Editing Walter Rodney (section)

== Death ==
On 13 June 1980, Rodney was killed in Georgetown, at the age of 38, by an explosive communication device in his car, a month after he returned from celebrations of [[History of Zimbabwe#Independence and the 1980s|independence in Zimbabwe]] at a time of intense political activism. He was survived by his wife, Patricia, and three children. His brother, Donald Rodney, who was injured in the explosion, said that a sergeant in the [[Guyana Defence Force]] and a member of the [[House of Israel (Guyana)|House of Israel]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2014/04/30/news/guyana/house-israel-hit-squad-rodneys-brother/ |last=Stabroek News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123185614/https://www.stabroeknews.com/2014/04/30/news/guyana/house-israel-hit-squad-rodneys-brother/ |archive-date=23 November 2021 |title=House of Israel was hit squad – Rodney's brother|website=Stabroek News|access-date=23 November 2021|date=30 April 2014}}</ref> named Gregory Smith, had given Walter the explosive that killed him. After the killing, Smith fled to [[French Guiana]], where he died in 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.workers.org/2016/02/24183/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510135241/https://www.workers.org/2016/02/24183/ |archive-date=10 May 2021 |title=Guyana commission confirms Burnham gov't murdered Walter Rodney |first= Abayomi|last=Azikiwe|website=Worker's World|date=28 February 2016|access-date=23 November 2021}}</ref>

"I found Rodney to be a deeply intelligent and compassionate man, with a hatred of bloodshed but a deep and growing fear that violence and civil war might be the inevitable consequence of Burnham's determination to hold on to power by all available means" (1979) Sam Silkin, former UK Attorney General.

=== Aftermath ===
It is widely believed, but not proven, that the assassination was set up by Guyana's president, (Guyanese Government was found liable for Rodney’s death in 2017 by Commission of Inquiry) [[Linden Forbes Burnham]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Walter Rodney Biography |publisher=The [[Grenada Revolution]] Online |url=http://www.thegrenadarevolutiononline.com/rodney.html |website=www.thegrenadarevolutiononline.com |access-date=23 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213222153/https://www.thegrenadarevolutiononline.com/rodney.html |archive-date=13 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=THE GRAND BETRAYALS OF WALTER RODNEY |url=https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/06/16/the-grand-betrayals-of-walter-rodney/ |access-date=23 November 2021 |work=Kaieteur News |date=16 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401191506/https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/06/16/the-grand-betrayals-of-walter-rodney/ |archive-date=1 April 2019}}</ref> Rodney believed that the various ethnic groups historically disenfranchised by the ruling colonial class should work together, a position that challenged Burnham's hold on power.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gregory Smith dead |url=http://www.landofsixpeoples.com/news022/ns211247.htm |website=www.landofsixpeoples.com |access-date=23 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214115013/http://www.landofsixpeoples.com/news022/ns211247.htm |archive-date=14 December 2018|date=24 November 2002}}</ref>

In 2014,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/human-rights/2020-06-13/the-walter-rodney-murder-mystery-in-guyana-40-years-later |title=The Walter Rodney Murder Mystery in Guyana 40 Years Later|website=National Security Archive|date=2020|access-date=23 November 2021}}</ref> a Commission of Inquiry (COI) was held during which a new witness, Holland Gregory Yearwood, came forward claiming to be a long-standing friend of Rodney and a former member of the WPA. Yearwood testified that Rodney presented detonators to him weeks prior to the explosion asking for assistance in assembling a bomb.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://guyanachronicle.com/rodney-hearing-takes-dramatic-twist-new-witness-tells-of-attempted-cover-up-of-smiths-role-how-roopnaraine-kwayana-distorted-the-truth/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225014347/http://guyanachronicle.com/rodney-hearing-takes-dramatic-twist-new-witness-tells-of-attempted-cover-up-of-smiths-role-how-roopnaraine-kwayana-distorted-the-truth/ |archive-date=25 February 2015 |work=Guyana Chronicle| title= Rodney hearing takes dramatic twist. New witness tells of attempted cover up|first= Gary|last=Eleazar|date=17 February 2015}}</ref> Yet the same Commission of Inquiry (COI) concluded in their report that Rodney's death was a state-ordered killing, and that then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham must have had knowledge of the plot.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2016/02/20/news/guyana/rodney-victim-state-organised-killing-pm-burnham-known-coi-finds/|last=Stabroek News|title=Rodney was victim of state-organised killing, PM Burnham had to have known –CoI finds|website=Stabroek News|date=20 February 2016|access-date=13 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite Q|Q106716611}}</ref>

Donald Rodney, Walter's brother, was in the car with him during the time of the assassination, and was convicted in 1982 of possessing explosives in connection with the incident that killed his brother. On 14 April 2021, the Guyana Court of Appeals overturned this judgment and Donald's sentence, exonerating him after forty years in which he contested his conviction.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Stabroek News|date=14 April 2021|title=Appeal Court sets aside Donald Rodney's conviction, sentencing|website=Stabroek News|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2021/04/14/news/guyana/appeal-court-sets-aside-donald-rodneys-conviction-sentencing/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Chabrol|website=Demerara Waves|first=Dennis|date=14 April 2021|title=BREAKING: Guyana Court of Appeal sets aside explosives conviction, sentence of Donald Rodney|url=https://demerarawaves.com/2021/04/13/breaking-guyana-court-of-appeal-sets-aside-explosives-conviction-sentence-of-donald-rodney/|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509171919/https://demerarawaves.com/2021/04/13/breaking-guyana-court-of-appeal-sets-aside-explosives-conviction-sentence-of-donald-rodney/| archive-date=9 May 2021}}</ref>

On 9 August 2021, the [[National Assembly of Guyana]] voted to adopt "Resolution No. 23" to implement the 2016 findings of "The Commission of Inquiry Appointed to Enquire and Report on the Circumstances Surrounding the Death in An Explosion of the Late Dr. Walter Rodney on Thirteenth Day of June, One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Eighty at Georgetown".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://parliament.gov.gy/new2/documents/resolutions/22861-resolution_no._23_of_2021_-_adoption_and_implementation_of_the_report_of_the_coi_death_of_walter_rodney.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115194243/http://parliament.gov.gy/new2/documents/resolutions/22861-resolution_no._23_of_2021_-_adoption_and_implementation_of_the_report_of_the_coi_death_of_walter_rodney.pdf |archive-date=15 November 2021 |title=RESOLUTION NO. 23 |publisher=National Assembly of Guyana|date=9 August 2021|access-date=15 November 2021}}</ref>