There is no alternative to negotiating a defense treaty with the United States

Oct 21, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor

Bernard Ramsay’s argument is my prompt to write this 300-word commentary as follows:

A study of the behavior, including saber rattling, by Venezuela’s leader, should force Guyanese leaders to conclude that diplomacy with Maduro will not work. Here Bernard Ramsay makes the same old, already tried and disproven, argument.

Bernard should be more realistic with the danger on Guyana’s border. Not only to forget about diplomacy, but also about ramping up Guyana’s and Caricom’s army, thinking you can defend yourself against Venezuela’s army, some 30-times larger than Guyana’s and Caricom’s combined. Guyana has an 11-billion barrel oil reserve. That makes it vulnerable (just as Kuwait once was) – other bigger neighbouring countries will be tempted to start a war – with or without a valid excuse to start a war to seize those resources. So, it makes a whole lot of good sense to negotiate a Defense Treaty with the United States.

A Defense Treaty does not invite war; it is protection against a neighbourhood bully.

Guyana’s ruling party’s leaders probably believe having an American Company Exxon drilling your oil will automatically give you protection. That’s a pie-in-the-sky expectation. Only a Defense Treaty with a Superpower will give you protection.

It is probable that Exxon is deliberately deluding Guyana’s leaders with this false idea – making it easier for Exxon to cheat Guyana of over $100 billion on 11 billion barrels of oil. It goes like this: ‘If the Guyanese people believe the State gets automatic protection – because an American company is drilling your oil, there will be no willingness on the part of its leaders to ask for Renegotiation of a horribly lopsided contract’. The solution to this dilemma is: (1) Negotiate a Defense Treaty with the United States; and (2) Muster the courage to demand Renegotiation of the oil contract for FV, fair value, for your oil resource.

Regards
Mike Persaud

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