'Indigenous people have suffered under 'broken' transport system for decades' – APA's Executive Director

What this source establishes

This closes the archive's flagged gap: the APA picket of 29 July, previously recorded ONLY from two social-media posts, is now carried in the domestic press. The picket took place "Wednesday morning" (29 July) outside the Office of the President on Vlissengen Road and was "attended by roughly 100 people, including civil society groups, political parties, and relatives of victims." Chants: "Edghill and Indar Must Go" and "Indigenous Lives Matter."

Key claims

• This closes the archive's flagged gap: the APA picket of 29 July, previously recorded ONLY from two social-media posts, is now carried in the domestic press.
• The picket took place "Wednesday morning" (29 July) outside the Office of the President on Vlissengen Road and was "attended by roughly 100 people, including civil society groups, political parties, and relatives of victims." Chants: "Edghill and Indar Must Go" and "Indigenous Lives Matter."
• APA statement: "The sinking of the MV Barima was not an unavoidable accident" — it "exposed longstanding failures in the country's river transportation system and reflected weak oversight and systemic neglect of hinterland and riverain communities."
• [SINGLE SOURCE — bears directly on the COI's legitimacy] "La Rose said the APA has been pushing for a Commission of Inquiry since the tragedy, but was not consulted on its terms of reference or the selection of commissioners, a gap she said undermines confidence that the process will be impartial."
• Jean La Rose: "Whether it is by air, we have leaking planes, whether it is by boat we have leaking boats, whether it is by roads, we have poor roads."
• La Rose on Edghill's resignation: it is needed "So that people are not intimidated, so that people are truly represented and people's voices are heard."
• APA Policy and Advocacy Coordinator Nicholas Peters cautions against blaming the accused: "I am not denying that there was some misconduct, but it is also another example of systems that are failing" — recorded as comment, not as a finding about the accused.
• A relative of victims Neil and Kenrick Cort "questioned the length of time it took rescue teams to reach the scene after the distress call." Toll given as 73 confirmed dead, at least 30 missing.

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