The Guyana Government was in bed with the Americans

Oct 29, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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The joint opposition should cease the charade about the government being in league with drug accused Roger Khan. If this were the case, the United States Government would have already signaled in more serious and calculated way its objection and would have long designated the regime as a rouge government.
The United States would have insisted on far reaching changes and this would have happened since the United States usually gets what it wants. A few years ago, when the countries in CARICOM were hesitant about signing a shiprider agreement with the United States, that country got Guyana to sign despite the objections.
When the Guyana Government was playing games with the acceptance of Guyanese deportees, the US threatened visa sanctions and almost immediately the government consented.
After resisting opposition demands for a commission of enquiry into the death squad allegations, the government consented reportedly after the Americans signaled that this would clear up a lot of questions.
The enquiry exonerated the Government Minister at the centre of the controversy but the US State Department expressed reservations about the findings and within a few days it was announced that the minister was stepping down so as to not pose difficulties in the relationship between the two countries.
During the run up to the 2006 elections, the opposition PNCR, realizing that it was facing a possible mauling at the polls, decided to engage in brinkmanship by calling for a special verification of the voters’ list. The ABC countries made known their views forcing an immediate retraction in the position of the PNCR.
The United States is therefore not going to make any bones about its interests in these parts. It is not going to allow any small country to make a fool of it. If the United States was convinced beyond doubt that the government aided and abetted the activities of Roger Khan, the riot act would have already been read to the government.
If the United States was convinced that there was collusion between Khan and the government, certain projects would have been put on the backburner. The fact that the very opposite has taken place, that the US Government has moved ahead in its economic cooperation with the government is a sign that the United States does not fully endorse this theory that the government was in bed with Khan.
The United States may have its views as to whether Khan was facilitated in obtaining certain sensitive equipment. The evidence which was led in the New York Courts concerning the importation of sensitive equipment does not seem to this observer as being critical to the case against Robert Simels and this it can be concluded that it was included to sending a signal to the local authorities that the United States expects a certain course of action in respect to this issue.
In fact, long before the Simels trial began, there was information being made public; information that could have only have been obtained through the assistance of the US Government.
That information consisted of extracts from depositions in which a government minister was being fingered as having contact with an associate of Khan. The Minister insisted that he did not know anything about what was being said of him.
If the US were of the view that there was official sanction of Khan’s activities there would have been more leaks and dire consequences.  That this has not happened suggests that the US is not seriously pursuing any angle that Khan was in bed with the government.
What can be said with greater confidence is that the government was in bed with the United States when it came to getting Khan. The arrest of Khan took place against the backdrop of similar successful operations in other countries of the region.
In Jamaica, the rendition of suspected drug lords took place under Operation Kingfish. In Guyana, the hunt for Khan took place with the full support of the government. If the government were indeed in bed with Khan, the level of resources that was placed in the hunt for Khan would not have happened.
It is well known that US agents were part of the search for Khan who had fled to Suriname to escape the manhunt in which the Guyana government threw the full force of the army and the police.
Even when Khan was caught in Suriname and protocol dictated that he receive representation from the Guyana Government, this was not provided. The government also did not protest his rendition to the US after Suriname deported him to Guyana via Port of Spain from whence he was snatched by US agents.
A convincing case can thus be made out that instead of the government being in league with Khan, the very opposite took place. The Guyana Government abandoned him.

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