Dear Editor,
I refer to the Stabroek News editorial captioned “National narcosis” (07.03.07) dealing with the annual United States International Narcotics Control Strategy Report and the quote “Guyana is a transshipment point for South American cocaine on its way to North America and Europe”.
The editorial claims, among other things, that “Nasty reports like this year’s have been in the making for a decade but could have been forestalled long ago.”
Guyana became a drug trans-shipment point decades ago, and not within the last ten years and Stabroek News editors and others full well know this.
One has grown to expect the usual biased editorials of Stabroek News as regards this government.
First of all, Guyana is only one of many trans-shipment points in this part of the world for illegal drugs going to North America and Europe.
Secondly, Guyana became a recognised trans-shipment point far more than a decade ago, so the problem is not of recent vintage as the Stabroek News editorial wants to make out.
Thirdly, the editorial claims that “narcotics traffickers also distort the domestic economy by pricing their goods and services below market rates and undermine legitimate businesses”.
This is completely ignoring the fact that Guyana is a free market economy and with many new businesses opening competition is more severe, therefore prices will be much more competitive.
For example, just look at the development in the telecommunications industry within recent times with the introduction of competition, with the resulting competition in prices for goods and services.
All the drug reports on Guyana concede the lack of adequate resources to fight narco-trafficking, so the President is right to have called for financial and other resources from the United States.
Stabroek News editors are also well aware of the destruction of the physical and socio-economic infrastructure over almost three decades before 1992, which has made it so much more difficult to mobilize adequate resources to fight the growing and escalating problem of narco-trafficking. Surround-ing countries, with much more resources, are stretched to the limit also to cope with this problem.
Yours faithfully,
John Da Silva
Editor’s note
“The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) has been issued annually on 1st March by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US Department of State in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Although reports have been published for over 25 years, it seems that in 1993, Guyana was described only as providing “ready access to traffickers.”
By 1999, however, Guyana was described as “increasingly being used for trans-shipment of South American cocaine en route to the U.S. and Europe…” By 2000, Guyana was positively designated, for the first time, as “a trans-shipment point for South American cocaine.” That designation has not changed.”
