The Americans lead the charge, they mean business

Apr 12, 2020 Editorial

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It has been the most unanticipated kind of intervention, given its long and influential record in the electoral history of Guyana. Today, the United States first signalled its interest, then persevered with its positions, and now, in a series of slow but unmistakable steps has evidenced its ongoing commitment to stay the course through the minefield and graveyard that Elections 2020 Guyana has become. There is no retreating by the Americans, be they in Georgetown or in Washington, as they have manifested at every level sharp, but still measured, distaste for where matters stand.
The latest is the extended round of the continuous calling of things for what they are in subdued diplomatic speech, of insistently cajoling towards the reality of a different set of procedures and standards, and a distinctive cluster of related behaviours, be such from the courts, or GECOM, or coalition and opposition leadership. The weight of pressures applied has been on the coalition, which has to be taken aback, if not shocked, by what it has been on the receiving end of, when the messages are sifted and interpreted.
It may be called the New World Order, to stretch things a shade: the judicata Americana Guyana, a la George Bush the First, in the aftermath of the holocaust of 9/11. It started very assertively at the level of the US Ambassador to Guyana, escalated to the assistant secretary for hemispheric affairs at the State Department, and then came repeatedly from the very top from the Secretary of State. The language throughout has fallen short of the fusillades hurled by Guyanese at Guyanese, but there can be no misinterpreting the strength of intent and the sustained pressures being brought to bear for a credible outcome to Elections 2020.
All the messages from all the Americans have been tempered but tough: do it right! Get it right! Cut right to the chase. From all indications, the Americans seem willing to part company with longstanding local political friends. It is willing to incur new enemies, if that is the price to be paid, and even if this means clasping hands with political folks once found reprehensible. As a reminder, the key operating principle of the Americans, in the best and imitation of arch imperialist, Lord Palmerston, is always what is best for their own interests.
While there have been some speculative sounds about recent American naval movements in the vicinity, Guyana is neither Iraq nor Haiti nor Grenada, not by any means currently. So, things are being handled more covertly in Guyana via less obvious channels and people. Many back channels are being employed, multiple patriotic fronts (so called carefully) springing up in defense of democracy. Some of this is executed through the hodgepodge of Guyanese groups and organizations that have emerged to question or condemn anything that looks a hair out of place.
But the objections are not from Guyanese alone. Because as the still mighty United States goes so does most of the Western world. Not slavishly, but as a matter of taking the high ground. Some solid ones are stood on by the outsiders, including insistent calls and postures for democratic processes to prevail, for transparent standards to be the primary ingredients of the day. For credible results to which most, if not all observers, could extend a nod of approval and step forward with a handshake for a job well done.
For what has happened has been glaring and embarrassing, and insulting to intelligence, while lacking in embracing virtues. Crude is not even the word, for it was beyond that, and this is when a load of the vulgar is added. None were looking for a perfect process or the most impeccable procedures. Nonetheless, and because of other obvious missteps, today underlying matters have distilled and transformed inexorably into what has to be as near flawless as possible, with a flurry of transparency attachments enthusiastically daily making the rounds.
In some regards, rather unwittingly and definitely unthinkingly, Guyana could become the model for how not to conduct democratic elections, how to manage the delicate balance between respect for national sovereignty and adherence to broadening 21st century international norms and best practices. The watchfulness, the interest, the energies are all there. and so, too, were the demanding and correcting, the guiding hands and reprimanding voices, as characterized by the pressuring via the nuanced and noisy, the resolute and the rambunctious, from the respective foreign and domestic communities. They will talk at length and with spirit about all that transpired.
Some may argue that it is because of the oil and Venezuela only, since we are less than a million people and as primitive as can be found anywhere. But we think that this is deeper than that, and apart from the usual considerations of the oil, since the same was the claim and contention almost two decades ago, relative to the invasion of Iraq. That has since fallen flat on the weight of its weaknesses. Though the most altruistic of reasons may never be accurately or comfortably ascribed to the motives and handiworks of world powers, in this instance, the Americans have to be given the benefit of the doubt, if only in their willingness in saying the right things, standing for what is acceptable by any honest measurement, and leading the charge for a result that passes muster in terms of its rightness. To do otherwise would have been criminally collusive.
As all of this is examined holistically, and with review of the obscene way all this has unfolded, it should not be mistaken for, or compared to, any road to Emmaus. That it was not, for there were skullduggeries and enough subterfuges to share between the principal players, all of whom were lacking in the principles most needed, when demanded.
Into these vacuums of power, the Americans have been unrelenting in their interests, unflagging in their efforts, and unmistakable in their objectives. Those are: do it cleanly. Do it accurately. Just get it done.

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