The Guyana Government yesterday dismissed concerns that United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s visit here this week will entail discussions on Venezuela and said that emphasis should be placed on Washington’s assistance in bringing investment opportunities here.
“It is a regional visit and the visit obviously has interests of the US and has mutual benefits for all of the member states involved,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugh Todd told the Stabroek News last even-ing when contacted.
“People are trying to insert it to create some amount of anxiety and confusion but I don’t think that is the way to go. We all know we have wait on the matter of the ICJ (Inter-national Court of Justice) for jurisdiction (on the border controversy with Venezuela) and the US visit has nothing and should not be interpreted as anything to do with Venezuela. We all know what is happening in Venezuela. The focus should be on economic cooperation and assistance, the assistance that we get on building our social pillars as well as security measures that are concerning to us. I think we should keep it simple. It is a visit. Don’t let’s confuse it with Venezuela,” he added.
The United States yesterday said that the visit of Pompeo to Guyana is only one stop in his tour of four South American nations, in a show of support for the region’s democracies and that he will be highlighting opportunities for more private sector investment between Georgetown and Washington when here.
“In Georgetown, Guyana, Secretary Pompeo will congratulate newly elected president Irfaan Ali and his cabinet, and meet with CARICOM Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque,” the US Embassy said in a statement from the US State Department.
“He will reinforce the promise of a values-based U.S. partnership highlighting opportunities for more responsible and transparent private sector investment to increase prosperity for the people of Guyana, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” it added.
From September 17 to 20, 2020, Pompeo, according to the U.S State Department, will travel to Paramaribo, Suriname; Georgetown, Guyana; Boa Vista, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; and end the visit back home in the U.S at Plano, Texas. The culmination of the trip will see the Secretary of State at the Prestonwood Baptist Church, “to discuss Department of State priorities.”
“This trip will highlight the United States’ commitment to defend democracy, combat COVID-19 while revitalizing our economies in the pandemic’s wake, and strengthen security against regional threats,” the State Department said.
The statement said that in Paramaribo, Pompeo will celebrate the triumph of democracy by meeting with recently elected Surinamese President Chan Santokhi and his cabinet to discuss increased bilateral cooperation and opportunities for partnerships in energy and security.
And while no mention was made about discussions about Venezuela with either the Guyanese or Surinamese leaders, in Brazil, he “will underscore the importance of U.S. and Brazilian support for the Venezuelan people in their time of need by visiting with Venezuelan migrants fleeing the manmade disaster in Venezuela.”
When he goes over to Bogota, he will discuss with Colombian President Ivan Duque “the strong partnership our countries share, including in managing the COVID-19 response, promoting mutual prosperity, and tackling the threats to regional security from narco traffickers, terror groups, and Maduro’s illegitimate regime.”
Undermine
Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed that at a sensitive time, when the border matter is before the ICJ, stirring up conjecture and speculation on Pompeo’s visit would only undermine that process.
It is why he emphasized that the visit is “just what the State Department’s release said it would be”.
Todd said that the public needs to be reminded that the United States is a leader in the region and a traditional partner for Guyana. “It is good to know that Washington has been paying particular attention to the hemisphere… it is good that we are getting that level of attention from the United States. It works well for regional security and economic cooperation and for us it is good for us because we get to enhance relations, so it is good for Guyana as a whole. I don’t think it is anything new. If you look at our partnership between the US and Guyana we already have a track record out of mutual cooperation. We have economic cooperation, we get help and assistance with social and there is always strong attention to security. A lot of it has to do with trafficking in drugs, ensuring that we can deal with human trafficking,” he explained.
“I don’t want the people of Guyana and the people of the region to be distracted by what is happening in Venezuela. They should understand that they have a matter in court. I have already presented at the Lima Group and made clear what Guyana stands for. At the end of the day because we have a matter at the ICJ, I don’t think people should be distracted at what is happening in Venezuela right now. I think they should focus on the US visit and how we can strengthen that partnership for the people of Guyana. They should focus on our national development prospects with this visit and not be distracted by Venezuela,” he added.
And while there have also been questions on why the meetings were not done virtually, Todd said that “US don’t have to come to Guyana or South America to deal with Venezuela. They can deal with that from Washington. They don’t have to come to Georgetown” and that the thought should be quashed.
On the timing of Pompeo’s visit to South America as a means of lobbying support for the Donald Trump administration, the Foreign Affairs Minister said he sees no nexus. “I don’t see the nexus between that and winning… if that is the case why go to Suriname? Their diaspora is in the Netherlands and the Dutch Antilles,” he said.
But with the expected influx of investors here because of the oil boom, international risk specialist Raul Gallegos, consultancy expert and director of the firm, Control Risks, which looks at risk analysis in the Andean region, says that that in addition to private sector development Pompeo will underscore government addressing the ethnic polarization here.
The former featured Latin America columnist for Bloomberg, financial columnist for Thomson Reuters and Caracas-based oil correspondent for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal told the Stabroek News of three possible areas of discussions.
“The visit of Secretary Pompeo will likely touch on three major issues: the need to reassure Guyana that the US is behind the country in the face of any Venezuela badgering, encourage the new government to maintain a continued business friendly atmosphere for the oil sector, and making sure that the new government takes measures to address ethnic polarization,” he said.
An expert on Venezuela and the author of ‘Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela’, Gallegos explained that in countries like Guyana, where there is ethnic division and which has weak institutions to overlook the oil sector, those issues pose the largest risk for the US and foreign companies.
“In the eyes of the US and foreign companies, Guyana’s deep ethnic division is the largest risk for their operations, especially in a country with weak institutions unprepared for the oil windfall to come,” he said.
Further, he added, “Money makes people do unwise things, and this becomes even more salient when two communities deeply distrust one another.”
When this was put to Todd, he replied that addressing social cohesion and race relations are issues that have to be addressed internally and his government will earnestly work towards a solution. He said that he did not think that it would be an area that Pompeo would touch on. “I don’t think that is a matter within the remit of the US, that is a matter we would have to deal with and we have already indicated … he is very committed to inclusivity. Dealing with race relations and ethnopolitics is for leaderships and we have a good leader in Dr (Irfaan) Ali. We don’t need foreign help to fix this. This is an internal matter,” he said.
“If you follow how we are operating we are big on democracy, good governance and the rule of law. Those are the pillars that will help to treat with any gaps within the society. If persons are objective they would have recognized that the system was broken since under the APNU+AFC,” he added.
