It is my position that the Venezuelan flareup is on a slow decline. The December 3rd referendum has generated some momentum over there. Free land always does. But, in the time-honored nature of politicians everywhere, Senor Maduro will find a way to extricate himself out of the predicament (the political grave for himself) he dug. He had better, given the strength of global sentiment against him and his country. Though the hardline political and military wolves circle in Caracas, Mr. Maduro did not survive so long by being a choirboy. With my bold prediction of Venezuela’s fade, the spotlight shifts back to the local political environment. Where do matters proceed from here? At what temperature? With what urgency? How much honesty?
The PNC is on a bubble, and the PPP is in a bind. The government cannot bring back yesterday, the divisive way it was, still is. It has to remember yesterday, learn from that time, and go from there. The Opposition PNC must see to it that the PPP Government gets to such a state. For one of the undeniable, unchallengeable, truths that solidified during the Guyana-Venezuela crisis is that a society that stands as one has positioned itself to face its challenges. The record will show that the PNC was there, right there by the PPP Government’s side, during the tensions and trials. The rights of Guyanese are sacred: no land to be surrendered. No conversation to be had, even for a pebble of dirt. No dissenting voice from its side, in the best manifestation of all standing together, all moving forward as one.
That was then, what about now? Then, it was a profound national high in many brilliant colors. Adrenaline. Passion. Conviction, Determination. Now cannot be about more of the old circling around that keeps some Guyanese out. Now must be about the beginning of circling in, with none left out. If there is one aspect of the Venezuelan bullying and saber-rattling that should have enduring value, it is that neither the PPP alone nor the PNC alone is enough to stand against what is a mortal menace.
Half of Guyana is a loser’s game. A Guyana at war with itself is not ready for, cannot fight, any kind of war against anybody. Venezuela has its strengths. Guyana had better come to its senses and nurture its own strengths. A united people who are wise enough to be all about their sacred rights. Now for the hard part. It is what stirs considerable unease and unsteadiness in the higher elevations of the PPP Government, plus its beneficiaries and fully committed well-wishers.
Standing fully upright and inseparably for sacrosanct sovereign rights must mean participating to the fullest in the rights that compel such unneighborly covetousness. Mineral rights. Economic rights. Land rights. Representation rights. Or, when the rights are reckoned and parceled out, there must be the same weight attached to those left out yesterday. Call it whatever suits. Backdoor, side door, glass door, or trapdoor. But all citizens, be they diehard PPP partisans or dyed-in-the-wool PNC loyalists, must be wise enough to recognize this one infallible truth: Venezuelans see and know one door only. It is the inviting door to Guyana’s treasure house of riches.
Currently, the PPP Government has many cards, and stands at the top of the stairs. It is not the time to play the fool, play games, or play cute. Aubrey Norton was not about cleverness on any issue, any development, that had to do with an aggressive and openly hostile Venezuela. He led the way in shoving aside all other considerations. Guyana’s interests first. Guyana’s sovereignty only. In the crucible of national challenge, he turned up without any strings attached, no preconditions. Imagine a Guyana before the ICJ and its citizens are of the usual raw elections’ mindset.
Contemplate a Guyana informing the international community of Venezuelan developments, and the sizable Opposition is out of ear sound, and out of sight. Or, worse, when the Opposition is seen and heard, it is not what is helpful to the national cause. President Ali, Freedom House, and the top PPP decision-making body all do well to remember that bonding in a national hour was made possible by what hovered around the corner.
None must shrink from the fullness of what that support signifies, what it demands, if only to build on what has gathered Guyanese together, if only to hold them there, then take them farther up the road. Now try this as a precedent, an invitation also: after two Great Wars and tens of millions dead or maimed, whole countries destroyed, the fratricidal Europeans could overcome their anger and anguished memories and huddle under something like the EU does say something, doesn’t it? Notwithstanding how flabby as it can be sometimes. I think that’s a bar for both the PPP and PNC to pole vault over.
To summarise, as Mr. Norton demonstrated what it takes to be all about Guyana, and Guyana’s rights, it is now the PPP Government’s turn to reciprocate with goodwill and capital. In tangible forms. What the Venezuelans want belongs to all Guyanese, and all of them must share fairly in those rights. The rights of the people that Mr. Norton represents must not be minimized, shunted aside, or given the old treatment. There was rallying around, so now there must be including when there is sharing and rewarding.
In its planned December 3rd referendum, Venezuela has dangled the carrot of citizenship to all comers. Venezuela is sharing our carrots with some of our own people. I do not think I should have to say more about carrots and how they should be managed between the PPP Government and the PNC (and other) Opposition. That is, so that the right to their birthright can be participated in by all Guyanese, especially the previously excluded.
