Whatever the relations between Guyana and Venezuela, residents of border communities remain unrestrained in their conduct of a brisk trade in whatever goods and services they can offer each other.
From Venezuela, it is mostly oil that finds its way across the divide and into Mabaruma, with or without the knowledge of the authorities on either side. Fuel arrives at Mabaruma by boat from Venezuela to satisfy the ‘thirst’ of a community that would otherwise pay much more if it were to be flown in from Georgetown.
It is a fluid situation that changes from one period to the next. The circumstances that obtained last week and which have