August 8, 1999, Seattle Times - AP, Guyana Losing U.S.-Born Leader, by Urrell Wilkinson,

August 8, 1999, Seattle Times - AP, Guyana Losing U.S.-Born Leader, by Urrell Wilkinson, 

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Saying she can no longer offer "vigorous, strong leadership," Guyana's ailing U.S.-born president announced yesterday she will resign and hand over power to the South American country's 35-year-old finance minister, Bharrat Jagdeo.

Jagan, 78, whose term in office has been marked by opposition protests, was hospitalized last month in the United States after a mild heart attack.

The succession will usher in a dramatic generational change in the English-speaking country. And it drew an immediate protest from the opposition People's National Congress.

Opposition leader Desmond Hoyte said last night that his group won't recognize Jagdeo's administration because it believes it was cheated in December 1997 elections won by Jagan's party.

International observers judged Jagan's 1997 victory to be fair.

Jagan, a former Marxist and Guyana's first female leader, did not say when she would step down, although state-owned Guyana Television reported that Jagdeo would be sworn in as president on Wednesday.

Jagan's term was to run to 2001.

The Chicago-born Jagan has lived in the former British Guiana, on the Caribbean in northern South America, since 1943 and was elected president in December 1997, succeeding her husband, Cheddi Jagan, who died earlier that year.

She was the first white president in a country whose politics are polarized between its majority Guyanese of Indian descent - the backbone of her ruling party - and Afro-Guyanese, supporters of the opposition People's National Congress.

That polarization made for a tumultuous presidency.

The Hoyte-led opposition has accused Jagan's government of racism and took to the streets in sometimes-violent protest.

Jagan, in turn, has claimed Hoyte's party was trying to destabilize her government. She has accused Hoyte of reneging on a peace accord brokered by the Guyana-based Caribbean Community trade bloc.