Dear Editor,
The Guyana government is moving ahead towards integration with Brazil. At least this is the amazing claim, which has been made by GINA. Some secret deal is obviously taking place without consulting the people of Guyana about their future.
The Andrade Gutierrez representatives came to brief the President on the details. “It was an opportunity for President Jagdeo to meet these gentlemen so that they could explain the feasibility and the technical aspects of this important hydro-power project which Brazil believes is important, also in the effort of integration between Brazil and Guyana,” Fonseca was quoted by GINA as saying. (SN. May 20).
Clearly Brazil is making no secret of its ambitions in relation to Guyana. Integration is the basis on which their proposals on the hydro-power project at Kurupung is founded. Obviously the project is seen as another major leap in achieving Brazil’s ultimate goal. In close collaboration with RUSAL and Guyana’s politicians, Brazil’s great expansion into Guyana is on the move. The carrot that the Guyana government is dangling before the people is cheap electricity.
The government can hardly build a proper ferry terminal for the people let alone provide them with cheap electricity. A few years ago the new Pomeroon wharf was washed away leaving the old wooden one still standing. The Supenaam terminal was badly damaged recently. The people must continue to bear the burden and pay the heavy price for the failures of inept governments.
The Brazilians are sweeping across Guyana’s borders and destroying much of the country’s forest in their unstoppable search for gold. While Guyana is heading down the poverty spiral, the Brazilians and other outside interests are reaping rich and bountiful harvests from Guyana’s rich mineral deposits. Operating on the parallel economy, little income, if any, ends up in Guyana’s treasury to benefit the people, who must depend on foreign aid and subsidies for survival. Guyana’s poor miners could hardly compete with the Brazilians and their hi-tech dredges and mining equipment. If the Guyana government has a road map for integration with Brazil, then what future are they offering to the citizens of the country? Politicians of all shades have always been screaming blue about how they have fought and won independence from Britain. What has happened to such fuming patriotism? Is Guyana about to cede sovereignty to Brazil and end up under the rule of another foreign power?
History may be yet again repeating itself. Any such integration would relegate Guyana to another forgotten, slum state of Brazil. With no window to the outside world, the rape of the Guyana’s mineral wealth would escalate unhindered.
Yours faithfully,
Mac Mahase
