On February 25, 1980 a group of sixteen non-commissioned officers led by Sergeant Major Desi Bouterse overthrew the government of Prime Minister Henck Arron of Suriname in a violent coup known as the Sergeants' Coup, beginning a military-dominated period that lasted through the 1980s. Suriname had become independent from the Netherlands in 1975 amid social unrest and economic difficulty. The new national army's non-commissioned officers had tried to unionize and complained of corruption and poor pay, but Arron refused to recognize them and arrested the ringleaders, who were due to go on trial on February 26, 1980.
On February 25, 1980 the coup soldiers seized the military camps in Paramaribo and arrested superiors who opposed them; the main resistance, at the Central Police Station, ended when the building was burned down. Arron was imprisoned on corruption charges. Real authority passed to the military under Bouterse, who dominated the country for the next decade.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Prime Minister Henck Arron, overthrown on February 25, 1980 and imprisoned on corruption charges.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Henck Arron (prime minister overthrown and jailed)
Desi Bouterse (sergeant major who led the coup)
The group of sixteen (the non-commissioned officers who seized power)
Sources
The 1980 Surinamese coup, usually referred to as the Sergeants' Coup, occurred on 25 February 1980 when a group of 16 sergeants of the Surinamese Armed Forces led by Desi Bouterse overthrew the government of Prime Minister Henck Arron with a violent coup, marking the beginning of the military dictatorship that dominated the country from 1980 until 1991.
The hastily created Suriname National Army had many non-commissioned officers who tried to unionize and complained about corruption and poor pay, Prime Minister Henck Arron refused to recognise them and arrested the ringleaders who were to go to trial on 26 February 1980, and on 25 February 1980 the coup soldiers took control of the military camps in Paramaribo and arrested superiors who opposed them.
The main resistance occurred at the Central Police Station, which was burned to the ground, and after the police surrendered the coup leaders took control and Arron was imprisoned on charges of corruption.
President Johan Ferrier was eventually forced out of office in August 1980, and several months after the coup most of the political authority transferred to the military leadership, with the titular presidents until 1988 essentially army-installed by Bouterse, who ruled as de facto leader with few practical checks on his power.
Fate coding: the deposed prime minister Henck Arron was arrested and imprisoned on corruption charges, matching the dataset's arrested-or-jailed fate. Coding note: the dataset labels this a military coup, accurately, as it was carried out by non-commissioned officers of the army (the group of sixteen) led by Bouterse; it is distinguished by being led from the sergeant ranks rather than the officer corps. Violence recorded: this was a violent coup, with the Central Police Station burned down during the fighting; sources note the death toll of the coup itself was limited, but the ensuing dictatorship featured summary executions of opponents. Trigger recorded: the immediate spark was Arron's refusal to recognize the soldiers' union and his arrest of the ringleaders ahead of a February 26 trial. Aftermath flagged: President Johan Ferrier was forced out in August 1980, and Bouterse went on to dominate Suriname for the 1980s; the 1982 December murders of opponents and the later interior war are separate later events, recorded only as flagged context. Bouterse designated February 25 a national holiday during his rule, a documented detail.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prime Minister Henck Arron, overthrown on February 25, 1980 and imprisoned on corruption charges..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; arrested or jailed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Suriname President Ousted in Army-Backed Coup,” August 15, 1980
“Suriname Leader Wary of Election,” by Joseph Treaster, October 6, 1987
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →