Prevent Venezuela from annexing Guyana’s oil-rich territory

All indications are that Venezuela is set to use its military might to annex a huge chunk of Guyana’s sovereign oil-rich offshore territorial waters. With the Guyana Defence Force no match for Venezuela's arsenal of fighter jets, tanks, vessels and troops, the only strategic option available is to immediately seek the protection of the United States, with an urgent request for U.S. military aircraft carriers to be deployed off Guyana’s Atlantic coast. 

President Barack Obama has already officially listed Venezuela as a threat to the national security of the United States and consequently sanctioned seven of the Spanish-speaking nation’s officials for human rights abuses. There can be no denying that any threat to America’s national security from Venezuela is also a threat to Guyana’s as well, given the fact that U.S. companies will be spearheading Guyana’s evolving oil industry.

In early May 2015, U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil announced the discovery of significant deposits of oil in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. With a population of under a million, the new oil industry could propel Guyana from a little-known Third World 83,000 square-miles nation, into economic supremacy.

Venezuela, which has an illegal claim to a major part of Guyana’s territory, is upset over its neighbour’s recent historic discovery of “elephant oil wells” offshore, which the Guyana government has said are comparable to those of West Africa. With the discovery of oil in Guyana in such mind-boggling quantities, President Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela is finding it difficult to concede that the geo-political landscape in the Caribbean is about to change forever.

In his desperation to stifle Guyana's development and maintain the balance of power, President Maduro has taken the road of psycho-politics by way of a decree extending its territorial claim to include most of Guyana's territorial waters, effectively land locking the country.

                                                          Venezuelan military jets

Raphael Trotman, Guyana’s Minister of Governance, defied Venezuela’s threats of aggression in a parliamentary speech this week, warning Maduro not to underestimate Guyana’s desire to defend itself. Minister Trotman must not only be commended, but should communicate Guyana’s official position through diplomatic channels to whip up international opposition against all acts of aggression towards Guyana by the Venezuelans.

Of note too, is the fact that the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/Civic) should be in parliament so that Guyana can speak with a united voice on this subject of national defence. Even if the PPP/C has a problem with the election results, it should realize that boycotting parliament, in protest of losing a free and fear election, at a time when the country is facing an imminent invasion from a more powerful neighbour, only makes Guyana appear weaker in the eyes of the Venezuelans.

Ironically, any aggression by Venezuela could destabilize the already fragile economic climate in the Spanish-speaking nation which has seen its fair share of discontent and domesttic unrest because of shortages of basic necessities. Perhaps the hand-picked successor to late leftist President Hugo Chavez feels that annexation of sovereign territory is a quick fix to his country’s economic woos.

Quoting verbatim from The Globe and Mail, one of Canada’s leading newspapers: “In the serene private clubs of Caracas, there is no milk, and the hiss of the cappuccino machine has fallen silent. In the slums, the lights go out every few days, or the water stops running. In the grocery stores, both state-run shops and expensive delicatessens, customers barter information: I saw soap here, that store has rice today. The oil engineers have immigrated to Calgary, the soap opera stars fled to Mexico and Colombia. And in the beauty parlours of this nation obsessed with elaborate grooming, women both rich and poor have cut back to just one blow-dry or manicure each week.” (With oil economy running on fumes, Venezuela on the edge of the apocalypse: The Globe and Mail, Toronto, February 12, 2014)

Ever since Guyana's new government assumed power on May 11, 2015, led by retired Brigadier, President David Granger, Guyana has told Venezuela in no uncertain terms that it will use all the national, regional and international resources available to it to protect its territorial integrity.

                                                   A Guyana Defence Force helicopter

Back in the late the 1980s when former president of Guyana Desmond Hoyte implemented his Economic Recovery Program (ERP), backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government was restricted from military spending and was forced to focus on economic development. Consequently, the Guyana Defence Force suffered severely from a lack of funding to purchase modern aircraft and vessels. With this in mind, it is imperative that Guyana uses the projected profits from its recently discovered oil to retool the Coast Guard and the Guyana Defence Force Air Corps to effectively challenge any offensive from Venezuela.                                    

The May 2015 decree by President Maduro to extend Venezuela's original territorial claim to a major portion of Guyana's territory, to include the English-speaking nation's vital offshore waters, is a blatant attempt at ensuring that Guyana remains underdeveloped for another 40 years and dependent on Venezuelan oil. 

