Editing History of Guyana (section)

== Pre-independence government ==
===Development of political parties===
At the end of World War II, political awareness and demands for independence grew in all segments of society. The immediate postwar period witnessed the founding of Guyana's major political parties. The [[People's Progressive Party (Guyana)|People's Progressive Party]] (PPP) was founded on January 1, 1950. Internal conflicts developed in the PPP, and in 1957 the [[People's National Congress (Guyana)|People's National Congress]] (PNC) was created as a split-off. These years also saw the beginning of a long and acrimonious struggle between the country's two dominant political personalities—[[Cheddi Jagan]] and [[Linden Forbes Burnham]]. The U.S. government favored Burnham over Jagan, an effort to prevent the Soviet Union from "gaining a foothold on the South American continent", with the country serving "special significance" during the [[Cold War]].<ref name="curry2022" />

====Cheddi Jagan====
[[File:Cheddi_Jagan_Anefo.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Cheddi Jagan]]]]
[[Cheddi Jagan]] had been born in Guyana in 1918. His parents were immigrants from India. His father was a driver, a position considered to be on the lowest rung of the middle stratum of Guyanese society. Jagan's childhood gave him a lasting insight into rural poverty. Despite their poor background, the senior Jagan sent his son to [[Queen's College, Guyana|Queen's College]] in Georgetown. After his education there, Jagan went to the United States to study dentistry, graduating from [[Northwestern University]] in [[Evanston, Illinois]] in 1942.<ref name="pradosjimenez" />

Jagan returned to British Guiana in October 1943 and was soon joined by his American wife, the former [[Janet Rosenberg]], who was to play a significant role in her new country's political development. Although Jagan established his own dentistry clinic, he was soon enmeshed in politics. After a number of unsuccessful forays into Guyana's political life, Jagan became treasurer of the [[Manpower Citizens' Association]] (MPCA) in 1945. The MPCA represented the colony's sugar workers, many of whom were Indo-Guyanese.<ref name="ucabrgy" /> Jagan's tenure was brief, as he clashed repeatedly with the more moderate union leadership over policy issues. Despite his departure from the MPCA a year after joining, the position allowed Jagan to meet other union leaders in British Guiana and throughout the [[English-speaking Caribbean]].<ref name="pradosjimenez" />

====Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham====
[[File:Forbes_Burnham_(1966).jpg|thumb|upright=0.7| [[Forbes Burnham]] ]]
Born in 1923, [[Forbes Burnham]] was the sole son in a family that had three children. His father was headmaster of [[Kitty Methodist Primary School]], which was located just outside Georgetown. As part of the colony's educated class, young Burnham was exposed to political viewpoints at an early age. He did exceedingly well in school and went to London to obtain a law degree. Although not exposed to [[childhood poverty]] as was Jagan, Burnham was acutely aware of racial discrimination.<ref name="bahgai2015" />

The social strata of the urban Afro-Guyanese community of the 1930s and 1940s included a mulatto or "coloured" elite, a black professional middle class, and, at the bottom, the black working class. Unemployment in the 1930s was high. When war broke out in 1939, many Afro-Guyanese joined the military, hoping to gain new job skills and escape poverty. When they returned home from the war, however, jobs were still scarce and discrimination was still a part of life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mar.umd.edu/assessment.asp?groupId=11001|title=Assessment for Africans in Guyana|website=Minorities At Risk Project |publisher=[[University of Maryland]] Center for International Development and Conflict Management|access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230712225758/http://www.mar.umd.edu/assessment.asp?groupId=11001|archive-date=July 12, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> At that time, Guyana had a low [[gross national product]], but mineral resources such as silver, wheat, timber, peanuts, and [[food processing]].{{sfn|Black|2005|pp=153}}

====Founding of the PAC and PPP====
The springboard for Jagan's political career was the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), formed in 1946 as a discussion group. The new organization published the ''[[PAC Bulletin]]'' to promote its [[Marxist]] ideology and ideas of liberation and decolonization. The PAC's outspoken criticism of the colony's poor living standards attracted followers as well as detractors.<ref name="ucabrgy" />

