Dear Editor,
When The Barbadian Prime Minister entertained The Venezuelan President wearing on the lapel of her coat the map of The Essequibo as a province of Venezuela, this was a clear sign of the hypocritical nature of Caricom.
In fact, I am emboldened to repeat that this is no new phenomenon as it has been the attitude of most of Caricom for decades now. Whenever matters pertaining to Guyana, political or otherwise, comes into focus, there has always been this gross ambivalence that pervades the region. There is no ambiguity in the 1899 Arbitral Award nor is there a shred of evidence to support Venezuela’s claim to The Essequibo, yet Caricom adopts a sit on the fence approach. The general chronic trait on these situations, has given Venezuela’s installed president the gall to walk around with Essequibo being part of a Venezuelan Map.
Delcy Rodriguez can display that arrogance on visits to Barbados as well as Grenada in full view of the community, because she knows she has Caricom’s backing on this issue. No one in either country has shown any repulsion at Delcy Rodriguez’s lapel posting, because they are giving her that tacit support, she desperately craves. And with good reason they have done this, because the lure of cheap oil from Venezuela has caused Caricom to sell their souls to the devil. Their indecisiveness has strengthened her case while we are left adrift.
Like I earlier stated, Caricom has always been like this when it comes to Guyana’s affairs, they would easily throw us under the bus whenever their own self-interest takes centre stage. Over the years we have grown immune to Caricom’s inability to stand on the part of truth and honesty, as again they’ve come to the table with unclean hands. We are all too familiar with their vacillating stance when you analyze past situations, a prime example is The Gleneagles Accord and The South African Cricket team’s visit to the region, Guyana was quite forthcoming with their interpretation of the accord, unlike their hypocritical, “Dutch-Axe” neighbours who came up with that twisted convolution of its interpretation; Guyana stood alone.
In academia we see their cowardly, saboteur self at work again, it can be recalled that the Lower 90’s, students from across The Caribbean were coming to The University of Guyana to be enlisted in Law Studies. This did not go down well in Caricom, because they, in typical undermining fashion deliberately set out to dissuade students from coming here. They told them that Guyana’s Law Program was substandard and they should desist from coming to Guyana. The students saw through them and did not heed their advice but kept enlisting for studies here. When Plan A did not work, they immediately produced a backup plan and in intimidatory language, told students that they will not grant them employment once they’ve earned a law degree in Guyana. This sealed the deal and students returned to their homeland. Well, Guyana’s Law School is back in the front burner, with the full programme being taught here, I doubt whether they would try that ruse again seeing Guyana has risen to prominence on the world stage, as well as a leading light in Caricom, however, we still need to stand vigilant against the wiles of our crafty neighbours.
Last, but by no means least, is the overarching political factor wherein Caricom has failed to represent my country when we needed it most. They failed us by not protecting our democracy. For decades Burnham rigged every election held here in direct violation of the democratic process. They kept silent while our human dignity was eroded; they turned The Nelson’s Eye to things Guyana. The silence was deafening until the truth was finally revealed in free and fair elections
a deafening silence pervaded the community as they stood and looked on. You see the genesis of I hasten to a close by repeating the caption, Caricom has been forever an on-the-fence hypocritical partner, where Guyana is concerned. It all stems from the fact that if their self-interest is not the main focus, to use a common slang, “To hell with Guyana.”