Guyana’s participation at the 9th Summit Americas was self-evident

Jun 01, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

If anyone had any doubts about Guyana’s participation in the 9th Summit of the Americas to be held from 6-10 June in the United States those doubts have since been put to rest by President Ali’s confirmation on May 22, 2022, that Guyana will attend. There are some antecedents to this decision.

Following a meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Belize from 1-2 March, 2022 a communique was issued declaring publicly that, ‘CARICOM will not attend the Summit if Cuba were excluded and/or if a Mr. Guaido was invited.’ The US government was so informed.

On April 20, 2022, Christopher Dodd, Special Adviser to the US President for the Summit held a virtual meeting concerning the Summit with President Ali. This was part of the Biden administration’s lobbying effort to encourage Guyana to attend the Summit.

Soon after invitations had been issued to CARICOM Heads of Government, consultations were initiated on the question of participation, the agenda and farming out of the seven topics to Heads as Lead Presenters. But the fundamental question that had to be settled was the issue of attendance in the light of the US government’s decision to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

On May 11, 2022, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines wrote to John Briceno, Prime Minister of Belize and Chairman of CARICOM stating, ‘I urge my colleagues in CARICOM not to attend the Summit. I realize that it is a difficult decision, but, our American friends have left us with no other credible, principled and practical choice. We may yet have to persuade them to alter their posture.’

Indications are that PM Gonsalves’ appeal was ignored by some of his colleagues. While it is clear that some will attend, others will stay away. The end result being a divided CARICOM once again.

Whether those CARICOM governments who are holding out are doing so as leverage to wrest some economic or financial concession from the host, or, to fulfill an unfulfilled commitment or simply as a matter of principle is anyone’s guess.

The 9th Summit has on its agenda topics such as; A green future and clean energy; Fostering youth participation in politics; Economic prosperity, Democratic governance; COVID 19 recovery and pandemic resilience; Migration; and Transforming the western hemisphere’s digital Infrastructure.

It is expected that Guyana’s delegation led by the President, and may comprise of the Vice President, and ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Health, Home Affairs, the Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and other officials.

It is interesting to note that three stakeholder fora for dialogue have been included in the Summit’s programme of activities, these include, the Fourth CEO Summit of the Americas, the Sixth Young Americans Forum and the Ninth Civil Society Forum. It is envisaged that governments will facilitate participation of representatives from the local business community, youth organizations and civil society.

As far as Guyana’s attendance is concerned, there should have been no second guessing whether or not it would have been at Los Angeles.

The thrust of the Irfan Ali administration’s foreign policy was laid down in the PPP/C’s 2020 election manifesto. Unlike the more expansive sections treating with critical and relevant foreign policy issues in previous manifestos, the 2020 manifesto captures in just two brief paragraphs what portends to be an incoming PPP/C government foreign policy priorities. Under the head ‘Securing our Sovereignty/ Strengthening our International Relations,’ the PPP/C declared inter alia in favour of strengthening ‘bilateral ties with our neighbours and friendly countries and multilateral organizations.’

While Venezuela is one of Guyana’s three neighbouring countries, having regard to the attitude of the US towards the Maduro administration and given the fact that the controversy is now with the ICJ and the limited thrust of the Ali administration’s foreign policy, these elements combined, indicate that it would not be in Guyana’s interest to advocate in favour of Venezuela’s participation at the Summit at this point in time.

In the light of US foreign policy towards the Ortega administration in Nicaragua and looked at through the prism of Guyana’s extant foreign policy, Nicaragua would not qualify as a friendly country, therefore, it would be foolhardy were Guyana to push, much less call for Nicaragua’s participation at the Summit.

And while Cuba is not a neighbouring country, it certainly qualifies with high marks as a friendly country to Guyana at both the bilateral and regional levels.

In its 2015 election manifesto, the PPP/C;

‘Acknowledged the invaluable assistance of the Cuban government to the development of our human resources; continue to take advantage of scholarship offers and develop with Cuba a mutually beneficiary tertiary education training programme, particularly in the area of post-graduate medicine.’

