Guyana is a parliamentary republic in which the President of Guyana is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President,advised by a cabinet. Legislative power is vested in both the President and the National Assembly of Guyana. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
James Earl Carter Jr. is an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party,Carter was the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975,and a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967. At age 99,he is both the oldest living former U.S. president and the longest-lived president in U.S. history.
The history of Guyana begins about 35,000 years ago with the arrival of humans coming from Eurasia. These migrants became the Carib and Arawak tribes,who met Alonso de Ojeda's first expedition from Spain in 1499 at the Essequibo River. In the ensuing colonial era,Guyana's government was defined by the successive policies of the French,Dutch,and British settlers. During the colonial period,Guyana's economy was focused on plantation agriculture,which initially depended on slave labor. Guyana saw major slave rebellions in 1763 and 1823. Following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833,800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa were freed,resulting in plantations contracting indentured workers,mainly from India. Eventually,these Indians joined forces with Afro-Guyanese descendants of slaves to demand equal rights in government and society. After the Second World War,the British Empire pursued policy decolonization of its overseas territories,with independence granted to British Guiana on May 26,1966. Following independence,Forbes Burnham rose to power,quickly becoming an authoritarian leader,pledging to bring socialism to Guyana. His power began to weaken following international attention brought to Guyana in wake of the Jonestown mass murder suicide in 1978.
Andreas Antonius Maria "Dries" van Agt was a Dutch politician,jurist and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 19 December 1977 until 4 November 1982. He was a prominent leader of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later its successor party,the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
The Indian National Congress (INC),colloquially the Congress Party or simply the Congress,is a political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885,it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th century,and especially after 1920,under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi,the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. The Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom,and significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.
British Guiana was a British colony,part of the mainland British West Indies,which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana.
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his long career in politics,he held many important posts in government such as Chief Minister of Bombay State,Home Minister,Finance Minister and 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of India.
Cheddi Bharat Jagan was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 1992 to his death in 1997. In 1953,he became the first Hindu and person of Indian descent to be a head of government outside of the Indian subcontinent.
The Janata Party abbreviated JP,lit. People's Party) is an unrecognized political party in India. It was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. In the 1977 general election,the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.
Janet Rosenberg Jagan was an American-born Guyanese politician who served as the President of Guyana,serving from December 19,1997,to August 11,1999. She was the first female president of Guyana. She previously served as the first female Prime Minister of Guyana from March 17,1997,to December 19,1997. The wife of Cheddi Jagan,whom she succeeded as president,she was awarded Guyana's highest national award,the Order of Excellence,in 1993,and the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Gold Medal for Women's Rights in 1998.
Hugh Desmond Hoyte was a Guyanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Guyana from 1984 to 1985 and President of Guyana from 1985 until 1992.
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Premier of British Guiana from 1964 to 1966,Prime Minister of Guyana from 1964 to 1980 and then as the first Executive President of Guyana from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a strongman who embraced his own version of socialism.
Robert M. "Bob" Shrum is the director of the Center for the Political Future and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at the University of Southern California,where he is a professor of political science in the Dornsife College of Letters,Arts and Sciences. He is a former American political consultant,who has worked on numerous Democratic campaigns,including as senior advisor to the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004 and to the Gore-Lieberman campaign in 2000. Shrum wrote the famous speech Ted Kennedy gave at the 1980 Democratic National Convention conceding to and supporting President Jimmy Carter. He has been described as "the most sought-after consultant in the Democratic Party." Shrum served as speechwriter to New York Mayor John V. Lindsay from 1970 to 1971,speechwriter to Senator George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign and speechwriter and press secretary to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1980 to 1984 and political consultant until 2009.
Martin Wylde Carter was a Guyanese poet and political activist. Widely regarded as the greatest Guyanese poet,and one of the most important poets of the Caribbean region,Carter is best known for his poems of protest,resistance and revolution. He played an active role in Guyanese politics,particularly in the years leading up Independence in 1966 and those immediately following. He was famously imprisoned by the British government in Guyana in October 1953 under allegations of "spreading dissension",and again in June 1954 for taking part in a People's Progressive Party (PPP) procession. Shortly after being released from prison the first time,he published his best-known poetry collection,Poems of Resistance from British Guiana (1954).
Siddhartha Shankar Ray was an Indian lawyer,diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices,including Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77),Union Minister of Education (1971–72),Governor of Punjab (1986–89) and Indian Ambassador to the United States (1992–96). He was,at one point,the main troubleshooter for the Congress Party.
David Arthur Granger is a Guyanese former politician and retired military officer who served as the ninth president of Guyana from 2015 to 2020. A member of the People’s National Congress (PNC),he previously served as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and as National Security Adviser from 1990 to 1992. He was leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Guyana from 2012 to 2015.
Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana is a Sri Lankan politician,former diplomat and local government activist. He is most known for the pivotal and important role he played in bringing about an end to the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Good and Green Guyana (GGG) was a political party in Guyana.
The post-presidency of Jimmy Carter began on January 20,1981,following the end of Jimmy Carter's term as president. Carter was the 39th president of the United States,serving from 1977 to 1981. Carter's post-presidency is widely considered by historians and political analysts to be one of the most accomplished of any former U.S. president. After leaving office,Carter remained engaged in political and social projects,establishing the Carter Center,building his presidential library,teaching at Emory University in Atlanta,and writing numerous books,ranging from political memoirs to poetry. He also contributed to the expansion of the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity.
Mohamed Irfaan Ali is a Guyanese politician serving as the tenth and current president of Guyana since 2020. A member of the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C),he previously served as the minister of Housing and Water from 2009 to 2015. He is the first Muslim to hold office,and is the third Muslim head of state in the Americas after Noor Hassanali of Trinidad and Tobago and Carlos Saul Menem of Argentina.
