Bombs Released And Bullets Fired One Night In Georgetown

An attempt has been made to burn the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport Head Office in Georgetown. This comes in the wake of public statements by one political party saying it will not support CARIFESTA X. The Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport is organizing the event in August. Two channa bombs which were thrown at the Ministry’s head office Friday night failed to ignite. Reports are the bombs were thrown from a car which drove away. [Read full article from Guyana News Today]

The Minister of Culture, Frank Anthony has fired back.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, is calling on law enforcement officials to speedily apprehend the perpetrators of Friday night’s channa bomb and shooting attack on his Ministry.

He was adamant that the Ministry’s work, which includes, among other things, spearheading preparations to host the Caribbean Festival of Arts, (CARIFESTA) X, will continue.

The Ministry came under attack at around 21:30 h after a channa bomb was hurled into its compound on Main Street, scorching one of the window curtains.

Two men armed with firearms also exited the vehicle and discharged a number of rounds at the northern side of the Ministry, shattering windows and damaging the walls, a police release said.
The attack, if intended to discourage Guyana from hosting CARIFESTA X, has failed, Minister Anthony said.

He recently expressed confidence that, despite the prevailing circumstances in Guyana, the festival will go on, and a large number of visitors are expected.

“If we are going to just shut down everything we do and say, we are not going to have anything because of crime…that will be the wrong approach… We have to use these stumbling blocks as stepping stones,” Minister Anthony said.

Only recently Minister Anthony condemned the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Leader Robert Corbin’s unwillingness to cooperate so that Guyana will successfully host CARIFESTA X.

He noted that it is disrupting to public life, and is an attempt to sabotage an international event in Guyana.

“To threaten an international event full of socio-economic and cultural benefits for the nation is a virtual abuse of the freedoms guaranteed by this government,” Minister Anthony had said.

On April 18, Corbin vowed that if the suspension of the Channel Six licence was not lifted, there would be serious protests to make CARIFESTA “unmanageable.” During a protest that same day, protestors chanted ‘No Sharma, No CARIFESTA’.

Corbin said, too, that the party would have a ‘difficulty cooperating’ with CARIFESTA. (GINA)