(Kaieteur News) – The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) is calling for legislation and policy reforms to guarantee transportation safety for all Guyanese, particularly Indigenous people in remote areas, as it stood in solidarity with survivors and families affected by the MV Barima disaster, which claimed over 70 lives.

APA Executive Director Jean La Rose made the call Wednesday morning during a peaceful picketing exercise outside the Office of the President on Vlissengen Road, organised by the APA and attended by roughly 100 people, including civil society groups, political parties, and relatives of victims. Demonstrators carried placards and chanted “Edghill and Indar Must Go” and “Indigenous Lives Matter.”

“The sinking of the MV Barima was not an unavoidable accident,” the APA said in a statement, adding that it exposed longstanding failures in the country’s river transportation system and reflected weak oversight and systemic neglect of hinterland and riverain communities.