In the November 1947 general elections, the PAC put forward several members as independent candidates. The PAC's major competitor was the newly formed [[British Guiana Labour Party]], which, under [[J.B. Singh]], won six of fourteen seats contested.<ref>{{cite report |author=Frank A. Narain |date=2007 |title=Historical Information, Events & Dates on the Parliament of Guyana from 1718 to 2006 |url=https://parliament.gov.gy/GUYANA%20PARLIAMENT%20HISTORY%202009-1.pdf |chapter=1947 to 1953 |publisher=[[Parliament of Guyana]] |pages=45–46 |access-date=July 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230101214129/https://parliament.gov.gy/GUYANA%20PARLIAMENT%20HISTORY%202009-1.pdf |archive-date=January 1, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Jagan won a seat and briefly joined the Labour Party. But he had difficulties with his new party's centre-right ideology and soon left its ranks. The Labour Party's support of the policies of the British governor and its inability to create a grass-roots base gradually stripped it of liberal supporters throughout the country. The Labour Party's lack of a clear-cut reform agenda left a vacuum, which Jagan rapidly moved to fill. Turmoil on the colony's sugar plantations gave him an opportunity to achieve national standing. After the June 16, 1948 police shootings of five Indo-Guyanese workers at [[Enmore, Guyana|Enmore]], close to Georgetown, the PAC and the [[Guiana Industrial Workers' Union]] (GIWU) organized a large and peaceful demonstration, which clearly enhanced Jagan's standing with the Indo-Guyanese population.<ref name="ucabrgy" />

After the PAC, Jagan's next major step was the founding of the [[People's Progressive Party (Guyana)|People's Progressive Party]] (PPP) in January 1950. Using the PAC as a foundation, Jagan created from it a new party that drew support from both the Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese communities. To increase support among the Afro-Guyanese, Forbes Burnham was brought into the party.<ref name="pradosjimenez" />

The PPP's initial leadership was multi-ethnic and left of centre, but hardly revolutionary. Jagan became the leader of the PPP's parliamentary group, and Burnham assumed the responsibilities of party chairman. Other key party members included Janet Jagan, [[Brindley Benn]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guyanachronicle.com/site/index.php/news/courts/images/banners/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7323%3Aformer-deputy-prime-minister-brindley-benn-dies-at-86&Itemid=12|title=Former Deputy Prime Minister Brindley Benn dies at 86|website=Guyana Chronicle|date=December 12, 2009|access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704180723/http://www.guyanachronicle.com/site/index.php/news/courts/images/banners/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7323%3Aformer-deputy-prime-minister-brindley-benn-dies-at-86&Itemid=12|archive-date=July 4, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Ashton Chase]], both PAC veterans. The new party's first victory came in the 1950 municipal elections, in which Janet Jagan won a seat. Cheddi Jagan and Burnham failed to win seats, but Burnham's campaign made a favourable impression on many Afro-Guyanese citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ppp-civic.org/history/historyppp.htm|title=History of PPP|website=[[People's Progressive Party (Guyana)|People's Progressive Party]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060707184101/http://www.ppp-civic.org/history/historyppp.htm|archive-date=July 7, 2006|access-date=July 12, 2023}}</ref>

From its first victory in the 1950 municipal election, the PPP gathered momentum.<ref name="ucabrgy" /> However, the party's often strident [[anticapitalist]] and [[socialist]] message made the British government uneasy. Colonial officials showed their displeasure with the PPP in 1952 when, on a regional tour, the Jagans were designated prohibited immigrants in [[Trinidad]] and [[Grenada]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jagan.org/Janet%20Jagan/Remembering%20JJ/remembering_jj0.html|title=Remembering Janet Jagan|website=Cheddi Jagan Research Centre|access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129173526/http://jagan.org/Janet%20Jagan/Remembering%20JJ/remembering_jj0.html|archive-date=November 29, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The previous year, Jagan wrote a letter to the [[Czechoslovak Communist Party]], with a request for assistance from the party, and would visit Czechoslavkia in August 1951.<ref name="kourawat" />

