Dear Editor,
I am bemused, bewildered and somewhat confused but certainly not amused. The evening of Monday, September 25, 2023 I attended a reception hosted by the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China and during a conversation with senior PPP/C functionaries, I posed the question why should we paint our Police vehicles Policia. Some members thought it was not necessary but dared not express a contrary view within the People’s Progressive Party.
During the exchanges, a Minister turned up and said that the marking of the Police vehicles in Spanish was just the beginning of an ongoing process which will evolve public billboards and other signs being labeled in Spanish. I said to myself, is this madness, or simple stupidity? The high functionary was at pains to regurgitate what was contained in a statement post facto that we now have a growing number of Spanish-speaking persons in Guyana.
Dear Editor, I state as follows; whatever language you speak, Police on a Police vehicle makes it easy for you to know it’s a Police vehicle. Beyond that Policia and Police are similar so why change it? Second, we have for some time had a number of Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese persons take up residence in Guyana. To the East we have a Dutch speaking country to the East, the Dutch speaking country. To the north are our traditional West Indian kit and kin English mainly. To the south, our largest neighbor Brazil speaks Portuguese. And to the west a contentious neighbor speaking Spanish.
Have we noticed the antics of Venezuela raising the bar on the spurious claim to the whole of Essequibo? They are now attempting and I have no doubt they will succeed in unifying all branches of Venezuela on this issue of Essequibo. I must have been eight or nine years old when I recalled this incident. My mother had an older sister, Wilhelmina who was married to a Venezuelan named Mr. Racka and they lived in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Her son Roland Raca came to visit and I recalled his telling my mother that the British had stolen a part of Venezuela years ago. My cousin very well believed that story in spite of my mother’s arguments to the contrary.
If as the senior functionary said to me on Monday night they plan to put up other sign boards in Spanish, is this a sort of subtle surrender to Venezuela? We note the anxiety by this Government to accommodate all Venezuelans. There is no evidence that we have the capability to identify if any of these so-called immigrants have been posted by the Venezuelan authorities to undermine and subvert. Maybe they have succeeded which may have explained the statement made to me on Monday night that there will be more Spanish-speaking posters and billboards. We seem to ignore the wisdom that all of us must abide with when we travel to other countries. That is, when in Rome do as the Romans do.
As I dictate this letter, news has reached me of the venality of a certain Guyanese. Further I say not.
Yours truly,
Hamilton Green O.R.
Former Prime Minister
And Mayor of Georgetown
