Dear Editor,
The office of the Policy Forum Guyana has been the object of vandalism for the third time. In this instance, the third time is not a charm, but three crimes in a row, whether penetration crossed the windowsill, or remained on the outside. Who are the intellectual authors behind these outrages? What is, could be, their objective? To intimidate by assault, or to silence by three warnings coming close on the heels of one another? Apart from democracy under siege, someone somewhere is sending a message. The power is all concentrated here, it will be exercised for whatever purpose, and there is no one who would, or could, stand in the way, stop for long.
The national law enforcement apparatus, the Guyana Police Force (GPF), has been terse. The private security agency is, I think, yielding to the primacy of the GPF, content to follow its lead. Time will tell if there is a fourth invasion, if only to leave no doubt that serious people have serious business in mind. Where will the GPF be, charging up afterwards, and conducting the usual mopping up ops? Not much of anything else has been reported so far. One would think that in a country so consumed by security, and an environment so laced with covert human assets that the PFG premises had to come in for some extra surveillance, given the repeated assaults directed there. Extra surveillance as a show of subtle strength. As a hoped for deterrent. As an attempt to get to the bottom of the PFG mysteries that are really not mysteries. I think that if the people in charge truly wanted to remove this menace haunting and taunting the existence of PFG, it would have been history now.
Apart from the trials of PFG, there is another consideration. If this is that group’s plight, targeted so easily, and escaped from so effortlessly, then I shudder in horror to think of some stray Spanish speaking gangs running around with the greatest latitude and all kinds of mayhem on their minds. If a bat-eared and catfooted intruder, or a set of them, can enter and exit from PFG’s home so fearlessly and cleanly, what is it that they have going for them that grants that kind of immunity? Who is it that stands in the shadows, as their staunch protector, and can guarantee getting officials off their backs, so that there is neither fear of capture, nor concern about consequences? Whoever these night prowlers are, they are not any ordinary drugstore variety operators, that’s for sure. In fact, the third tampering occurred in broad daylight, as if the previous cat-and-mouse games are over, as if to confirm arrogance.
As PFG has made clear, this is not some random development by a streetwalker or someone who has lost their senses. It is deliberate and points in one direction and at a certain height. There is more power in hand now, and now there isn’t even any interest in nuance.
Foreign groups are attacked for sharing their insights, locals found offensive and too much in the way are singled out for special attention. The swagger is glaring and alarming. Whatever has to be done will be done, and to hell with the collateral damage, and the appearance of sanctioned lawlessness. There is always the constitution to be interpreted to suit the caprices of men now out of control. Plus, that old reliable gold standard, democracy, that retains some glam, whether piloted by tyrants, despots, misfits, demagogues, or the plain deranged. Say one thing, do another. PFG besieged. There could be more to come, and directed not only at PFG.