The People’s Progressive Party/Civic government has made no formal announcement as to the nature and purpose of a planned visit by the United States, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
On Sunday a US military passenger plane arrived in the country around 5:15 pm with an advance party and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugh Todd stated that an announcement was likely to be made yesterday.
No announcement has been made and efforts to reach Todd proved futile, the opposition have however stepped forward and urged the government to refrain from making any commitments that could jeopardise Guyana’s pursuit of a judicial settlement of the border controversy with Venezuela at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) .
APNU+AFC MP Raphael Trotman during his budget presentation stressed that in light of an “imminent arrival of certain foreign dignitaries, we must be careful that in the height of the pomp, no pun intended, and ceremony, we do not lose our dignity and self-respect and trade our sovereignty, statehood and hallowed stance of the right to self-determination and non-interference, in the affairs of other states by agreeing to some unhelpful and unholy agenda that is meant to boost electoral prospects elsewhere.”
“We have made tremendous progress in the last five years to achieve a binding and internationally recognisable outcome by getting our controversy (with Venezuela) before the International Court of Justice and our cause is just and highly likely to succeed. We implore you not to turn a controversy, being settled by peaceful means, into a hot dispute that threatens our sovereignty and the peace within the region,” Jordan stressed adding that it was the opposition’s hope that the retention of former minister Carl Greenidge would build on the successes of the previous administration.
Pompeo is expected to be in Guyana from Thurs-day, September 17 to Fri-day, September 18 and this newspaper understands that the Irfaan Ali government has already set up its own delegation for planned meetings. Those meetings are expected from Thurs-day evening.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira on Saturday described the scheduled visit as “important and significant.”
“Especially in light of what has happened over the five months and the US government’s support to Guyana during that time this visit is important,” the minister stressed while explaining that she was unaware of whether it was a trip to the Caribbean and Latin America region or to Guyana alone.
The last time Pompeo visited the Caribbean region – in January – he ran afoul of then Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Mia Mottley for failing to engage with all of CARICOM.
“As Chairman of CARICOM, it is impossible for me to agree that my Foreign Minister should attend a meeting to which members of CARICOM are not invited,” Mottley said at the time while suggesting that it would be an attempt at divide and rule among CARICOM countries “if some are invited and not all”.
Over the last month, Pompeo has been touring the world in what the Associated Press has described as an attempt to burnish the foreign policy credentials of President Donald Trump ahead of November’s presidential election.
In this region, the US government has been trying to drum up support against the Venezuelan government led by Nicolas Maduro.
Ahead of planned parliamentary elections in that country, Pompeo announced sanctions against four individuals he claimed were conspiring against free and fair elections. These include Indira Alfonso and Jose Gutierrez, who were appointed earlier this year by the pro-government Supreme Court to oversee the national electoral council, which has called elections for this December.
Pompeo had also been very vocal during the five-month long delay in the finalisation of Guyana’s general and regional elections process. His voice was one of the loudest calling for the APNU+AFC coalition to concede and allow for Ali to be sworn in as president.