Guyana should withdraw from UNASUR

Aug 29, 2018 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
In April of this year, the Associated Press reported that six countries have suspended their membership in UNASUR, a South American group of nations whose main objective is to ‘diminish US influence’ in the continent. On Monday, one of those six countries announced its complete withdrawal from the group. In announcing his decision, Colombia’s President Ivan Duque said that the UNASUR membership had become toxic and effectively made Colombia “complicit in the Venezuelan dictatorship”.
The questions to those remaining member countries; Guyana, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Suriname (and Venezuela) should be whether they continue to believe that US influence in this continent should be reduced, and whether Venezuela, given its unresolved political crisis, is worthy of membership in any regional group of nations.
Of the remaining countries, Guyana has the most reasons to quickly consider whether there are any strategic advantages of its continued membership in UNASUR. After all, the main architect of UNASUR continues to claim most of Guyana, including all the discovered oilfields. Furthermore, how can Guyana objectively be a participant in a group seeking to diminish US regional influence at a time when most of its natural resources will likely be dependent on US markets?
To be fair, we must acknowledge that Guyana’s membership in UNASUR was orchestrated by the previous PPP administration and not by APNU/AFC. We have no indications, however, whether our present Foreign Minister or other cabinet members support that PPP decision to join UNASUR. But now that many countries have seen it wise to re-evaluate the value of their membership in the bloc, we must wonder whether President Granger and his administration are also thinking about it.
Without a doubt, many observers will be watching very closely to see what Guyana’s position vis-à-vis membership in UNASUR is. Many would expect Guyana to quickly follow Colombia’s decision by announcing its belief that membership in UNASUR will make Guyana “complicit in the Venezuelan dictatorship”. Or at least that is the hope.
Respectfully
Max Mohamed

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