JAGDEOByron Buckley, News Editor
GUYANESE PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday expressed "deep regret" over negative comments he made a week ago in the United States about the levels of HIV/AIDS and crime in Jamaica.
He reportedly told a group of Guyanese nationals that while his country truthfully publicised its crime and HIV/AIDS statistics, Jamaica and other regional countries concealed their figures in order to protect their economic interests.
"... If anything that I said is construed as being offensive to the Jamaican people, it is deeply regretted," the Guyanese President said in a statement issued yesterday.
The statement from Georgetown came at the same time that the Jamaican Government was downplaying the incident. According to Information Minister, Senator Burchell Whiteman, "The transcript from the tape... says absolutely nothing which indicates that the President meant to convey the impression that Jamaica was deliberately hiding information about HIV/AIDS to protect its tourism industry."
Earlier this week Mr. Jagdeo's press aide, Robert Persaud, denied that the Guyanese leader had attacked his regional counterparts, claiming that the President was chiding the media in his country for playing up negatives in their reportage. In contrast, this was deliberately not done by Jamaica's two daily newspapers, Mr. Jagdeo asserted.
Media reports out of Atlanta, Georgia, where President Jagdeo was addressing a forum, said the President charged that Jamaica's crime rate was perhaps 10 times higher than in his country; while there were 70 times more kidnappings in Trinidad and Tobago than Guyana.
On Wednesday, Health Minister John Junor refuted Mr. Jagdeo's claim that Jamaica falsifies its HIV/AIDS statistics. The Health Minister restated the country's high prevalence rate of 1.5 to two per cent (per 22,000 of the adult population) and noted the collaboration between Government and UNAIDS in fighting the epidemic.
As the controversy ignited by his remarks raged in Jamaica, the Guyanese President issued a statement late Thursday night:
"It is with deep regret that despite the June 23, 2004 clarification by my office, the matter surrounding my statement in Atlanta, Georgia, is still engaging the attention of the media," said President Jagdeo.
"Nothing that I said was intended to cast doubt on the health sector and the media in Jamaica or in any other CARICOM state.
"In my visits to Jamaica, I have always enjoyed the warm friendship and hospitality of the Government and people of Jamaica. Because I value this relationship, if anything that I said is construed as being offensive to the Jamaican people, it is deeply regretted," the statement read.
