Trucks are still being prevented by protesters from transporting goods from Bonfim, Brazil to Lethem but the situation in the Guyanese border town has improved as supplies have arrived by road and via the Ireng River.
Daniel Gajie, President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) yesterday told Stabroek News that the matter is engaging the attention of the court in the Brazilian state of Roraima.
He said that the Federal Highway Patrol during the course of last week moved to the courts to penalize protestors who continue to obstruct traffic.
Merchandisers had also moved to the court in the Brazilian state seeking an injunction against the protestors and to have them removed from the roadway. According to Gajie, just a few protestors remain on the road.
He noted that there isn’t a major disruption to commerce in Lethem now as items have been arriving from Georgetown by road and boats via the Ireng River.
He said that while some residents are concerned over the supply of cooking gas, shops in Lethem are stocked and should be able to supply the demand.
The Brazilian protestors are claiming that while larger businesses are benefitting from the one-day opening for the transport of goods, smaller tradesmen and workers who would travel daily from one border community to another are suffering.
Gajie had previously told Stabroek News that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic the border between Guyana and Brazil was closed on May 19, 2020 but both governments had granted the concession of one day for essential goods to travel into Lethem from Brazil. That day is Thursday.
Gajie stressed that transportation costs from Georgetown to Lethem make it infeasible to bring goods from that distance so in an effort to lower the cost of living most essentials for the Rupununi area are sourced from Brazil.
Almost three weeks ago, Brazilians who work and trade in Lethem blocked the highway in Bonfim preventing the delivery of essentials such as cooking gas in protest at their own lack of access to Guyana. The protest lasted for six hours until a “government official” promised to listen to the concerns of the protestors.
At a meeting between leaders of the two municipalities earlier this month a request was made that the border be opened on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This request was denied by Guyana’s National COVID-19 Taskforce.
According to a release from Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, it has been suggested that a possible solution to the impasse was to require all persons transiting the border to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or to produce a negative PCR test result.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, who was part of Guyana’s delegation, is credited with making the suggestion.
“We want a quick reopening of our borders so that we can get back to some level of normality. But we want to do this when we are sure we have protocols that will ensure that the movement of people is safe. We agreed that we will keep talking, [and] debating this issue, so that we can reopen the borders in a safe way,” he was quoted as saying in a release from the Office of the Governor of Roraima State.
Stabroek News had previously reported that Mayor of Bonfim, Joner Chagas expressed a willingness to implement a vaccination policy and provide officials from his municipality who would travel to Lethem to verify the authenticity of any Brazilian vaccination cards provided.
An announcement on the municipality’s Face-book page yesterday noted that the vaccination rate of Bonfim is now 99%. Lethem has a vaccination rate of 70%, which is below the 80% threshold mooted for herd immunity.
According to the release from the Office of the Governor of Roraima State, Anthony suggested that one of the issues of concern is vaccine hesitancy in Guyana.
Anthony maintained that the arrangement put in place to restrict the movement of goods to one day per week had worked satisfactorily over the past year and pointed out that while it was Guyana’s desire to have the border between the two countries opened as quickly as possible, this had to be done safely given the continuing rise in COVID-19 cases here and the threat of the spread of the Delta variant across the communities.
