Guyana’s first socialist leader

Arthur Raymond Chung, 90, who helped usher in a socialist government as the first president of the South American Republic of Guyana, died Monday in the capital of Georgetown after an undisclosed illness, a government statement said.

Chung was appointed ceremonial head of state in 1970 when the Republic of Guyana, formerly British Guinea, ended its association with Britain.

A former high court judge, Chung served as president in Prime Minister Forbes Burnham’s administration until 1980, when Guyana’s constitution was changed to make the top political post into an executive job.

Chung, of Chinese ancestry, was born in Guyana in 1918.