Dear Editor,
Three pictures surrounding the same set of circumstances in SN’s July 26th edition told me one story. Despite the happy chatter floating around in Guyana’s media, I sense some serious underpinnings in this gathering of Guyanese political brass, and the big Americans from the State Department and other offices in Washington.
SN was pleased to carry a telling picture almost in the centre of its front page of Guyana’s President being greeted by the American Secretary of State. I beheld my President grinning from ear to ear and grasping the arm (in customary fashion) of the Secretary, while shaking, maybe pumping energetically, his stiffly outstretched right hand cocked at the right angle and extended to the approved limit reserved for Third World leaders. This is with due deference to newfound oil wealth and all. What struck me in this first picture was that while the Guyanese leader was all smiles, the top American diplomat was the essence of cool to the point of subtle aloofness. I told the President before, this is simply not done, this forced bonhomie, this all too ready, too familiar friendliness, which he just exuberantly puts on display without a care as to how it comes across, or how it is received individually. It is just not done, sometimes considered improper and highly offensive. That aside, it is important that readers noticed how stiff and serious the American Secretary of State was.
It is the exact same thing in SN’s pictures on pages 3 and 12. In the former, it was the meeting of full teams, and what registered was how serious and unblinking (pardon the play on the Secretary’s name) the American side of the delegation was. This was all business, and even the official photograph released emphasizes that the Americans are not all jolly good fellow, and hale and hearty. This may have gone over the head of our head of state, but I don’t think that it would have eluded Mr. Sam Hinds, Guyana’s former President, former Prime Minister, and now present diplomat doing what only he would know. At least Mr. Hinds got it right, with his smile appropriately cordial without going overboard.
Editor, when I absorb these pictures, it is obvious that the Americans have much on their minds, and that they are not too pleased with the way matters are in Guyana, and how this nation’s leaders have managed the heavy responsibilities that were placed in their hands. I think that the Americans have been increasingly unhappy with the PPP Government and its leaders for the last two years, because it is as if they have learned nothing. Other than deceptions and secrecies, that is. This is what showed on the faces and postures and attitudes of the ranking Americans, without exception in those three photos. They are not worried about Exxon, since it is well-settled and can take care of itself, having the PPP Government and its leaders where desired. It is what could interfere with all the hard work that the tireless Sarah-Ann Lynch put trekking through Guyana’s mud, political sleaze, and slime for 19 months. I urge revisiting all those things that Her Excellency has been highlighting. Interestingly, SN’s lead article mentioned “security” as among issues covered in this visit. All Guyanese should ask themselves a simple question: security for whom and what?
Sincerely,
GHK Lall