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Nov 14, 2026 News
(Kaieteur News) – Chinese Landing Toshao Nikita Miller, who has the powers of a rural constable, has been charged with threatening language and damage to property. Toshao Miller, three residents, and approximately six others were escorted to the Acquero Police Station in Santa Rosa Friday evening and subsequently charged, an escalation following a bloody Thursday night confrontation over mining operations in Region One.
The police escort comes in the wake of conflicting accounts between Indigenous leaders, rights advocates, and mining operators regarding what transpired on Thursday, November 12, at Chinese Landing, Tassawini, and nearby Kariako Village. Both sides have traded accusations involving live gunfire, a cutlass attack that nearly severed a worker’s arm, gunpoint equipment seizures, and the hijacking of village transportation.
查看配图：Toshao, residents escorted to Acquero Police Station after violent Chinese Landing clash
Rylon Adolphus
On Thursday evening, Kaieteur News reported that five armed illegal miners allegedly launched a violent attack on residents of Chinese Landing and Tassawini, directly targeting Toshao Miller and members of her team. According to the community’s account, the attackers fired live ammunition, assaulted villagers, and seized village transportation after community leaders blocked the unauthorised entry of heavy machinery into their territory.
The attack was allegedly led by Rylon Adolphus, also known as Isaac, and his crew, who had previously been banned from the area. Toshao Miller confirmed that the Village Council had intercepted Adolphus and turned him and his equipment back earlier in the day, triggering the alleged retaliation. While Kaieteur News understands that the toshao and her team later had their seized items returned, villagers described a terrifying ordeal in which residents were chased, wounded by live ammunition, and forced to flee for safety, while attackers allegedly seized personal mobile phones to disrupt emergency communications and hijacked an all-terrain vehicle.
“I thought my brother got shot, but he hide away in the bush,” one resident recounted of the frightening episode. Another villager described how a relative intervened after the attackers began beating a resident, stating, “My brother chop him since they were beating me.”
Following the clash, Toshao Miller contacted Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat regarding the persistent threats posed by illegal miners, with Bharrat reportedly confirming that the matter had been referred to the police. However, residents maintained that similar referrals over the years have failed to prevent incursions and violence on their legally titled lands, noting that an illegal excavator was still observed clearing a trail near the airstrip as villagers seized equipment from the miner and his team. Frustration within the community has deepened following months of unfulfilled engagements with senior government officials, including a dedicated meeting with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, publicly promised to Miller during this year’s National Toshaos Council, that never materialised.
查看配图：Toshao, residents escorted to Acquero Police Station after violent Chinese Landing clash
Toshao of Chinese Landing Nikita Miller, previously when the village council held a 7 day standoff against the miners as they wanted to take more machines into their titled lands
Indigenous leaders and advocacy groups swiftly condemned the violence and demanded immediate state action. In a video statement, Toshao for Kamarang Warawatta Alma Marshall, speaking as leader for the Upper Mahjong District Council, called on the government to address the crisis urgently. “We stand in support with our brothers and sisters of Chinese land,” Marshall said. “It is heartbreaking to see what is happening to our people and it is a cry to the government of Guyana to remedy the situation urgently. The problem there has to be solved. Every government is standing at international forums to say that the indigenous people’s development is the center of development. This is not the truth that they are preaching at the international level. If we are the people that they care for, whatever is happening at Chinese Landing with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, this must be addressed immediately.”
The Amerindian Peoples Association also issued a strongly worded statement standing in unwavering solidarity with Chinese Landing Village and condemning what it described as brutal and reprehensible attacks perpetrated by miners acting on behalf of Wayne Vieira, whose mining concessions the community was seeking to block from bringing in heavy machinery. “These acts of aggression and violence are outrageous, unacceptable, and represent a direct assault on the safety, dignity, and fundamental rights of our Indigenous Peoples,” the association declared. “The situation in Chinese Landing has reached a dangerous and intolerable point, powered by the Government of Guyana’s persistent failure to protect the community and uphold its rights. Rather than fulfilling its constitutional duty to safeguard Indigenous Peoples and their ancestral lands, the Government appears more concerned with protecting the interests of a miner determined to seize control of the community’s territory. This blatant disregard for Indigenous rights, coupled with continued inaction in the face of escalating threats and violence, is indefensible and demands immediate intervention, accountability, and decisive action.”
Detailing the physical toll on the village leader, the association continued, “On Thursday night, we saw an escalation of years of intimidation that resulted in the physical assault on Toshao Miller and her residents. It is deeply traumatising to know that a village leader can be dragged through the mud, have her clothes torn, her cellphone and firearm taken away, and be assaulted by miners all while trying to protect her community.” The organisation called on Minister of Amerindian Affairs Sarah Browne-Shadeek to lead a high-level team comprising the Minister of Home Affairs, the Minister of Natural Resources, the Guyana Police Force, and other relevant parties to Chinese Landing to listen to residents and provide permanent solutions. It further urged the government to “stop hiding behind the veil of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling on the Chinese Landing issue,” noting that the ruling concerned the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission’s power to enforce a cease-work order under the Amerindian Act, while challenging the National Toshaos Council, which it noted parades itself as “the only legitimate representative body of Indigenous Peoples in Guyana”, to visit Chinese Landing and translate words into action.
Landing’s boundary. Travis alleged that the group lashed the excavator and pulled open the door while the toshao pointed a gun at him, saying, “Yesterday I went pushing the road coming through to the land from Kariako Landing, the captain and about 10, 15 a dem, the captain had a gun and she brother had a cutlass and dem reach we up and dem start lash up the excavator.” He added, “She brother pull open the door and she hold the gun to me and tell me turn back the fu—— machine.”
Travis said he complied out of fear, explaining, “I turn back the excavator, I ain’t even get to pick up meh diesel. I left it right in the bush there and the engine”. According to Travis, when he reached the Barama River outside Chinese Landing’s boundary and attempted to lock up the machine, he pleaded, “I seh Mistress if y’all could hold on lil bit, the owner dem coming for this excavator,” before Miller allegedly pointed the weapon at him again. “She put the gun to meh face and she push she hand in ma pocket collect the excavator key and she gone with the excavator,” Travis told Kaieteur News.
Based on photographs seen by Kaieteur News, Perry sustained a chop wound to the side of his neck and his left arm was nearly severed. Adolphus further alleged that an elderly villager he identified as “Crème” tried to attack them with a bow and arrow, referred to as a “Lance”, before other workers wrestled the man to the ground, claiming the elderly villager must have injured his head when he fell during the scuffle. Denying that his crew fired any shots during the confrontation, Adolphus stated that while his all-terrain vehicle remains in the village’s possession, he holds two village bikes at his camp and will hand them over only when his vehicle is returned.
Accusing the toshao of previously seizing a power saw from him, Adolphus remarked, “Nikita Is a bully yuh know,” arguing that only the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission or a court order holds the legal authority to seize mining equipment. He maintained he was not trespassing on Chinese Landing’s property because the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled that “Mr. Veira” is the rightful owner of the gold lands. Adolphus confirmed he filed a police report, had Perry airlifted to Georgetown via helicopter on Friday morning for medical treatment, and intends to hand over Miller’s confiscated firearm to police investigators.
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