After he left the Giuliani administration in 1995, Benschop worked in the Caribbean press and in public access television for a time before deciding to return to Guyana in late 1999 to marry his fiancée, now wife, Maria. They lived in the capital city, Georgetown, while waiting for her visa to enter the United States. Benschop said he got the idea to host a talk show on Guyana television. That show, "Straight Talk," debuted in 1999, the same year Bharrat Jagdeo was elected that nation's president for the first time. Jagdeo was reelected in 2006. Guyana had a turbulent political history even before gaining independence from the British in 1966. Animosity between the two largest political parties - the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP) and the People's National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) - has been augmented by racial issues: The PPP, the current ruling party, is composed primarily of Indo-Guyanese, descendants of East Indians brought to Guyana by the British as indentured servants, while the PNC constituency is mainly Afro-Guyanese, descendants of former slaves. Benschop said he worked hard to be fair to both sides. "I thought [Jagdeo] was a young president, and I should give him time to prove himself," he said. Benschop also criticized the PNC leadership, which he considered old and out of step with the country. "I'm a journalist," Benschop said. "I just wanted to do my job as a journalist." Benschop said he tried to use his show to expose "corruption in society ...
Keywords: mark, benschop, exclusive, interview, guyana, political, priosner, keisha, allen, zync, tv, new, york, linkz, town, hall, meeting, jail
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