America’s backyard in trouble

Sep 21, 2008 Peeping Tom

---

Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA
Chairman, Vision Guyana

INTRODUCTION

Last week in my Sunday column, I discussed the aggression by Venezuela both on Guyana and the United States.

Our President said he doesn’t want to get involved in big nation politics; therefore he ignored the military exercise over our airspace and probably in our waters.

All the Caribbean leaders, including Guyana, that have signed the PetroCaribe agreement with Venezuela were extremely quiet.

The arms buildup in Venezuela must be of concern for us the Guyanese people whether or not the President wants to get involved.

Venezuela has claimed most of our country and has held it hostage to development for decades, yet our Government does nothing about it.

The conflict is bigger than just Venezuela’s involvement, given Russia’s position against the US for the Georgian conflict and the installation of missiles in Poland by the US.

They have found an ally in Venezuela to come into America’s backyard and Venezuela in turn had already paved the way by buying out CARICOM with the oil deal.

The Kremlin wants to establish its presence once again around the world and this should not be allowed to happen.

I was serving in the US Military in Europe in the late 80s and saw the poor economies at that time in East Germany and other Soviet bloc countries. We the people of Guyana must reinforce our alignment with the free world.

America must pay more attention to its own backyard. Guyana by signing the PetroCaribe deal has already taken its stand with Venezuela and possible alignment with Russia.

THE SECRET WAR
The fact that Russia, Iran, and Venezuela are binding together in our region should be both a concern for Guyana and for the United States.

There are now direct flights from Iran to Caracas, with stops in Syria. There are discussions on nuclear potential in Venezuela. Some of these countries are known for terrorism.

China has been waging the secret war in South America over the last decade, buying out and owning major raw materials in its quest for economic dominance. The US has been busy fighting the war on terror in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and has failed to concentrate on Latin America.

Many countries have gone leftist such as Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua, among others. Bolivia, like Venezuela, is moving towards dictatorship. Guyana is lost somewhere between communism and elected dictatorship. The President has been anti-west in most of his policies.

I have a hard time believing that our President was not aware of this exercise as he said. He received one of the highest awards last year from Mr. Putin, who is now in a third term through the backdoor, bypassing the Russian constitution where he could not serve as the President but serve as the Prime Minister. I believe that out of courtesy Russia would have notified Guyana, given its friendship.

THE BUDDING CONFLICT
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, one of the closest allies of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, visited both Venezuela and Cuba, this past week.

It is generally believed that Russia is forming greater alliances with Venezuela and Cuba, in response to the USA’s support of Georgia. This is a huge change in relationship between Washington and Moscow.

US Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, said “Russia’s international standing is worse than at any time since 1991.” The Kremlin is furious about USA’s plans to establish anti-missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russia is also arming the Republic of Iran. There is speculation that Russia will establish bases in both Venezuela and Cuba. Russia is believed to be exporting arms to 80 countries.

Venezuela bought Russian fighter jets and helicopters worth 540 million pounds Sterling, in 2006, with Indonesia buying a similar amount in 2007. China’s arms deals with Russia were worth one billion pounds Sterling, a year.

THIS IS OUR CHANCE
The involvement of Iran, Russia and Venezuela outside of our borders is a very dangerous development for Guyana, since we still have an unresolved border problem with Venezuela.

Why have we not put together a legal team as we did with the Suriname border dispute and take it to the UN?
This is our chance to make the world aware that Venezuela is holding our country hostage with its threat to invade if we develop the land they claim as theirs.

We the people of Guyana must stand up to our government to get this problem that has haunted us for decades over with.

We lack a strong foreign policy; we lack bold leadership and act weak when it comes to defending our nation. We need to develop our Essequibo region and bring prosperity to our people.

Send your response to [email protected] www.visionguyana.com

---

---