Dear Editor,
For a few days in Guyana, there were rumours of a pending visit of a top US official: it is now clear that the rumours were not without foundation. Demerara Waves in its September 12, 2020, edition carried an article captioned, `US Secretary of State likely to visit Guyana next week.’
According to the Demerara Waves article, the US Embassy is tight-lipped on the details of the visit which is tentatively scheduled for the 17 to 18 Sept 2020. I have in previous letters raised the intention of the US government’s support of the PPP/C in the election crisis and pointed to US strategic hemispheric interest as it relates to Venezuela. In these high-level political matters that are wrapped in secrecy and deception, one can only wait for the “objective reality” of unfolding events. However, this letter is not intended to address the US intentions in relation to Venezuela.
I write to question the timing of the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s scheduled visit to Guyana and its possible effects on our domestic politics. As Secretary of State Pompeo was the principal US government official engaged in the Guyana election crisis who threatened and imposed sanctions on Guyanese officials. While I am in no position to determine to what extent his visit is welcome in Guyana, I am prepared to contend that from a political and diplomatic imperative, given the present political situation in the country, characterised by racial/political killings, the visit should be postponed to a more appropriate time. This is necessary to avoid creating in the minds of the African Community and Guyanese in general that the American government is insensitive to, or supportive of, the Guyana government’s actions to repress public protests for justice for the Henry teens in Berbice.
I am conscious that from the US government point of view the killings in Guyana are a small matter when considered in the context of US global interests. And more so I am aware a pleading from me, an “insignificant” citizen, may be treated with contempt and ignored.
However, as a Guyanese patriot and a citizen of the world, I invoke my right to speak out on this matter and offer my advice to US policymakers. In the context of the negative role the US played in the racial/political crisis in the 1960s in Guyana and its encouragement of Venezuela to renew claims to Guyana’s territory at our independence it is not asking much from a superpower that has many alternative options in its arsenal to achieve its geopolitical interests.
Yours faithfully,
Tacuma Ogunseye