By Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA
Overview
Long gone are the days when the US Embassy in Guyana was a beacon of hope for many people both from a foreign travel perspective and for facilitating investments. In addition, the embassy was strong in standing against a government that lacks transparency and good governance. Under previous ambassadors and especially under the Bush Republican Administration, a senior US official assigned to the embassy broke the silence and named major drug dealers. On several occasions the embassy withdrew visas from senior government officials. Since then, the US Embassy has been reduced mostly to officials posing with donations for a picture opportunity with the government.
There are no significant economic discussions as in the past by embassy officials in attracting US investments as they seem to have given up on pushing for changes that will facilitate US investors wanting to invest in Guyana.
On the other hand embassies such as those of Venezuela, China and Russia have stepped up their involvement both in Guyana and Latin America. Venezuela even posted an army general as part of its embassy team. Major companies from those countries are now operating large entities in our nation. The US State Department is obviously distracted by the war on terrorism, and is not concerned as it should be with the impact of “geonarcotics” on its security in its own back yard. Iran also has stepped up its involvement in regional countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. These are warning signs for us here in Guyana and we should be concerned that Venezuela has just upgraded its ground forces with 450 new tanks.
Economic strategy
The US embassy has changed its mission to promoting goodwill between the two governments while various states with questionable motives across the globe are stepping up involvement in our country and our neighbours. Russia for example is building one of its largest AK-47 factories in Venezuela which not only creates jobs but should be a concern for us as a nation. We have a recent brutal history which suggests that some of those AK-47s will emerge in Guyana.
No major US businesses are in Guyana but companies such as Rusal, a Russian bauxite company, extract our mineral resources and treat its employees like second-class citizens. At least they are creating jobs, albeit low quality ones, while the US businesses have not recently established any major industry in our nation. Delta Airlines basically maintained the status quo when it took over the Georgetown-JFK route from North American Airlines.
One then must wonder what the policies of the US Embassy are, and more directly, the State Department, and by implication the Obama administration as it relates to Guyana. We are thankful for the help in the health sector which facilitated the building of clinics and major funding of anti-HIV/AIDS initiatives but we do not see any offset in our national budget that then allocates our taxpayers’ money to other priority spending areas. Those same clinics are in our national budget yet they are built by US funds. However, if Guyana is going to develop we need new investments with American technologies and know how playing a major part if we take advantage of our location. We also need to integrate the Non Resident Guyanese (NRG) in the United States with the developmental objectives of Guyana. For instance, we need to mobilize remittances into lumpy quantities to promote agro-industrial development in Guyana. The support of the US would help in this task, for example though facilitating funding via the US Export-Import Bank. We would require access to the American market, again, requiring political goodwill and support.
The Chinese and Russian missions continually bring in investors from China and Russia to look at our industries and the missions of these countries actively lobby the Guyana government on behalf of these investors which is commendable. Venezuela, which claims three-fifths of Guyana’s land, continues to dominate us with their Petrocaribe leverage and now in addition with the purchase of our rice. We are compromising our long-term security with this close integration with Venezuela. Our western neighbour will eventually extract significant leverage over our economic development if we continue this kind of close integration. We are not against the Venezuelan people, but such Venezuelan influence over economic activity in Guyana without them dropping their claims to Guyanese territory is clearly not in Guyana’s self interest.
Because the way the world financial systems are set up we also need to trade with the United States as we would like to do with Brazil. We should not just seek aid as is the PPP government first policy choice – the legendary mendicant government, but should trade with the United States of America the goods and services we produce. For example, we would like to sell bio-fuels to the USA once we can produce a surplus over domestic consumption. The reason being Guyana must obtain foreign currency if it is to buy technology and machines that are essential for our economic growth. We simply cannot survive without foreign currency from investments and net exports. It is instructive to note that despite the doom and gloom about the US dollar, that currency is still the main global medium of exchange and world reserve currency. That will not change soon as the USA is about to unleash a new renewable energy industrial revolution. Great wealth will be created in America. We would like to be part of that green revolution. Therefore, we are disappointed that the US has taken a lukewarm relationship to Guyana.
We are also grateful to the American justice system for bringing some closure to the security crisis that engulfed Guyana from 2002 to 2006. It is the US justice system which gave us open and legally established insights into the connections between the PPP government and a known drug kingpin. The court proceedings which documented those links gave us formal documentation on the Guyana government’s involvement in extrajudicial killings. These proceedings also provided us with formal documentation on Guyanese army officer corps involvement with the criminal gangs in Guyana. It was in the US courts that it was alleged that the army played a role in the cover up of the murder of innocent cane farmers from Annandale. Though we appreciate the indication by USA court proceedings of what all Guyanese know, i.e. the deep links between the drug transshipment underworld and the PPP government, we wish that the government of the USA would do more to acknowledge the risks which the behaviour of the PPP government of Guyana poses both to the USA and to Guyanese.
Conclusion
The US embassy in Guyana needs leadership and stronger policies from the State Department. The lack of a US ambassador who understands the need for good governance in Guyana has weakened the influence that is necessary to promote investments in Guyana. It seems the less adversarial approach of the Obama Administration towards Venezuela has not had much positive effect on the US/Venezuela relationship as yet. The current aggressive posture of Venezuela toward Colombia is not a good sign for the USA or Guyana. Guyanese, especially those in the US who can vote in US elections need to lobby their Congressmen/women and Senators to push for a more robust US posture towards developments in Guyana which would help Guyana get the change that we need to facilitate the sustainable development of the country. Until next time “Roop” Send comments to peter.ramsaroop@gmail.com
