uriname's National Party) as Prime Minister. Nearly one-third of the population of Suriname at that time emigrated to the Netherlands in the years leading up to independence, as many people feared that the new country would fare worse under independence than it did as an overseas colony of the Netherlands, what in fact had happened. Suriname's diaspora therefore includes more than a quarter of a million people of Suriname origin living in the Netherlands today, including several recent members of the Dutch national football team.
December killings
On 25 February 1980, a military coup overthrew the democratic government and declared a socialist republic. On 8 December 1982, the military, then under the leadership of Dési Bouterse, rounded up 15 prominent citizens, who criticized the then military dictatorship in Suriname, between 2am and 5am from their beds, and brought them to Fort Zeelandia. They were executed during the night, and the Netherlands quickly suspended all foreign aid to Suriname after this event. Bouterse is currently being tried for the murders, but the Suriname parliament has passed a law that grants Bouterse amnesty for ther alleged violations. The Dutch government has stated that stopping the trial would be "totally unacceptable". Bouterse also has been convicted in absentia in the Netherlands for drug smuggling. Elections were held in 1987 and a new constitution was adopted, which among other things allowed Bouterse to remain in charge of the army. Dissatisfied with the government, Bouterse summarily dismissed them in 1990, by telephone. This event became popularly known as "the telephone coup". Bouterse's power began to wane after the 1991 elections however, and an ongoing brutal civil war between the Suriname army and the Maroons that had begun in 1986, loyal to the rebel leader Ronnie Brunswijk, further weakened his position during the 1990s.
Seeing the deterioration of the situation, Aruba, the Netherlands