A British commission in 1950 recommended universal adult suffrage and the adoption of a [[ministerial system]] for British Guiana. The commission also recommended that power be concentrated in the [[executive branch]], that is, the office of the governor.<ref name="mi5files2011" /> These reforms presented British Guiana's parties with an opportunity to participate in national elections and form a government, but maintained power in the hands of the British-appointed chief executive. This arrangement rankled the PPP, which saw it as an attempt to curtail the party's political power.<ref name="ucabrgy" />

=== The first PPP government ===

Once the new constitution was adopted, elections were set for [[1953 British Guiana general election|1953]].<ref name="caricom" /><ref name="bocthis" /> The PPP's coalition of lower-class Afro-Guyanese and rural Indo-Guyanese workers, together with elements of both ethnic groups' middle sectors, made for a formidable constituency. Conservatives branded the PPP as [[communist]], but the party campaigned on a centre-left platform and appealed to a growing nationalism. The other major party participating in the election, the [[National Democratic Party (British Guiana)|National Democratic Party]] (NDP), was a spin-off of the [[League of Coloured Peoples]] and was largely an Afro-Guyanese middle-class organization, sprinkled with middle-class Portuguese and Indo-Guyanese. The NDP, together with the poorly organized [[United Farmers and Workers Party]] and the [[United National Party]], was soundly defeated by the PPP. Final results gave the PPP eighteen of twenty-four seats compared with the NDP's two seats and four seats for independents.<ref name="pradosjimenez" /><ref name="bulkan2021" />

The PPP's first administration was brief. The legislature opened on May 30, 1953. Already suspicious of Jagan and the PPP's radicalism, conservative forces in the business community were further distressed by the new administration's program of expanding the role of the state in the economy and society.<ref name="kourawat" /> The PPP also sought to implement its reform program at a rapid pace, which brought the party into confrontation with the governor and with high-ranking civil servants who preferred more gradual change. The issue of civil service appointments also threatened the PPP, in this case from within. Following the 1953 victory, these appointments became an issue between the predominantly Indo-Guyanese supporters of Jagan and the largely Afro-Guyanese backers of Burnham. Burnham threatened to split the party if he were not made sole leader of the PPP.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/guyana/106945.htm|title=Guyana (07/08)|website=[[U.S. State Department]]|date=2008|access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807212151/https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/guyana/106945.htm|archive-date=August 7, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> A compromise was reached by which members of what had become Burnham's faction received ministerial appointments.

The PPP's introduction of the [[Labour Relations Act]] provoked a confrontation with the British. This law ostensibly was aimed at reducing intraunion rivalries, but would have favoured the GIWU, which was closely aligned with the ruling party. The opposition charged that the PPP was seeking to gain control over the colony's economic and social life and was moving to stifle the opposition. The day the act was introduced to the legislature, the GIWU went on strike in support of the proposed law. The British government interpreted this intermingling of party politics and labour unionism as a direct challenge to the constitution and the authority of the governor. The day after the act was passed, on October 9, 1953, London suspended the colony's constitution.<ref name="bocthis" /> Under pretext of quelling disturbances, the British sent in troops. Subsequently, Jagan was forced to resign as [[List of Prime Ministers of Guyana|Chief Minister]] after 133 days. Britain installed an [[interim government]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Guyanese President Cheddi Jagan dies |url=http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9703/06/guyana.pres/#:~:text=Rumors%20that%20Jagan%20was%20forging%20ties%20with%20the,Guiana%27s%20constitution%2C%20and%20an%20interim%20government%20was%20chosen. |access-date=13 February 2023 |work=[[CNN]] |date=6 March 1997 |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213145225/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9703/06/guyana.pres/#:~:text=Rumors%20that%20Jagan%20was%20forging%20ties%20with%20the,Guiana%27s%20constitution%2C%20and%20an%20interim%20government%20was%20chosen. |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ucabrgy" /> It would remain in place until 1957.<ref name="bulkan2021" />

