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Twenty-seven years after the death of Dr Walter Rodney, a new book, penned by a former Guyana army officer, William Gregory Smith, disputes Rodney’s assassination theory.
The new book, “Assassination Cry of a Failed Revolution: The Truth About Dr. Walter Rodney’s Death,” released by Xlibris, is set to hit shelves soon. Smith, who up until his death a few years ago, was accused of Rodney’s death. The publication is co-authored by his sister, Anne Wagner.
Rodney was killed when a remote control bomb detonated in his lap as he sat in his brother’s car on June 13, 1980 on George Street, in Guyana’s capital, Georgetwon.
Smith, who was at the time an electronics expert in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), was fingered as the mastermind behind the attack. His name was subsequently changed to Cyril Johnson and he was given safe-haven in French Guiana until his death a few years ago.
According to press release issued by the publishing company, the gripping account of Smith is indicative of twenty-five years of deception, abuse of power and character assassination by the Working People’s Alliance (WPA).
The WPA, which Rodney founded, has been silent on the release of the book and party officials reserved comments until they had read the publication.
While the public believes his death was a planned assassination, the publisher notes that the authors set out to dispute such findings and together began their quest to prove that Rodney was not assassinated.
“The authors depict a full detailed account of the association between Dr Walter Rodney and William Gregory Smith. In its quest to uncover the truth about Rodney's death, the book exposes with great detail the lies, political agenda, cover-ups and many attempts on his life by the WPA,” the publisher notes.
The release notes that the book is living proof that accepted history is not always accurate as the authors expose the deliberate distortion of Guyana’s history.
“With these striking details about the WPA and its beliefs, as well as the allegations against William Gregory Smith and Dr Walter Rodney’s tragic death, this book is bound to spark a new wave of political debates and crime investigation among its readers,” the press statement notes.
The Guyana Parliament on June 29, 2005 passed a unanimous resolution authorising the creation of a commission of inquiry, whose terms of reference were to be ironed out among representatives of the government, the Rodney family, and others. Since then not much has happened to move the process forward.
Xlibris said Smith was a native son of Guyana and held several degrees in electronics from prestigious institutions in England and was highly esteemed in his profession.
The US-based publishing company notes that Smith’s love for family, country and integrity led him to document his experience in the book.
He died before it was completed, but gave the responsibility to Wagner to bring the work to fruition.
Wagner was born in Georgetown as the eldest of five children. She is a mother of four and has 14 grandchildren. She is a graduate of Kingsborough Community College, City College NY, NY, and Downstate University, Brooklyn NY.
She has been a Director of Health Information Management for 21 years. |
