Dear Editor,
In 1985 as a young Army Officer, I was based at Mabaruma. During my stay, a resident of Whitewater, an Amerindian community not far from the Venezuelan border, came to the army barracks and reported that there were some war boats at the Venezuelan Outpost at a place called Wausa on the Venezuelan side of the Amakura River that borders the two countries at that point. I immediately sent a situation report to my Head Office at Camp Jaguarundi, located at that time, on the Linden Soesdyke Highway. Within minutes a response was sent to embark on a reconnaissance patrol immediately, one that I led. We went to Whitewater, trekked through the jungle for a short while until we reached the Korisaima Creek. This creek flowed into the Amakura River. We paddled, with a guide of course, until we reached the mouth of the creek. We did not see any military craft at Wausa. On inquiring, we learnt that the boats were there about a month prior. We were previously made to believe by the reporting resident, that the presence of the boats was recent. This seemingly fruitless mission etched one lesson in my mind: residents felt an obligation to report any activity of Venezuelans on our borders. That was the strength of their patriotism.
I had another incident when, on a Sunday midday, I received a phone from a resident that there were two Venezuelan soldiers in the Township area. Again, without delay, I assembled a small party of troops and went to the Township area where we met the two soldiers, in uniform, at the Mabaruma Hospital. One was a born Guyanese while the other was not. The Guyanese had come to visit his terminally ill mother at the hospital. There I advised him to go and change into civilian clothing to continue his visit, which he and his colleague did. They left the next day for Venezuela.
This reinforced my lesson of the Guyanese people’s commitment to safeguarding our territorial integrity. These residents were not soldiers; they were just ordinary civilian folks. The last incident I want to highlight was in 1989 while I was based at Eteringbang.
There was a degree of cordiality between the soldiers on both shores even though the ‘soldiers’ on the Venezuelan side were not full-fledged soldiers. They were from the National Guard, which was the equivalent of our Peoples’ Militia. I dare say, they were afraid of us because the propaganda by then Late President Burnham, which was continued by President Hoyte, made the Venezuelans believe that we were Cubans, stationed on the borders. An important point must be made here. Whenever we went across the border, which we sometimes did, contrary to our orders, we were told in no uncertain terms that we had to leave the country before six pm. We always visited Venezuela disguised as dredge workers since there were many dredges in the area at that time. We dared not go dressed as soldiers.
Sincerely,
Carl A. Parker
Pensioner