Following this action, Britain would keep Guyana under [[military occupation]], for seven years, with restricted [[civil liberties]], and make Jagan a political prisoner.<ref name="pradosjimenez" /><ref name="bulkan2021" /> Writing in ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[Gaiutra Bahadur]] argued that "the overthrow of Guyana's ruling party by colonial forces fomented a racial divide that continues to blight its politics", saying that there was a greater crackdown on the [[Afro-Guyanese]] than on the [[Indo-Guyanese]], in a deliberate and successful attempt to divide the PPP.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bahadur|first=Gaiutra|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/30/1953-britain-guyana|title=In 1953, Britain openly removed an elected government, with tragic consequences &#124; Gaiutra Bahadur|date=October 30, 2020|website=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522135818/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/30/1953-britain-guyana|archive-date=May 22, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> Then-British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] said they need to do everything they could to "break the communist teeth in British Guiana".<ref name="mi5files2011">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/26/mi5-files-coup-british-guiana|title=MI5 files reveal details of 1953 coup that overthrew British Guiana's leaders|website=[[The Guardian]]|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|date=August 25, 2011|access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311143436/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/26/mi5-files-coup-british-guiana|archive-date=March 11, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2000, American historian [[William Blum]] added that beginning in 1953, and ending in 1964, the United States and Britain made life "extremely difficult" for Jagan and his government, because he was building a society which showcased a "successful...alternative...to the capital model". Tactics used included [[disinformation]], [[terrorism]], legalism, and [[general strikes]], all aimed at forcing him from office.{{sfn|Blum|2000|pp=133, 171}}

=== The second PPP government ===
The [[British Guiana general election, 1957|1957 elections]] held under a [[Constitution of Guyana|new constitution]] demonstrated the extent of the growing ethnic division within the Guyanese electorate.<ref name="bocthis" /> The revised constitution provided limited [[self-government]], primarily through the Legislative Council. Of the council's twenty-four delegates, fifteen were elected, six were nominated, and the remaining three were to be [[ex officio]] members from the interim administration. The two wings of the PPP, which had split two years prior,<ref name="kourawat" /> launched vigorous campaigns, each attempting to prove that it was the legitimate heir to the original party. Despite denials of such motivation, both factions made a strong appeal to their respective ethnic constituencies.<ref name="bulkan2021" /><ref name=N1>[[Dieter Nohlen]] (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p354 {{ISBN|978-0-19-928357-6}}</ref>

The 1957 elections were convincingly won by [[Cheddi Jagan|Jagan]]'s [[People's Progressive Party (Guyana)|PPP]] faction. Although his group had a secure parliamentary majority,<ref name="ucabrgy" /> its support was drawn more and more from the [[Indo-Guyanese]] community. The faction's main planks were increasingly identified as Indo-Guyanese: more rice land, improved union representation in the sugar industry, and improved business opportunities and more government posts for Indo-Guyanese.<ref name="pradosjimenez" />

Jagan's veto of [[British Guiana]]'s participation in the [[West Indies Federation]], favored by the British colonial authorities,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ganzert |first1=Frederic W. |date=1953 |title=British West Indian Federation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20668810 |journal=[[World Affairs]] |volume=116 |issue=4 |pages=112–114 |jstor=20668810 |access-date=July 12, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Burns|first=Alan|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/central-america-caribbean/1955-10-01/towards-caribbean-federation|title=Towards a Caribbean Federation|journal=[[Foreign Affairs (journal)|Foreign Affairs]]|date=October 1, 1955|volume=34 |issue=October 1955 |pages=128–140 |doi=10.2307/20031146 |jstor=20031146 |access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321181026/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/central-america-caribbean/1955-10-01/towards-caribbean-federation|archive-date=March 21, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> caused his party to lose significant [[Afro-Guyanese]] support.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Leonard |editor-first=Thomas M. |date=2013 |title=Encyclopedia of the Developing World |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=887 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=We-OAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA887 |isbn=978-1-135-20515-7}}</ref> In the late 1950s, the British Caribbean colonies had been actively negotiating establishment of a West Indies Federation. The PPP had pledged to work for the eventual political union of British Guiana with the Caribbean territories. The Indo-Guyanese, who constituted a majority in Guyana, were apprehensive of becoming part of a federation in which they would be outnumbered by people of African descent.

