Suriname, a tiny country on the northeast Atlantic coast of South America, just north of Brazil, has gained notoriety in global anti-terrorism circles in recent years, as new evidence continues to be revealed about the depths of corruption at the top levels of their government.
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In the latest development, Dino Bouterse, the son of the Suriname President, was arrested last month in Panama and just pled guilty in a United States federal court to drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and terrorism charges. Bouterse served as the head of Suriname’s counterterrorism unit, and as part of his plea deal, admitted that he offered assistance to undercover American agents who were pretending to be members of Hezbollah, the militant terrorist group based in Lebanon. The agents had told Bouterse that they were seeking to begin operations in Suriname, and he agreed to help them establish fake identities, even providing one operative a fake Surinamese passport. For two million dollars, He also agreed to help them obtain weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, that would be used in attacks on the United States and the Netherlands.
The drug charges and additional weapons charges arose from Bouterse’s promise to undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, who be believed to be representing a Mexican drug trafficking cartel, that he could help them smuggle drugs and obtain weapons in Suriname.
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