America is for itself

Aug 01, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News- Someone once said that in relations between countries, there are no permanent friends or enemies, just interests.  Guyana’s and the Caribbean’s relations with the United States of America (USA) has never been about friendship; the USA has dictated the terms of those relations based exclusively on its interests.

The US interests in the Caribbean has always been about security – first in terms of maintaining the Region as its sphere of influence and limiting left-wing governments; and second in respect to other security threats such as narco-trafficking, HIV-AIDS and illegal migration. Any economic assistance which the United States has offered the Caribbean has been within the context of this framework.

President Ali’s optimism therefore that the US is ending its traditional neglect of the Caribbean is misplaced. The United States has always treated the Caribbean as a pawn. It has dictated the nature and scope of its relations with the Caribbean with little or no input from regional leaders.

The continuing economic genocidal US embargo on Cuba and the US’ refusal to relent with its policy of economic aggression against that country stands as the clearest indication that the US has no interest other than keeping the Caribbean as part of its backyard on its terms and its terms alone.

Cuba remains the litmus test of US relations to the Region. Any change in US relations to the Caribbean – economically or otherwise – would be meaningless unless the United States drastically alters its policy towards Cuba.

President Ali would have had the opportunity, while in Washington, to emphasise his government’s rejection of US policy towards Cuba. But it is almost certain that Cuba never entered his thoughts much less to be mentioned in his discourse with the Biden administration.

The United States has no major economic interests in the Caribbean. Even the large-scale discovery of oil by Guyana will not change that position. The United States is a global superpower. Relatively speaking, its economic assistance to the Caribbean historically has been negligible.  The US is interested in stemming the movement of narcotics, through the Caribbean to its shores.

When the United States launched the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Caribbean – which lies on the United States doorstep – was listed as the country with the second highest rate of HIV in the world. The PEPFAR initiative was therefore aimed at reducing the risk of infections spreading from the Caribbean to the USA.  HIV became a national security interest and PEPFAR was aimed at US national security interests and not primarily at helping the Caribbean.

Migration is now a major national security threat. Hordes of migrants from Central America are massing on the US borders. This has become a major national security threat. The US is adopting measures to stem this tidal wave of migrants overland.  In the past, the major migrant threat came from Haitians and Cubans making the treacherous journey, often in makeshift vessels, by sea to reach US shores.

President Kennedy launched an initiative known as the Alliance for Progress. It was intended for Latin America and was disguised as anti-poverty and pro-literacy programme. It was an abysmal failure whose true aim was in response to the Cuban Revolution. The Alliance for Progress was intended to discourage Latin America countries from adopting the socialist model of the Cuban Revolution. It led to a reign of terror in Latin America and strongman rule, whether by co-incidence or consequence.

Following the 1983 invasion of Grenada, the Americans launched the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). Guyana was excluded because Burnham had taken a strong stand against the invasion. The Plan which was first proposed by former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Edward Seaga was intended to boost private investment and private sector development. But it was also part of a shift from aid to trade by the Reagan administration. Following the CBI, aid flows to the Caribbean declined in the 1990s.

Unlike what President Ali feels, there has been no shift in US policy towards the Caribbean. Biden has continued the hardline policy against Cuba adopted under Donald Trump. And the bulk of the assistance which Biden has requested from Congress for the Caribbean (US$66M) goes to the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative to fight narco-trafficking and terrorism.

The largest increase in US assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean is projected to go to combat the movement of migrants from Central America: Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The US is spending to protect its borders from illegal immigrants, not on the economic development of the Region.

In fact, Guyana is not likely to receive more than the US$200M in assistance which was allocated to it in 2021. So President Ali has to be less optimistic about a shift in US policy.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

 

 

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