Bring back Barima

What this source establishes

A signed opinion column, carrying the newspaper's disclaimer, arguing that the vessel must be raised — that the explanations about cost and salvageability keep shifting, and that leaving the wreck below means leaving a crime scene untouched. Recorded as comment. Its casualty figure of 100 is a round approximation against the 73 recovered and about 30 unaccounted for that this archive carries, and its characterisation of the sinking as a crime is the author's alone.

Key claims

• A signed opinion column carrying the newspaper's disclaimer: "(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)".
• Its argument is that the vessel must be raised, that the sinking was not an accident but the result of overloading and a decrepit vessel, that government explanations about salvageability and cost keep shifting, and that leaving the wreck submerged means "leaving a crime scene untouched".
• Verbatim: "When the MV Barima went down it took more than those unfortunate Guyanese, who are never going home again." And: "Float the boat, I cry. Because what happened to the MV Barima and those luckless citizens trapped in that sardine can of a sampan was more than a tragedy. It was a crime."
• **[CONTESTED] He uses a figure of 100 dead.** This archive's figure of record is 73 recovered with about 30 unaccounted for, a sum of about 103; a round 100 is a columnist's approximation and is not adopted.
• **This is comment and is recorded as comment.** The characterisation of the sinking as a crime is the author's; three men are charged and untried and nothing in this record bears on their guilt or innocence. He names no individual official.

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