Ruben Rozendaal (21 September 1956 – 1 December 2017) was a

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

se soldier who was involved in the military coup of 1980 in Suriname and suspected in the

December murders The December murders (Dutch: ''Decembermoorden'') were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the military dictatorship then ruling Suriname. Thirteen of these men were arrested on De ...

Events

According to the statement of Fred Derby, union leader and the only survivor of the December murders, Rozendaal was one of the four soldiers who retrieved Derby from his home on the night of 7 to 8 December 1982. In 2012, Rozendaal said that in the 1980s and early 1990s,

Dési Bouterse Desiré Delano Bouterse (; 13 October 1945 – 23 December 2024De Ware Tijd‘Bouterse maandagavond overleden’ 27 december 2024 StarnieuwsAmbassades tekenen condoleanceregister in Ocer 27 december 2024 ) was a Surinamese military officer, poli ...

supplied the

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasan ...

of Colombia with weapons in exchange for cocaine. A leaked diplomatic cable from 2006 reported a possible connection between Bouterse and the FARC. Rozendaal mentioned that:

"I saw him at half past five in the morning on December 8. (...) He lied to us that a coup would take place, and the people therefore had to be picked up. I believed him then, but in retrospect it turns out not to be true. This was not a military action, just brutal and cowardly murder. The people were taken out of bed and to Fort Zeelandia and were treated like animals."

On 30 October 2017, Rozendaal was charged with 10 years for murder. On 1 December, Rozendaal committed suicide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rozendaal, Ruben 1956 births 2017 deaths People from Paramaribo Surinamese military personnel December murders Suicides in Suriname