A warning to President Ali on U.S. Overtures

Jan 29, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Peeping Tom…

Kaieteur News- It remains unknown what President Ali told the U.S. Secretary of State during their recent discussion. But one can only hope he reminded him of the United States’ culpability in the Venezuelan migrant crisis.

The bitter irony is that America has been responsible for the migrant crisis. For years, the United States has waged economic and political warfare on Venezuela, leaving the country ravaged and its citizens fleeing by the millions. Now, with its usual gall, the U.S. seeks to involve Guyana to “address” a crisis it not only exacerbated but orchestrated.

Diplomacy often requires courtesy, even toward those whose actions have wrought misery upon millions. President Ali, no doubt, extended that courtesy to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

But let us not mistake diplomacy for deference. Guyana must be wary of the trap laid before it. The U.S. is not offering partnership to solve the migrant crisis; it is outsourcing responsibility for a disaster of its own making.

The seeds of Venezuela’s economic turmoil were planted long before the fall in oil prices in 2014. Ever since Hugo Chávez rose to power, the United States had sought to destabilize Venezuela. Chávez’s move to nationalize key sectors of the oil industry—a decision that aimed to wrest control from foreign corporations and redistribute wealth—was met with swift resistance.

The so-called strike by oil executives, which disrupted the country’s lifeline industry, was no spontaneous act of dissent. It was part of a coordinated plan backed by Washington to undermine the Chávez government.

When that failed, the U.S. turned to more overt means of interference. A short-lived coup, almost laughably amateurish in its execution, saw Chávez briefly removed from power before loyalists reinstated him.

Yet, the U.S. did not relent. Under President Obama, sanctions began tightening their grip around Venezuela’s economy. These sanctions, expanded to suffocating extremes under Donald Trump, were not merely punitive measures; they were calculated acts of economic warfare. Senior U.S. officials openly acknowledged that the sanctions would exacerbate Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis, predicting a surge in migrants fleeing the country.

For the United States to now approach Guyana with promises of cooperation on the migrant crisis is barefaced. Marco Rubio, has the temerity to present the U.S. as lending a helping hand to a problem it created.

Guyana, with its surging GDP, thanks to newfound oil wealth, is being positioned as a convenient receptacle for displaced Venezuelans—a buffer zone to prevent these migrants from making the perilous journey through Central America and Mexico to reach the U.S.

The U.S. has no genuine interest in resolving the migrant crisis. Its primary concern is to shield itself from the consequences of its own actions. By offloading the responsibility onto Guyana, it seeks to divert attention from its long history of interference in Latin America, where economic destabilization has been a favoured tool of domination.

President Ali must tread cautiously. Guyana’s recent economic windfall has made it a target for foreign powers with self-serving agendas. The U.S., under the guise of partnership, will attempt to exploit Guyana’s resources and strategic position.

Accepting American overtures on the migrant crisis risks entangling in problems not of its making.

Guyana’s priority must be to protect its own national interests. This means resisting any arrangement that seeks to shift the burden of Venezuela’s migrants onto its shoulders.

Guyana has its own developmental challenges that demand urgent attention. Diverting resources to address a crisis engineered by the United States would be a disservice to the Guyanese people. Accepting hundreds of thousands of economic migrants will place an unbearable strain on social services.

President Ali must also recognize the broader implications of aligning too closely with Washington. The U.S. has no permanent allies, only permanent interests. Today, it seeks to use Guyana as a buffer state; tomorrow, it may turn its back when Guyana faces its own challenges, including from any new Venezuelan government that may be sympathetic to the US but wish wishes to get its hands on the Essequibo.

Instead of succumbing to U.S. pressure, Guyana should demand America acknowledges its role in destabilizing Venezuela. Let Secretary Rubio be reminded that the U.S. recognized an unelected political figure, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela’s president, all while decrying alleged electoral fraud without providing evidence. Let him explain how sanctions that crippled Venezuela’s economy were justified when they only served to punish the Venezuelan people.

To accept U.S. “cooperation” on the migrant crisis is to allow the narrative to shift away from American culpability and toward a façade of benevolence. Guyana must refuse to play this role.

Guyana must reject U.S. overtures on the migrant crisis and remind the world that the United States is no innocent bystander. It is the architect of Venezuela’s economic collapse and the principal cause of the migrant exodus. To engage with the U.S. on this issue without addressing its culpability is to betray one’s conscience.

Guyana must instead advocate for a regional solution to the migrant crisis—one led by Latin American and Caribbean nations, free from the overbearing influence of Washington. Such an approach would place humanitarian needs over geopolitical manoeuvring.

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

(A warning to President Ali on U.S. Overtures)

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• America, Chávez government, destabilize Venezuela, Peeping Tom, Venezuelan migrant crisis

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