Guyana is my Galápagos

Dec 11, 2016 Features / Columnists, My Column

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I was in the office surfing the internet when I saw a video clip from a man who set up a lot of cameras on the Galápagos Islands. The video caused me nightmares. I saw more snakes in any one place than ever and in the midst of them was this iguana.
The snakes chased it and as it ran more snakes came from every corner of the location. In the end they caught the iguana in their coils. The story did not end there because the iguana escaped. I suppose that the Galápagos has more wildlife than any other corner of the earth and represent a naturalist’s dream.
There have been numerous other videos of this corner of the earth, but this particular video stood out. Looking at it made me think about my corner of the earth, Guyana. At first glance we would believe that we are not a wild bunch; that we are as civilized as anybody in any country. But when we bring out the microscope we see otherwise. We see people who are as wild as those animals on the Galápagos.
Two men are driving around the city seeking spare parts when two men ride up on motorcycles. One of them has a gun and he attacks the driver of the vehicle. These two bandits were drawn to the vehicle like bees to honey. They must have been riding around the city looking for people doing their shopping when they see these two shoppers driving a sport utility vehicle (SUV) visiting the spare parts dealers.
They grab a bag the younger shopper was carrying, because they were certain that it has a lot of cash. When the young man resisted they shot him and took the bag anyway. Soon after a car drives up and another man gets out and shatters the windows of the SUV. He rummages inside the vehicle but finds nothing, so he and his colleagues leave with $16,000 and two cellular phones.
Earlier, a man goes to a city bank and again the vultures pounce. They display scant regard for the compound of the Ministry of Finance, which could not support the victim. The men, as bold as brass, enter the compound, shoot the victim and take his money.
These are just two cases and are commonplace, because for all the talking over the years, Guyana remains a cash-oriented society. I once suggested that some bank staffers may be in cahoots with the criminals, but I have no way of proving this at this time.
Like the snakes that prowl the Galápagos, we have the gun-toting bandits prowling the business centres and striking with deadly intent.
Young people go to parties that are so different from those I attended as a youth. They have a whale of a time. Unlike my days when men bought copious amounts of alcohol in bottles, these young people buy a few beers and tons of marijuana. Some of them have guns.
As the brain becomes addled, the guns come out and more often than not a person is killed. So too is the party. Some of these night spots complain of bad business, not realizing that the gun-toting patrons put paid to any future activity.
We use the roadways as though we are the only people around. Just this past week, we heard about a man barely into his twenties having two road fatalities under his belt at different times. He killed one, ended up in the court and was jailed. His lawyers, whose prime aim is to make a dollar, file an appeal and the young man is out on the streets, suspended licence and all. He goes driving and kills a child.
Another driver is going his merry way when a vehicle swerves into his path on the lower East Coast Demerara. Instinctively the driver pulls aside, in the process killing a man.
So far this year, more than 100 people have died on the roads, some by their own hands, because our drivers are as wild as the Galápagos animals. I am tempted to say brainless.
As we move away from the coast and head to the interior we come across more of the same breed. There is gold, women and immense greed. And as can be expected, there are the guns. These locations also have alcohol to soothe the frustrated mind.
In the evening men would sit around in a group and drink the alcohol. Laughter would ring out, then voices would be raised in anger. Before long the Galápagos behaviour would emerge and someone would lay dead. Few escape as the iguana on the Galápagos Islands did.
A few days ago I read of a driver being carjacked. He is dumped and the perpetrators drive off. Days later the police find a group of men in the car, number plates unchanged, in the city. This defies logic. All I can put it down to is wild behaviour.
It is believed that as society improves and technological advances are made, man would be a better animal, far removed from those early days when they hunted each other and sometimes ate the unfortunate victim.
In my country it would seem that the reverse is occurring. We are becoming wilder and less able to reason.

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