Beware of Americans bearing gifts

Mar 11, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

I remind fellow Guyanese of that familiar: beware of those bringing gifts. I speak not of Greeks, but my fellow Americans, who are poised to invade and overrun Guyana. As said before, I prefer them to the Easterners, who play the long game, which I think will triumph eventually. I say this because the Americans are coming in droves, but they could just as quickly be going: permanent interests, never permanent friends.
Today, the converted capitalist PPP government is beside itself with joy. It should, as the Americans don’t care what it does here. How it savages standards, quietly discards regulations, purposely ignores all those recommendations in those reports from the EU, CARICOM, and the other champions of democracy. Like state ownership and control of media. Such as dark money campaign financing. And of clean governance. There is only scorn for and dismissal of those kinds of things. Just too much money to be made, and by any means available. As a quick aside, I detect that the cocaine cowboys are back in action, which is a resuscitated part of the vast, and still expanding, world of Guyanese entrepreneurship and business opportunity. I like it and am tempted, but stay with the straight and narrow.
While government and Guyanese rejoice over pronouncements and presences of ballooning American interests, I caution that, should circumstances provide the openings, those same Americans that come under various covers (joint chambers, joint ventures, joint relationships) could be gone in a jiffy. I say this because our resources are a nice rich sideshow to sort out positioning and readying for the real big one. That is Venezuela with the largest known reserves anywhere. Exxon repositioning for emphasis on here is prospering in the short term, but on a limited scale. There is Venezuela and its own gargantuan oil basin in Orinoco and Maracaibo; what Guyanese call ‘big fish’, the real one. Move over Permian.
Editor, sooner than later, the Americans and Venezuelans will have to come to their senses and appreciate that both are hurting each other, most of all themselves. There are better ways to go about things, friendlier ways to engage. Look at how wise (and near) Exxon would prove to be: talk about two sweetness out of one bone. Now all of that may be over the heads of Guyanese who pretend at lack of understanding, including PPP chiefs. But this little morsel may help. The Saudis and Russians (these people just don’t go away) are talking how not to repeat the mistakes of the past. There is danger there. It requires a counterweight, an assured energy one. Well, it is right here, meaning mainly over there in Venezuela; something has to give in what has been MAD; that is, Mutually Assured Damage. That is where the action is going to be.
As I share this, I urge my fellow Guyanese basking in the glow of American interest. Be warned. Be careful. We could be left holding the bag.

Yours truely,
GHK Lall

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