Donald Ramotar speaks, listen up Guyanese

Jan 12, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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(Kaieteur News) – When former President Donald Ramotar speaks these days, I listen.  He is due a hearing, and I urge Guyanese to listen.  His latest contribution drips with pragmatism, warns of the precautionary steps that other nations may embark upon, and then what?  That contradiction -controlled or calculated chaos?  Or a freefall into a free-for-all?  I think it is some combination of the two, with the outlook taking on grimmer coloration.

The US is struggling, hustling, to recover what has been fading slowly, then at increasing speeds, for a long time now.  The US’ Venezuelan adventure, according to Excellency Ramotar, could prompt other nations to beef up their defenses as self-protective measures, a confidence-instilling move that is the right of every sovereignty, part and parcel of its national self-determination visions.  The US is wracked with debt, living on international credit cards, and dodges making the hard choices relative to budgets and spending.  It compensates, however, by coveting the birthright of weaker nations, and then moving like it did on Maduro and Venezuela.  I leave to the experts to wade through what may have been the primary objective of the Maduro extraction (‘abduction’) -snaring an alleged drug lord, or the thick liquid stuff in the Orinoco basin.  Plus, of course, all the hundreds of billions of rebuilding and refurbishing that are begging to get started.

Whatever has to be said straight up is so said.  When Maduro and Venezuela are the first stop, who and where are the second and third?  I don’t think it is Greenland, notwithstanding all the clamors and alarms.  When smaller countries feel vulnerable, exposed to overweening covetousness, it is only natural for them to be self-protective, i.e., to arm, prepare for any eventuality, while hoping that deterrents actually deter.  It is easy for leaders whose are vested in their own personal interests to use the fear of foreign encroachment as the camouflage to solidify their own position, being more repressive at home.  The US, through that projection of imperial power, Exxon, struck liquid gold here in Guyana, but that was never going to satisfy the lust for the 30 times larger prize not too far from here.  Guyana’s cost to Exxon’s petty cashbox is a lousy 2% and some sleight of hand held up as half and half profit sharing.  Venezuela’s far bigger attraction is now free, though heavy and sulphureous.  What Maracaibo oil can’t compete with Guyana oil in terms of quality, it is the runaway champion by sheer quantity.

I am taking Excellency Ramotar’s comments (Venezuela, Gaza, and such) as the offering of an elder statesman speaking for himself.  I do not see him in the mold of a PPP Govt mole, giving the party cover for what is said by someone else, admittedly one of its own.  Unsaid and untouched by Mr. Ramotar was what about other world powers who energise their own ideas and ambitions about the territory and riches of other nations within their sphere of influence.  The US has set a precedent, pushed a ball, that may open a whole new dimension in hemispheric relations and anxieties.  It could be the ball that never stops rolling, with bigger, more powerful neighbours, squeezing weaker ones, redrawing more than maps.  The entire balance of relationships is predicated on respect for borders, the mandate to coexist peacefully.  Whither that, then?

Have these now gone out of the window?  When the US, unquestionably the world leader, delivers this unilateral, blatant exercise of raw power in violation of existing norms, it is expecting too much for the competition to standstill and be content with mere saber-rattling.  It is just a matter of time, but in the competition for global dominance, some close challenger of the US is going to make its move, confident that the US has no real cards to counter, given its Caracas assault.  Maduro is gone, only I don’t like how.  Maduro is gone, but there are a million mini-Maduros in waiting.

It would have been healthy and inspiring to hear Pres. Ali, VP Jagdeo, or AG Nandlall speak instead of former president Ramotar.  The PPP was never one to be silent whenever there was ‘internal meddling’ and such.  Oil and the cravings for power by any mean and at any price have now frozen the throats of the three great Guyanese singled out from the current government for special mention.  A precedent has been set, and it has put the world in peril.

(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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• Donald Ramotar, GHK Lall, precautionary steps, US-Venezuelan

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