The only prison in French Guiana dies slowly – 25/02/2019

The French Guiana it is badociated, in modern times, with the Kourou space base, ideal location, because of its proximity to the equator, to launch rockets putting satellites in orbit.

However, in the imagination of several generations, this ancient colonial territory, bordering Brazil and Suriname, was linked to much more sordid realities, such as slavery and sinister convictsprisons for prisoners sentenced to forced labor.

French Guiana (as large as Andalusia and has 260,000 inhabitants) is an overseas region that is part of the French Republic (it has two deputies and two senators who represent it in Paris), although support some abandonment conditions that bring him back to the colonial era.

During the 20th century, millions of readers from around the world they learned French Guiana thanks to the autobiographical novel Butterfly (1969), by Henri Charrière. In this story, which was later filmed, the author recounted his misadventures as a prisoner and his escapees. Thirty years earlier, René Belbenoît (who after many adventures could have settled in the United States) had also been a spectacular success.

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He gave his book an impact title: Dry guillotine. Fifteen years among the undead (Dry guillotine. Fifteen years among the undead). The convicts called their prison "Dry guillotine", because it meant for many of them a slow death sentence, without the need for blood. Illnesses and exhausting work have decimated the prison population.

Overcrowding

The French press has discreetly covered a shameful news about Guyana, which brings back sad memories. The Inspector General of Prisons, Adeline Hazan, presented a harsh report in which denounced deterioration, dirt and overpopulation suffered by the prisoners of Rémire-Montjoly, the only current prison on the territory.

Up to six prisoners are confined in cells of 11 square meters Net, if you update the space occupied by the beds, the table and the bathroom. Hazan spoke of a disastrous hygiene, with facilities degraded by the inclement weather of the tropical climate. Men are forced to take a shower in plain sight. Rats, badroaches and other insects They camp at their ease, attracted by the remains of food in decomposition. Fights are frequent because of the prevailing tension and the fact that the prisoners, for lack of activities, are inactive.

The inspector, who had visited the same prison ten years ago and had already complained about his condition, He urged the Paris government to act immediately to remedy the situation.

Without doctors

Another proof of the negligence suffered by French Guiana is the plan studied by the local authorities of to hire Cuban doctors fill the chronic lack of doctors. It was announced a few days ago, during his visit to Paris, the president of the Guyanese territorial entity, Rodolphe Alexandre.

To study the details of the agreement, he met with the Cuban Ambbadador and the Deputy Minister of Health of the Caribbean Island. "There is a real urgency in Guayana"said Alexander, who lamented "the medical desert in which we find ourselves", and he praised the good reputation of Cuban doctors. "I saw them working in Brazil and Haiti," he said.

The intention is to hire a first contingent of a hundred specialistsamong them are oral surgeons, oncologists and pulmonologists. Havana has been predisposed to the agreement because sending doctors is a valuable foreign currency.

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For the magnitude French, to use Cuban doctors in a part of its territory, even overseas, is a kind of humiliation.

In any case, it should be recalled that in 2005 already, Brussels had authorized Guyana to recruit health personnel from outside the European Union because of its geographical remoteness.

Guianese cuitas do not stop there. In the departement bubble There has been intense controversy for years because of the project of a gigantic open pit gold mine, known as Montaña de Oro, by a consortium of Russian-Canadian companies in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

Critics fear irreparable contamination by the dumping of cyanide and the destruction of a rich ecosystem, in addition to viewing it as a mirage of false prosperity.

President Emmanuel Macron, who has the last word, was skeptical, a few weeks ago, about the sustainability of the mine. It is not easy to manage a France so far by avoiding the old inertia of colonialists.

GML