Burnham learned an important lesson from the 1957 elections. He could not win if supported only by the lower-class, urban Afro-Guyanese. He needed [[middle-class]] allies, especially those Afro-Guyanese who backed the moderate [[United Democratic Party (Guyana)|United Democratic Party]]. From 1957 onward, Burnham worked to create a balance between maintaining the backing of the more radical Afro-Guyanese lower classes and gaining the support of the more capitalist middle class. Clearly, Burnham's stated preference for [[socialism]] would not bind those two groups together against Jagan, an avowed [[Marxist]]. The answer was something more basic: [[Race (classification of humans)|race]]. Burnham's move toward the right was accomplished with the merger of his PPP faction and the United Democratic Party into a new organization, the [[People's National Congress (Guyana)|People's National Congress]] (PNC).<ref name="pradosjimenez" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brotherson Jr. |first1=Festus |date=1989 |title=The Foreign Policy of Guyana, 1970-1985: Forbes Burnham's Search for Legitimacy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/165891 |journal=[[Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs]] |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=13–14 |doi=10.2307/165891 |jstor=165891 |access-date=July 12, 2023}}</ref> The political split deepened the racial division between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese,<ref name="long1985" /> with that racial division, in the country's politics, continuing to the present.<ref name=raciallines>{{cite news |last1=Palash R. |first1=Ghosh |title=Guyana Elections Expected to Break Down According to Racial Lines |url=https://www.ibtimes.com/guyana-elections-expected-break-down-according-racial-lines-375590 |access-date=January 3, 2023 |work=[[International Business Times]] |date=28 November 2011}}</ref> After the split, Jagan's PPP and Burnham's PNC largely became the political expressions of the Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese aspirations respectively, and advocated for their supporter's interests.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Collins |first1=B.A.N. |title=Independence for Guyana |journal=The World Today |date=June 1966 |volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=260–268 |jstor=40393870 }}</ref>

Following the 1957 elections, Jagan rapidly consolidated his hold on the Indo-Guyanese community. Though candid in expressing his admiration for [[Joseph Stalin]], [[Mao Zedong]], and, later, [[Fidel Castro Ruz]], Jagan in power asserted that the PPP's Marxist-[[Leninist]] principles must be adapted to Guyana's own particular circumstances. Jagan advocated [[nationalization]] of foreign holdings, especially in the sugar industry.<ref name="kourawat">{{cite web|last1=Koura|first1=Jan|last2=Waters|first2=Robert|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/cheddi-jagan-and-guyanese-overtures-to-the-east-evidence-the-czech-national-archives|title=Cheddi Jagan and Guyanese Overtures to the East: Evidence from the Czech National Archives|website=Cold War International History Project|publisher=[[Wilson Center]]|date=2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506030125/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/cheddi-jagan-and-guyanese-overtures-to-the-east-evidence-the-czech-national-archives|archive-date=May 6, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |author=David J. Carroll |author2=Robert A. Pastor |date=June 1993 |title=Moderating Ethnic Tensions by Electoral Mediation |url=https://www.cartercenter.org/documents/1205.pdf |publisher=[[Carter Center]] |page=2 |access-date=July 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929201745/https://www.cartercenter.org/documents/1205.pdf |archive-date=September 29, 2022}}</ref> British fears of a communist takeover, however, caused the British governor to hold Jagan's more radical policy initiatives in check, while Jagan remained as Minister of Trade and Industry.<ref name="chaganbio">{{cite web|url=https://jagan.org/Biography/CJ%20Bio/cj_biography6.html|title=Biography of Dr. Cheddi Jagan|website=Cheddi Jagan Research Centre|access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405213251/https://jagan.org/Biography/CJ%20Bio/cj_biography6.html|archive-date=April 5, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== PPP re-election and aftermath ===