And while Cuba may not be interested in attending the Summit so long as Venezuela and Nicaragua are excluded, given the historical antecedents and extraordinarily high degree of functional cooperation between Guyana and Cuba, it was generally expected that Guyana would have adopted a firmer and principled stand, particularly with respect to Cuba’s exclusion from the Summit. In an effort to appease the countries who have threatened not to attend the Summit, signals are emerging of an intent to consider inviting Cuba to attend but not at the level of President’s nor Foreign Minister. This palliative is bound to be rejected.

The long-standing controversial US-Cuba relations aside, Guyana’s attendance should be viewed as a expression of realpolitik and the superiority of its primordial interests that has dictated its participation at the Summit.

While the ideological factor should not be discounted, at the bottom line is Guyana-US relations. This became obvious in the light of the strong backing the PPP/C received from the US on the eve of the March 2020 election, during the March – August 2020 attempt by the APNU+AFC to thwart the will of the electorate and following the assumption to office by the Ali administration.

For a host of reasons, save the 1962- 1992 period while the PPP was in opposition, the stormy relationship following the July 2014 episodic ‘feral blast’, and questions about the ABC&E’s role in the 2015 election, the USA would, nevertheless, qualify as one of the countries with whom Guyana has, over a number of years, enjoyed friendly and cordial relations.

Under the Ali administration, Guyana/US relations reached a high point. This was first demonstrated just a few weeks after the new administration assumed office when it signaled its support for Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US candidate for the post of President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Momentum in the relationship was further buttressed by a two-day visit to Guyana in September 2020, by the then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who, while in Georgetown, sought to stir controversy in respect to China’s role in Guyana in particular and the Caribbean in general.

During Pompeo’s visit, he reaffirmed the US government’s support for Guyana’s sovereignty particularly in respect to the controversy with Venezuela. His visit saw the signing of an ‘MOU for Private Sector Investment in Infrastructure;’ a ‘Shiprider Agreement’; a donation of US$2m in equipment and patrol boats; a MOU on ‘Growth In The Americas Initiative;’ and US$5m to help with the resettlement of Venezuelans in Guyana. Pompeo also expressed appreciation for Guyana’s statements of support in respect to ‘the democratic values and principles’ as per Venezuela through the OAS and the now defunct ‘Lima Group.’

Prior to Pompeo’s arrival, VP Jagdeo at a press conference held on September 16, 2020 had assured, “We have grave concerns about democracy anywhere where it is violated including in Venezuela.”

And in a statement issued on the occasion of Pompeo’s visit President Ali was quoted as saying; “We support the need for free and fair elections in our hemisphere. With urgency, we believe that democratic values and principles should be respected in Venezuela as well.

In March this year, following the change of administration in the US, Barbara Feinstein, US Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for the Caribbean and Haiti paid an official visit to Guyana. According to a statement issued by the US Embassy in Georgetown, the DAS’ visit ‘underscores the continued importance the US places on the US/Guyanese partnership.’

It is obvious that the DAS in her conversations with stakeholders did raise the ‘Guyana Democracy, Human Rights and Governance Assessment’ for USAID, an independent federal government agency that receives policy guidance from the Secretary of State.

This appeared to be the case because VP Jagdeo at a press conference following Feinstein’s visit, reported that he had assured the DAS that, ‘’We are going to work with the international community and all the parties including the APNU in the parliament to strengthen the laws surrounding the conduct of elections to remove discretion and the room for capricious behaviour by any election official.”

And at a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of USAID and Peace Corps, President Ali declared that the objective of the Guyana-US strategic partnership, the values and principles with the US organizations; ‘… is to understand where the country is heading, and for us together, to develop the vehicle that will take us there.’

The aforementioned events characterize the current nature of Guyana/US relations and should be placed in the context of a long-standing assurance that; “The US is ready to partner with Guyana especially when big decisions are to be faced on moving forward in future prosperity.”

The cosy Guyana/US relations notwithstanding, it should be borne in mind that alarm bells were rung earlier in the day when the ‘Jamaica Gleaner’ newspaper in a editorial published on March 16, 2022, headlined ‘Foreign Policy lesson in Ukraine War’ said,

‘Pursuing a principled foreign policy isn’t always easy and has, at times, been costly to Jamaica. But over the long run, it has proven more beneficial and afforded us more respect and greater influence than at the periods when we have surrendered to the whims of transactional relations.

In the latter circumstances, you are liable to be thrown under the bus.’

Yours faithfully,

Clement J. Rohee

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs