Peace Without Poison

French GuyanaFrench Guyana began covert depopulation measures in 1968 and by 1977 the total fertility ratehad declined from 5 to 3.3 children per woman at which point the local authorities, led byPresident Serge Patient (1974-1980), broke rank with France and allowed fertility to return tonormal. His successors, Jaques Lony (1980-1982) and Georges Othily (1982-1992), also refusedto poison their people and by 1992 fertility had rebounded to 4 children per woman. This showsthat even though French Guyana is a French Department and is therefore governed from Francethe local government has a great deal of autonomy with respect to population control.French Guyana resumed covert depopulation measures in 1993, shortly after Antoine Karam(1992-2010) became President of the Regional Counsel, and has continued them, at a slowerpace however, under the current President of the Regional Counsel, Rodolphe Alexandre (sinceMarch 2010). The total fertility rate is currently at 3 children per woman.French Guyana is in stage three of the demographic transition.974 | P a g e