The 1961 elections were a bitter contest between the PPP, the PNC, and the United Force (UF), a conservative party representing big business, the [[Roman Catholic Church]], and Amerindian, Chinese, and Portuguese voters.<ref name="bocthis" /> These elections were held under yet another new constitution that marked a return to the degree of self-government that existed briefly in 1953. It introduced a [[bicameral]] system boasting a wholly elected thirty-five-member Legislative Assembly and a thirteen-member Senate to be appointed by the governor. The post of prime minister was created and was to be filled by the majority party in the Legislative Assembly. With the strong support of the Indo-Guyanese population, the PPP again won by a substantial margin, gaining twenty seats in the Legislative Assembly, compared to eleven seats for the PNC and four for the UF. Jagan was named prime minister.<ref name="bulkan2021" /><ref name="ucabrgy" /> Following [[1961 British Guiana general election|this election]], President [[John F. Kennedy]] would approve a covert operation to "destroy and expose" communists in the country. This followed previous U.S. efforts to nudge Jagan in a "pro-American direction."<ref name="pradosjimenez" />

Jagan's administration became increasingly friendly with communist and leftist regimes; for instance, Jagan refused to observe the United States embargo on communist [[Cuba]]. After discussions between Jagan and Cuban revolutionary [[Ernesto "Che" Guevara]] in 1960 and 1961, Cuba offered British Guiana loans and equipment. In addition, the Jagan administration signed trade agreements with [[Hungary]] and the [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany).<ref name="kourawat" /> Beginning in 1962, the U.S. government would start covert action programs in the country. Lasting until 1968, over $2 million would be spent, according to [[State Department]] documents.<ref name="bahgai2015" /> President [[John F. Kennedy]], in mid-1962, would state his objection to Jagan's government, and argue that the U.S. could not "afford to see another Castro-type regime established in this Hemisphere." Even so, some, such as [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]], took a more moderate view of Jagan.<ref name="pradosjimenez">{{cite news|last1=Prados|first1=John|last2=Jimenez-Bacardi|first2=Arturo|date=April 6, 2020|title=CIA Covert Operations: The 1964 Overthrow of Cheddi Jagan in British Guiana|language=en|publisher=[[National Security Archive]]|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2020-04-06/cia-covert-operations-overthrow-cheddi-jagan-british-guiana-1964|url-status=live|access-date=July 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310051715/https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2020-04-06/cia-covert-operations-overthrow-cheddi-jagan-british-guiana-1964|archive-date=March 10, 2023|series=[[National Security Archive#Publications|Briefing Book]] # 700}}</ref>

Jagan would become others harbored suspicions of him. Although he would even meet with President Kennedy in October 1962, he would believe that the CIA had fomented riots earlier that year when he introduced an austerity budget which increased a tax increase which "fell mainly on Guiana's African and mixed population".<ref name="pradosjimenez" /> The same year, Kennedy direct talks with [[Harold Macmillan]], then the British Prime Minister. Other U.S. officials would meet with opposition leaders such as [[Forbes Burnham]] and [[Peter d'Aguiar]], believing Burnham's socialism was preferable to Jagan, and the British agreed to delay the country's independence.<ref name="pradosjimenez" /> [[CARICOM]] later stated that 1962 to 1964 was a period of "prolonged labour and racial unrest".<ref name="caricom" /> In 2005, Marc J. Susser, a historian working for U.S. State Department Bureau of Public Affairs, would admit that the U.S. government aimed at preventing Jagan from becoming prime minister and supported Burnham instead.<ref>{{cite report |author=Marc J. Susser |editor-last1=Lawler |editor-first1=Daniel |editor-last2=Yee |editor-first2=Carolyn |date=2006 |chapter=Preface |title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXXII, Dominican Republic; Cuba; Haiti; Guyana |url=https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v32/pdf/frus1964-68v32.pdf |publisher=[[Government Publishing Office]] |page=iv |access-date=July 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424220615/https://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1964-68v32/pdf/frus1964-68v32.pdf |archive-date=April 24, 2023 }}</ref>

