Woman may head Guyana

Janet Jagan, a Chicago native who left her nursing career tobecome a key player in left-wing Guyanese politics, could be next inline to head the tiny South American nation.

News that Jagan, 76, could soon become Guyana's presidentsurprised her brother, James Rosenberg of Arlington Heights.

She's tired, "but somebody's got to carry on the work," saidRosenberg, 80. "The last time we talked, she said she wanted to takeher dog and cat and go back home (to her house in Georgetown,Guyana)."Jagan's husband, Cheddi Jagan, was Guyana's president when hedied March 6 of a heart attack. Now her party wants her to succeedhim.Janet Jagan was uniquely prepared for a political career inracially tense Guyana, a tiny former British colony on the Caribbeancoast of South America best known for the Jonestown mass suicide in1978.Asian Indians make up about half of Guyana's population; blacksaccount for about 30 percent.When Jagan eloped with her husband - the son of indenturedIndian immigrants - in 1943, her American father threatened to shoothim. And Cheddi Jagan's family was no more pleased with their son'schoice of a foreign-born bride.But the marriage endured for more than 53 years, and the couple,advocating a nationalistic brand of Marxism that later mellowed,stood on the political stage in Guyana several times.After her husband's death, Janet Jagan was chosen premier andhas been tabbed by the ruling People's Progressive Party to run forpresident in elections due by January. The opposition parties ofGuyana's minority blacks seem unlikely to mount a successfulchallenger, and the country's interim president has shown no interestin holding the job."It's not for me to decide," she said, while sitting on theveranda of the presidential home, State House. "It is for theparty."Janet Jagan endured three years of house arrest and five monthsin jail with her husband in the 1950s. British and Americanadministrations blocked Cheddi Jagan from power for decades, alarmedby his ties to Havana and Moscow.When he finally got to rule Guyana in 1992, he surprised many byintroducing capitalist reforms.Although a member of Parliament, his wife held no officialposition in his government at the time of his death other than rovingambassador. But many Guyanese, including members of her own party,say she was the real power.Janet Jagan was born Janet Rosenberg into a Jewish Chicagofamily. She attended Michigan State University before going tonursing school at Cook County Hospital. She met her husband while hewas studying dentistry at Northwestern University.She was appalled by the exploitation of Guyanese sugar workersand helped organize them into a political movement.James Rosenberg said he saw his sister about two years ago, whenshe visited him at the Arlington Heights retirement complex where helives."If you met her, she's just as common as an old shoe, but she'svery well read . . . and she has spoken to the United Nations."From an early age, Janet Rosenberg showed an independent streak,her brother said. "She soloed in an airplane before my father lether drive a car," Rosenberg said.Contributing: Associated Press