Burnham's Divide and Rule Legacy | Guyana News

Guyana News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now! · Aug 17, 2026 · 1m

Forbes Burnham didn’t just navigate Guyana’s ethnic divisions—he weaponized them to build an iron-fisted regime. Far from a reluctant leader, he engineered a racially polarized political system, aligning his party with Afro-Guyanese voters while sidelining Indo-Guyanese rivals. His state became a tool for control, elections were rigged, and the constitution handed him unchecked power. Economic mismanagement, state nationalization, and soaring debt plunged the nation into crisis, all while repression silenced dissent. The state-orchestrated murder of Dr. Walter Rodney stands as a chilling…