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Former Suriname President Chan Santokhi has died at the age of 67, the government announced on Monday.
Santokhi, who served as president from 2020 to 2025, was a former police officer and justice minister before rising to lead the Dutch-speaking South American nation.
Authorities did not disclose the cause of death, but local media reported that he fell ill at home and was later taken to the hospital, where he passed away.
In a statement, the government extended its condolences to his family, friends, and all those affected by his death.
“The government expresses its deepest sympathies to the bereaved, relatives, friends, fellow believers and all those affected by this loss,” it said.
Born in the Wanica district near the capital, Paramaribo, Santokhi studied in the Netherlands before returning to Suriname in 1982, where he initially served under the military regime of Desi Bouterse.
He later played a key role in investigating the 1982 killings of political opponents, a case that involved lawyers, journalists, businessmen, and military detainees executed shortly after Bouterse seized power.
Bouterse was eventually sentenced in 2023 to 20 years in prison over the killings but went into hiding before his death in December 2024.
Suriname, a former Dutch colony with a population of about 600,000, continues to face economic challenges, though it is hoping to benefit from increasing oil resources.
