A New Boss

At last the British had no choice but to take control of their race-torn little South American colony. After five months of continued violence between 295,000 East Indians, led by Marxist Premier Cheddi Jagan, and 190,000 Jagan-hating Negroes, Britain's Governor Sir Richard Luyt announced that he was assuming emergency power in British Guiana to prevent further bloodshed. He also ordered the arrest and detention of 35 leading troublemakers--all but two of them members of lagan's People's Progressive Party. Temporarily at least, Cheddi Jagan and his Communism-spouting wife Janet were out of business.

In the most recent clashes between the races, 15 have been killed and scores injured. The worst horror was played out in the Georgetown capital when terrorists fire-bombed the home of a mulatto anti-Jagan civil servant, killing him and seven of his children. On radio next day, Governor Luyt (pronounced late) reported that Jagan and his ministers had refused to impose curfews, refused to permit military searches for terrorists, and had not muzzled race-baiting radio broadcasts. Said the Governor: The security force of 1,200 British troops, 600 "volunteer" troops and 1,600 local police "will be firm. They will also be fair. The position now is that the Governor and not the ministers will handle the emergency."

Some of Jagan's opponents welcomed Luyt's action as "the only one that can prevent the country from falling into a final stage of anarchy." Predictably, Jagan cried imperialism and condemned it as "a dark mark on Britain's all-dirty record as a colonial power." His followers warned that he might call for countrywide civil disobedience. If he does, Jagan himself is almost certain to land in jail.

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