Surinam, 1983 — dissident coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 30 January 1983, in the immediate aftermath of the December 1982 murders, during the Bouterse regime's tightened repression and international isolation and amid continued fears of anti-Bouterse plotting. Following the killing of fifteen opponents at Fort Zeelandia, the former colonial power the Netherlands immediately froze development aid, cutting off roughly 80 percent of Suriname's foreign aid and deepening the country's economic crisis, and the regime pivoted toward Cuba for support. Bouterse had justified the December killings by accusing the victims of a plot with Dutch intelligence to overthrow his revolutionary government, and exiled figures such as former minister Andre Haakmat and former president Henk Chin A Sen organized opposition from abroad while the United States mulled schemes to remove Bouterse.
In the wake of the murders the regime imposed a curfew, closed the university, restricted assembly, and sealed the borders. The 30 January 1983 coding sits in this period of continued anti-Bouterse conspiracy fears and exile opposition following the December murders.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
11501301983
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Bouterse held power through the post-murders isolation, ruling until 1987.
Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Washington Post
LA Times
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 →