                                            

A Blueprint for a Modern Guyana

There is no doubt that any Guyanese who is truly interested in the long-term #development of Guyana, would agree that the May 11 elections that brought the much anticipated coalition government to power, has exorcised the stranglehold that hovered over the nation for the past 60 decades.

Unfortunately, some #Guyanese who still embrace the old order in which Guyana was historically polarized by blind ethnic loyalties that sacrificed tangible wide-scale development for five-year elections-based projects, would have no problem fighting for the maintenance of  winner-takes-all governmental rule.

As a journalist with the #Guyana Chronicle in the 1990s, I travelled to every part of Guyana except to the New River Triangle area. I can categorically state that the country is so vast and diverse that no one political party can effectively develop all 83,000 square miles alone. The irony is that Guyana is probably one of richest countries in the world based on the natural resources that lie beneath its surface and above ground, when compared to its population of only about 750,000 people.

The title, ‘A Blueprint for A Modern Guyana’, was chosen against the backdrop that with a reasonably well educated population, untapped natural resources, a stable political climate and excellent relations with the world biggest economies, political will is probably the single most important factor that will determine if Guyana will once again regain its place as the breadbasket of the Caribbean.

A comprehensive program is needed to decentralize government services so that citizens don’t need to travel to the capital city Georgetown for anything except to visit relatives. It is time that a zoological park is opened in Berbice and in Essequibo so that students don’t have to travel to Georgetown just to view and learn about the abundance of rich wildlife and fish that Guyana boasts of. Other components of this proposed blue print include:

An Infrastructure development blitz

The lack of a modern network of paved highways that criss-cross Guyana, interconnecting every region, is perhaps the single most hindrance to national development. 

Thousands of youth employment opportunities will be generated for several years to come with public spending on massive public infrastructure projects like building paved Western-style highways connecting, for example, the North West District to the Essequibo Coast; bridging the Essequibo River at the narrowest points; a light cargo railway network linking Kwakwani, Ituni, Linden and Kuru Kururu for agricultural produce coming out of the Intermediate Savannas for export; and with the anticipation of at least two refineries to process the newly discovered #oil in a few years’ time, it would make economic sense to build a large state-of-the-art International Airport where inter-continental jetliners can land and refuel at internationally competitive  tax-free rates.

Trade Liberalization

Successive governments have come into office with great intentions. However, when the honeymoon was over, they adopted 'unnecessary bureaucratic regulations' that they inherited, as the norm in conducting commerce. Among the major announcements that should be made in Guyana’s 2015 National Budget are: the immediate elimination of the tax compliance certificate requirement by the Guyana Revenue Authority when buying and selling vehicles and properties. If the application for compliance certificates is abolished and replaced with a flat tax, domestic trade would skyrocket and revenue to the treasury from the flat tax will increase substantially. Additionally, commercial cargo vehicles, including trucks and vans transporting agricultural produce from East Berbice to Georgetown and from West Demerara to Georgetown, should be allowed to cross the Berbice and Demerara bridges free, on a round-trip, two-days a week between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Rebranding the Guyana Police Force

The decentralization of policing in Guyana needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, meaning that more autonomy needs to be given to the various police divisions to effectively reduce the rate of violent crime. I took care not to say, "to reduce crime" because I believe that the police cannot reduce #crime. An unusually high crime rate is symptomatic of a wider societal breakdown of norms; poverty; joblessness; marginalization; and general hopelessness.                                                        

The police force needs to be restructured to create a new position of several commissioner of police to head each police division thus replacing the title of commander. Consequently, the current commissioner of police based at Eve Leary, would be called Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Police and should merely set policy, set macro targets for national policing and implement policy directives of the Minister of National Security. These individual commissioners should have the power to conduct their own recruitment exercises to meet the demands of their particular environment; conduct their own independent criminal investigations without central interference; and make independent decisions without having to refer to headquarters for every little issue.

Emergence Response Network

One of the main frustrations that has plagued citizens is the lack of a reliable 911 service. There is an urgent need for the implementation of emergency response communications centres in each of the 10 administrative regions where persons can call 911 in the event of an emergency. A highly trained operator would answer the call and connect the emergency to either the Guyana Fire Service, the Guyana Police Force or Ministry of Health's Ambulance Service while keeping the caller on the line until help arrives. This system would ensure accountability and would result in a faster response rate because the call would only be disconnected after the relevant personnel arrive on the scene. While I acknowledge that this elaborate and innovative system would require dozens of new ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles, a cohesive emergency response communications network would allow immediate contact with police, fire and ambulance services via radio instead of telephone landlines. 

Re-establishing Guyana's Influence In The International Sphere

The recent overture by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to invoke the ghost of the border dispute with Guyana, which was laid to rest in 1899 with a United Nations Arbitration Award, where Venezuela was one of the mail pallbearers, is symptomatic of how far Guyana’s profile in the international sphere has slid over the past few decades.

Some elements opposed to this view might argue that this is not the case, but in international relations, perception is reality. Simply put, governments make decisions based on perceptions, even if they are proved wrong later. Venezuela took advantage of the weakness of Guyana’s position as a mere follower in global initiatives instead of a leader as in the days of the Non-Aligned Movement and the early days of CARICOM.

While on the surface it might seem that President Maduro’s dangerous gamble is just intended to rejuvenate the disgruntled masses in Venezuela for political gain, a clear message must be sent to the neighbouring republic, that Guyanese will solicit international, but more particularly, western military might to ensure that every drop of Exxon-extracted oil off-shore Guyana, remains in Guyana’s hands.

There can be no doubt that Venezuela’s recent decree extending its territorial claim to effectively make Guyana landlocked, was done in the context of testing the military psychology of President David Granger because of his military background. Venezuela now sees an opportunity to draw international attention by playing chicken with Brigadier Granger. No matter how it goes down, Guyana should not blink first.

As a matter of national priority, Guyana should, without delay, launch a global diplomatic offence with President Granger; Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge, meeting the international media overseas and trying to build global awareness of Venezuela’s threat to Guyana’s territorial integrity. The time is opportune to establish a coalition of nations prepared to sign a multilateral treaty with Guyana guaranteeing its protection, just like the arrangement between the United States and Israel.

Re-establishing Guyana’s lost influence in the international sphere can only be achieved with the complete restructuring and refocusing of Guyana’s foreign policy in keeping with 2015 realities, and an increasingly globalized world. The first order of business must be to identify and determine what Guyana’s foreign policy is; what the foreign policy objectives are and how these can be achieved. In my mind, any strategic foreign policy has to be based on common interest and not automatic alignment.

It is time to re-open Guyana’s foreign missions that were closed post-1992 if, after careful analysis, the current realities dictate that that course of action be taken. Additionally, the culture of appointing party comrades as Heads of Missions must cease, despite which party comes to power. Guyana needs to rebuild its Foreign Service and identify a pool of front-line ambassadors who can head missions because they are career public servants and skilled negotiators.

While the focus of Guyana’s overseas missions should be to represent the interests of Guyanese living abroad, its other main function is that of facilitating visits of foreign investors who are interested in participating in Guyana’s huge economic potential. As a consequence of the aforementioned, all missions should have vibrant and well-funded economic and public affairs divisions, not to act as reactive diplomats, but to proactively promote investment opportunities in Guyana. The duties of the economic and public affairs corps would be to organize major foreign direct investment conferences in places like Toronto, New York, Berlin, Belgium, London and other major cities around the world, to introduce the holders of investment capital to a sleeping giant in South America.

On the local scene, with the country’s vast landmass and natural resources, opportunities also exist for Guyana to play a leading role in education, while reaping substantial revenues in the process. A major initiative, if implemented properly, would be to partner with North American universities for students pursuing certain programs, to complete their first two years at the University of Guyana. With Guyana’s rich flora and fauna and untapped natural habitats, forestry, environmental studies and agricultural sciences students would be in a much better position to conduct lab work in a real environment and test their experiments in real time.  

This education diplomacy suggestion not might seem practical at this point in time because of the University of Guyana’s own dire need of major restructuring and massive injections of infrastructure and human resources, but it will be cheaper for some foreign students to live and study in Guyana, just as Grenada and some other Caribbean nations have been successfully doing for years.  

Meanwhile, across the border, it is only when Guyana rapidly expands its international influence and raises its global and regional profile, that Venezuela will take a more guarded approach to its spate of aggressions against Guyana.

REPORTS OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRAL AWARDS

RECUEIL DES SENTENCES ARBITRALES

Award regarding the Boundary between the Colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela 3 October 1899

VOLUME XXVIII pp. 331-340

The Robert Bazil Blog: RE-ESTABLISHING GUYANA’S INFLUENCE IN THE INTERNAT...

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