From 1961 to 1964, Jagan was confronted with a destabilization campaign conducted by the PNC and UF. In addition to domestic opponents of Jagan, an important role was played by the [[American Institute for Free Labor Development]] (AIFLD), alleged to be a [[CIA]] [[front organization]]. Various reports say that AIFLD, with a budget of US$800,000, maintained anti-Jagan labor leaders on its payroll, as well as an AIFLD-trained staff of 11 activists who were assigned to organize riots and destabilize the Jagan government. Riots and demonstrations against the PPP administration were frequent, and during disturbances in 1962 and 1963 mobs destroyed part of Georgetown, doing $40 million in damage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hirsch |first=Fred |date=1977 |title=The Labour Movement: Penetration Point for U.S. Intelligence and Transnationals |location=[[Paris, France]] |publisher=Spokesman Books }}[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/40/012.html Excerpts]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Byran |first=Patrick |editor=P. C. Emmer |editor2=[[Bridget Brereton]] |editor3=B. W. Higman |chapter=Proliterian Movements (1940-1960) |date=2004 |title=General History of the Caribbean: The Caribbean in the Twentieth Century |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGSCOTc90WUC&dq=AIFLD+guyana+riots&pg=PA156 |location=[[Paris, France]] |publisher=UNESCO |page=156 |isbn=978-92-3-103359-9}}</ref> The U.S. funded "splinter and opposition groups" opposing Jagan, in part because of his "close ties" to [[Fidel Castro]], with the [[AFL-CIO]] and [[CIA]] allegedly inciting "racially charged strikes and riots".<ref name="bahgai2015" />

To counter the MPCA with its link to Burnham, the PPP formed the [[Guiana Agricultural Workers Union]]. This new union's political mandate was to organize the Indo-Guyanese sugarcane field-workers. The MPCA immediately responded with a one-day strike to emphasize its continued control over the sugar workers.<ref name="ucabrgy" /> In March 1964, when the Jagan government moved to expel Meakins from the country, U.S. consul Carlson intervened to prevent it.<ref name="pradosjimenez" /> Earlier, he had attempted to neutralize the Guianese Trades Union Council. However, William Howard McCabe helped the strikers, while U.S. labor unions worked alongside him, as part of a covert CIA labor operation.<ref name="pradosjimenez" />

By early 1963, the diplomatic representation of the U.S. in Georgetown changed to general consulate, which included a "CIA communications backchannel". Through that backchannel, Burham provided assurances to the CIA about what his political program would be, resulting in the agency sending him financial assistance.<ref name="pradosjimenez" /> He had become the "CIA's instrument" against Jagan. At the same time, Burham supported proportional representation, as did D'Augilar, which the government resisted, leading to more discord.<ref name="pradosjimenez" /> Before the election in 1964 began, the British unilaterally imposed a "proportional representation electoral format" in Guyana.<ref name="bocthis" /> McCabe met with the unionists in the country, the CIA proposed a paper which reportedly outlined "a project to influence that election". In addition, the CIA would start a political party to draw off the PPP's support.<ref name="pradosjimenez" /> Jagan retained no desire to make a coalition government with Burnham and the PPP.<ref name="chaganbio" />

=== Jagan's ouster and Burnham's victory ===
The PPP government responded to the strike in March 1964 by publishing a new [[Labour Relations Bill]] almost identical to the 1953 legislation that had resulted in British intervention. Regarded as a power play for control over a key labor sector, introduction of the proposed law prompted protests and rallies throughout the capital.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/16/archives/three-killed-in-british-guiana-as-racial-violence-flares-again.html|title=Three Killed in British Guiana As Racial Violence Flares Again|website=[[New York Times]]|date=June 16, 1964|access-date=July 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221103233749/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/16/archives/three-killed-in-british-guiana-as-racial-violence-flares-again.html|archive-date=November 3, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> Riots broke out on April 5; they were followed on April 18 by a general strike. By May 9, the governor was compelled to declare a state of emergency. Nevertheless, the strike and violence continued until July 7,<ref name="kourawat" /> when the Labour Relations Bill was allowed to lapse without being enacted. To bring an end to the disorder, the government agreed to consult with union representatives before introducing similar bills. These disturbances exacerbated tension and animosity between the two major ethnic communities and made a reconciliation between Jagan and Burnham, who had different political outlooks,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Premdas |first1=Ralph R. |date=1982 |title=Guyana: Changes in Ideology and Foreign Policy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20668810 |journal=[[World Affairs]] |volume=145 |issue=2 |pages=177–178 |jstor=20668810 |access-date=July 12, 2023}}</ref> an impossibility.

