Introduction
Communications I have received concerning last week’s column have all expressed indignation at the remarks, which were reportedly made by the European Union (EU) Ambassador when speaking about GuySuCo and the Guyana sugar industry. I am convinced that these few private expressions of outrage pale in comparison to what would have occurred if similar statements had been publicly uttered elsewhere in Caricom. There, because of the vibrancy of the professional and intellectual classes, academia and activists in NGOs, trade unions, and similar social movements, I am confident that a torrent of condemnation would have been heaped on the publication of such ill-conceived condescending and misspoken public utterances by an official EU representative.
By pure coincidence, several analysts across the region have been recently expressing considerable apprehension at what they perceive to be yet another EU deception about to be perpetrated against Caricom member states. As these columns have repeatedly advised, Caricom’s relations with the EU cannot be taken on trust alone. Like several other regional analysts, I am anticipating that the EU’s next stratagem will be designed to terminate the payments