Radio War Nerd EP #433 — America's Dirty War On Guyana, feat. Stephen Rabe
Guest: Stephen Rabe, historian
Recorded: March 18, 2024
We talk to historian Stephen Rabe to recover the lost history of how the CIA wage a dirty war in Guyana, using US labor unions to pit the country's blacks against Indians, wrecking the country for decades to make sure that its popular leftist politician, Cheddi Jagan, was kept out of power.
Buy Stephen Rabe's book U.S. Intervention in Guiana. Also check out his latest bestseller, The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy.
*Music break by Brendon Anderegg (check out his group Mountains here).
Images:
*Map
*Cheddi & Janet Jagan
*Cheddi and Janet Jagan, 1992 after winning Guyana's presidency
*Cheddi Jagan meeting with JFK, 1961. After the meeting, JFK ordered the CIA to destroy Jagan and Guyana.
*JFK's plan put into action
*First reports leak to New York Times of CIA using US labor unions to stoke Guyana's race riots
*Forbes Burnham and his benefactor
*Comrade Leader Forbes Burnham (right), and Rev. Jim Jones (left)
*Forbes Burnham's tomb
Total time: 1:30:14
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Comments (35)
The worst disaster since Soviets invaded Hungary? I guess that's why he publishes a lot of books here.
i gotta say when i listened to this episode i didnt come away with much respect for Cheddy. the guy sounds like a naive mark that lacked any kind of political skill outside of left liberal populism.
Great episode.
AFL-CIA
Really fantastic episode. Great guest.
Why does Rabe keep saying it's sexist to believe that Cheddi was controlled by Janet? Racist, maybe, but sexist?
trope of the controlling schemeing wife i suppose?
My main knowledge about Guyana before this episode is that it's part of the West Indian cricket federation, most recently contributing the exciting new fast bowling talent of Shamar Joseph to the Windies' Test cricket side
Terrific episode. Please change the inaccurate map you've got in this post though! Those are not the current borders
changed, thanks
Great ep. Sounds like more antagonistic make-work for the CIA
This was a great episode, interesting guest
With the German scenario planning zoom call not clicking on the encryption button, I think they wanted to be fired. Conor McGregor used to be gay thats why needed the trt. Heard it here first trt fixes it.
lol I thought you called yourself “the ghost” for years
For my first few episodes I thought Mark was saying "I'm the coast". This was confusing. :) Another great topic and excellent guest.
Space Cohost from Ghost to Coast 🤷♀️
Great episode, I listened to it twice. Its got me really interested in what Venezuelas perspective is on their land claim. I’d like to hear analysis from Ben Norton or Max Blumenthal, but they don’t really cover Venezuela anymore.
> episode about imperialism in guyana > posts propaganda map showing half of guyana gobbled up by venezuela
fixed that, I blame venezuelan active measures
We need a Haiti ep
posting today! the customer is always right!
But I thought JFK wanted to end the Cold War?!?!?!?!
Still an imperialist
Listeners who have read the book—does it go into Jonestown at all? I guess that topic is outside of the scope of US influence in the region
✋but sir I lament the collapse of the Soviet Empire!
I think he meant no east europeans lament it, though I'm not sure that's entirely true, at least not from the polling in the 1990s that I recall (a significant minority of olds lamented the collapse of socialism)
This isn’t a new observation at all, but It’s so grim to learn that during the Cold War all these global attempts to build center-left governments just get crushed underneath the weight of US+NATO and the USSR (much more NATO).
The co-host to the post!
Great episode! Didn't appreciate the guests habit of jumping in while you guys were mid sentence but nonetheless he was a pleasure to hear from.
“I need fake votes to save democracy!”
I think the American innovation to world hegemony was that unlike britian, it didn’t need to do traditional land grabs and claim lands, if there were countries that could be controlled by corporate interests instead. If Exxon can control the government of Guyana there’s no need to take control of the land
Though I think Britain started in that direction in Latin America, or I'm drawing too much from the movie Burn!/Quemada
I've been waiting for my war nerd fix, this looks like a good one.
Please play this for the eclipse https://youtu.be/9JXlYnzeNaY?si=24p6R5iaTEDO1OML
Man I was getting worried. Can’t wait to listen!