Jagan's term had not yet ended when another round of labor unrest rocked the colony. The pro-PPP GIWU, which had become an umbrella group of all labor organizations, called on sugar workers to strike in January 1964.<ref name="ucabrgy" /> To dramatize their case, Jagan led a march by sugar workers from the interior to Georgetown. This demonstration ignited outbursts of violence that soon escalated beyond the control of the authorities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Waters Jr. |first1=Robert Anthony |last2=Daniels |first2=Gordon Oliver |date=2010 |title=Striking for freedom? International intervention and the Guianese sugar workers' strike of 1964 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14682741003603102 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=537–569 |doi=10.1080/14682741003603102 |s2cid=154080206 |access-date=July 12, 2023}}</ref> On May 22, the governor finally declared another state of emergency. The situation continued to worsen, and in June the governor assumed full powers, rushed in British troops to restore order, and proclaimed a moratorium on all political activity. By the end of the turmoil, 160 people were dead and more than 1,000 homes had been destroyed.<ref name="bahgai2015" />

In an effort to quell the turmoil, the country's political parties asked the British government to modify the constitution to provide for more proportional representation. The colonial secretary proposed a fifty-three member unicameral legislature. Despite opposition from the ruling PPP, all reforms were implemented and new elections set for October 1964.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zeilig |first=Leo |date=2022 |title=A Revolutionary for Our Time: The Walter Rodney Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BccrEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT212 |location=Chicago |publisher=Haymarket Books |page=212 |isbn=978-1-64259-678-6}}</ref> As Jagan feared, the PPP lost the general elections of 1964.<ref name="pradosjimenez" /> The politics of ''aapan jaat'', [[Caribbean Hindustani#Guyanese Hindustani|Guyanese Hindustani]] for "vote for your own kind", were becoming entrenched in Guyana. The PPP won 46 percent of the vote and twenty-four seats, which made it the largest single party but short of an overall majority. However, the PNC, which won 40 percent of the vote and twenty-two seats, and the UF, which won 11 percent of the vote and seven seats, formed a coalition. The socialist PNC and unabashedly capitalist UF had joined forces to keep the PPP out of office for another term.<ref name="bulkan2021" /> Jagan called the election fraudulent and refused to resign as prime minister. The constitution was amended to allow the governor to remove Jagan from office.<ref name="bahgai2015" /><ref name="kourawat" />

Burnham became prime minister on December 14, 1964.<ref name="ucabrgy" /> Following this, the U.S. began a strong working relationship with the country. The U.S. later encouraged loans and economic assistance from the [[International Monetary Fund]] to limit Cuban and Soviet influence and promote the country's [[economic development]].<ref name="curry2022" /> Following his victory, Burham would retain a "firm grip" on the country until his death in 1985, which involved constitutional changes, elevating the PPP, tight media control, "state violence to suppress dissent," while those of Indian descent experienced systemic discrimination. The British and Americans believed he was a "lesser evil" as compared to Jagan, who was sidelined for "three decades" because he was described as a Marxist.<ref name="bahgai2015">{{cite web|last=Bahadur|first=Gaiutra|author-link=Gaiutra Bahadur|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/31/guyana-cia-meddling-race-riots-phantom-death-squad-ppp/|title=CIA Meddling, Race Riots, and a Phantom Death Squad|website=[[Foreign Policy (magazine)|Foreign Policy]]|date=July 31, 2015|access-date=July 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404155641/https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/31/guyana-cia-meddling-race-riots-phantom-death-squad-ppp/|archive-date=April 4, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> The U.S.-British effort, which began in 1953, to force Chagan out of office had been successful.{{sfn|Blum|2000|pp=133, 171, 296}} Some scholars described Burnham's victory as the beginning of a "long, repressive era" in the country's history.<ref name="bulkan2021" />