Guyanese don’t seem to recognise the enormous leverage we have now

Feb 26, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

When will the citizens of this beautiful land of Guyana be able to gain visa-free travel to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom? Or is this a non-issue, since many politicians and influential Guyanese already have dual citizenship or permanent residency.
It is certainly a big issue for the average Guyanese who will still have to go through the embassy hassle to get a visitor visa. Needless to say, Guyanese are still being ill-treated in neighbouring Trinidad and Barbados.
We cannot be sitting on billions of barrels of sweet crude oil and still be living and treated like peasants. Well, if so be the case, we might as well cancel the whole oil deal with Exxon. Our voice has never been as powerful as it is today, and we need to use it accordingly. But yet we still seem afraid to make demands or lift our heads up high.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant authorities must use their leverage to persuade the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to facilitate visa-free travel for Guyanese nationals.
We are not asking them for money, nor are we lobbying our government for salary increases or advanced oil payouts. Instead, we are simply asking for due respect and a basic entitlement.
Citizens of Trinidad, a nation that is now experiencing tough times, enjoyed visa-free travel to the UK and Canada for the longest while, as Guyanese suffered. Bahamians and Grand Caymanians today, travel to the United States, Canada and the UK without a visa. And these countries only have beaches and not one-tenth of the resources that we have here.
This is not asking too much; the difference is that we have now found oil and we should be entitled to more.
Guyanese don’t seem to recognise the enormous leverage we have now, with billions of barrels of sweet crude under our noses. Gone are the times when Guyanese were fetching cooking oil and flour across the Caribbean and looking for work in large numbers in the United States. In fact, what we see now is a foreign invasion into our beautiful country – even from the United States. And more will be coming.
The best promise that APNU or the PPP/Civic can make to voters, and be held accountable for, is visa-free travel to the US, Canada and the UK. This is the least any Guyanese citizen should expect.

Patriotic Guyanese

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