A new look at Guyana/Cuba relations

Dec 31, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
May I wish all in the homeland the best in the New Year. May I share with your readers a compliment to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Rashleigh Jackson’s letter regarding the role of LFS Burnham and Guyana in establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Cuba provided solidarity to Cheddi Jagan’s internal self-government that was under seige with a Trades Union Council 80-day general strike which was organized and financed by both internal and external forces supported by Burnham in the 1960s.
The former Minister is correct that Cuba’s isolation began in the 1960s. Burnham and his government were actively engaged in the campaign to isolate Cuba.
On Saturday, November 30, 1968 Burnham stated, “ ..The MIR represents in Venezuela the Castroite movement for organized violence and guerilla warfare and has been actively engaged in attempting the overthrow of the Venezuelan government through guerrilla activity and widespread acts of sabotage…
“We have to bear in mind that we are dealing with a movement whose aims of organized insurrection affect many countries in the Hemisphere and we have to guard…in fact, within the last few days, we have been in close communication with the Venezuelan authorities on this matter…”
LFS Burnham also stated in1962, “The Cubans whom Castro has given no vote do not have a vote here and I do not propose to give them…”
Both LFS Burnham and Shridat Ramphal held a press conference on the said date and circulated a document dated October 22, 1968.
That document alleged that Pedro Beria conspired with the PPP. It contained codes and so forth. That document was published by me in 1982 in a booklet (101 pages) I wrote and the GRRS published: “Guyana A Nation In Ruins/The Puerto Rican Model Failed.”
The Beria Plot document was an attempt to link the PPP with an alleged agent of the MIR to ostensibly overthrow the PNC government. The document most likely was put together by an intelligence officer or an intelligence agency. This is my opinion as a Historian accustomed to examining documents.
It was the then Venezuelan Government which successfully sought the removal of Cuba as a member of the OAS. The case made by then President Betancourt was that Cuba financed and trained a “guerilla” movement under the leadership of Douglas Bravo, Americo Martin, Teodor Petkoff and others.
These facts merely highlight one of the numerous faces of LFS Burnham and Shridat Ramphal. It does not in any way ignore LFS Burnham’s contribution in establishing relations with Cuba in the 1970s.
Paul Nehru Tennassee

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A new look at Guyana/Cuba relations

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