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Venezuela’s referendum

Sep 24, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – It certainly is a clever development, that referendum by Venezuela on its spurious claims to Guyana’s territory.  What is being held out as a referendum is really a ruse.  It is a ruse to rile up its citizens already experiencing severe economic distress.  It is a ruse to make struggling, and unhappy, Venezuelans, cast a fierce glance at Guyana’s Essequibo and wonder why…  It is a ruse by calculating Venezuelan politicians to shift the attention of their citizens from the plights of their country, and get them to think of all that could be.

This referendum announced by the Venezuelans have less to do with boosting its position in the court of international opinion, and more to do with playing with the minds of its hard-hit peoples.  This is what ruling politicians do when they are cornered and have nowhere to turn or go.  By placing the disputed territorial issue on a referendum footing, the first objective is to manipulate the bulk of the ordinary Venezuelan citizenry to a specific state of mind.  Then, it is to whip them into a frenzy against Guyana for its readiness to hold on to what is rightfully its own.  Next, it is to channel their gaze at Guyana’s determination to resist any and all encroachments of Venezuela, and thus wrongfully deny them of their much-needed treasures.

Inside the fertile minds of Venezuelan politicians, there is full awareness of the toughness of the circumstances of their citizens due to sanctions that have crippled their national economy.  By pointing to vast and disputed territory that is rich in prospects, so many compelling baits are dangled.  First, and according to the schemes of those behind the referendum, it is look at Guyana and that is part of the sacred birthright of Venezuelans, then just study the present conditions under which we live. Second, to get the Venezuelans worked up, this referendum ruse manoeuvres those who are naïve and gullible in the Venezuelan population to what is going on in Guyana by leaps and bounds, with exploration and production announcements making the rounds almost daily.  In other words, there are all those riches over there in Guyana, and they all belong to struggling and starving and sinking Venezuelans.  Unsaid, at least in the public sphere, is why should Guyanese prosper, while Venezuelans are forced to live in the mud and muck of poverty.  Worse, and this is what is embedded in the referendum, is that Guyana is, for all intents and purposes, guilty of the ongoing plunder and pillage of the rich assets that are part of the ancient Venezuelan heritage.

When we at this publication consider all of this that could very well be integral parts of this referendum ruse, what is reinforced, yet again, is how powerful political forces in Venezuela absorb what is happening in Guyana, and craft responses to ensure that their people appreciate how they are being cheated.  A referendum generates rage at Guyana, no matter how muted, how camouflaged.  A referendum for a national cause such as huge territory fuses the people together, and makes them discard existing convictions about politicians who they believe have failed them.  There is land to explore; there is richness of what is known to be present in prodigious quantities, be it gold or timber or other precious minerals.  It takes people of a particular bloodless kind not to be excited and energized about what could be there for them.  A referendum not only drags the issue to the front and center, it also gives each Venezuelan a stake in what is made out to be their lost patrimony, now being depleted by daily developments in Guyana.  It is not just a lost national patrimony, but a stolen one, and one that is being parceled out and auctioned and bartered about, on an ongoing basis.

There is plenty beneath this Venezuelan referendum development, none of which is favourable to Guyana.  It is, therefore, of the highest importance, the most urgent consideration, that Guyanese politicians and the sum of the Guyanese people, come quickly to the fullest understanding of the significance of this referendum.  All Guyanese must appreciate what the nuanced objectives are, the threats they pose.

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