By GHK Lall- Venezuela has shown its hand. It’s an unfriendly one, all bloody. The blood of our brothers and defenders is now on the head of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela. Reactions on this side of the border have been quick in coming, angry and impassioned. Expected.
They roam freely, with different voices saying different things, but always returning to one place: Guyana must equip itself to protect itself. I agree. But how, I ask? What gives this country and its citizens genuine confidence that the border situation has been stabilised? Normalised to a state that will hold? Longer and stronger.
I see a number of elements fitting into this tense picture; some have been said, will be referenced. Then, there are things unsaid and not fully approached, which just must be part of the national conversations and decisions on Venezuela.
Hard decisions from sober contemplation from a nation grappling with an existential threat that never goes away completely. It is one that flirts with the unthinkable, then pounces. The Cuyuni River Ambush speaks for itself, what it truly was.
Local reactions to the sneaking, treacherous Venezuelan Day of Infamy (Feb 17) called what happened a military incursion. It was nothing less. I agree, and through the use of State surrogates.
One of the calls before that reaction was a beefed border presence, and modern matériel to inspire the nation’s security forces to the best possible defense of this homeland. And the dignity of all Guyanese. I agree again.
A call unrelated (prior) to the Cuyuni Ambush was for balance in the security apparatus, in its broadest definition. I say why not, if only for the duty and burden to serve and sacrifice for this largest of domestic hearths to be spread. I agree for the third time.
In the aftermath of the Cuyuni River Ambush, the PPP Government and President Ali have taken matters in hand and kept the temperature in hand. Commendations. International attention must be drawn to this dastardly act by Venezuela, and every effort made to keep that glare focused on its vile, dirty deed.
President Maduro has been raising the bar in word and deed, and now this latest of deplorable deed. He has deteriorated from belligerence to actual bellicosity. The result has been bloodshed on both sides of the border.
Another is the thickening bad blood between Guyana and Venezuela. This is no time for hotheads with hotter blood and the hottest words. The kind of cards needed are not in our hands. Not yet. Maybe not ever as close as Guyana desires in what is a catch-up game.
To this point, I doubt that anything written could cause differences in the local domain. That’s about to change drastically. I urge all my fellow Guyanese to maintain their equilibrium and consider a few thoughts laid before everyone. Just pause and consider deeply. Realistic and practical, Guyanese must be. There are no sausages without contributors who must give, so that humans could get.
What are Guyana’s options?
First, the international community must be cultivated to the fullest with the US and Brazil worked on the most. A restatement of the obvious, no question. I caution that the road gets rocky and rockier. Can we depend on regional neighbors and friends, those with whom we share some common strains of heritage and history?
Unsparingly, I think not. Some friends and neighbors have their own superseding priorities. Hence, CARICOM is a divided, weakened body. Carefully chosen soothing words, noncommittal ones. Regarding a united front for Guyana, I haven’t heard nor foresee nothing of the sort. Hedging of bets, and shuffling of feet. Now for the hardballs. Some friends, indeed!
One option is that there must be some room for talking at some time, even at an exploratory, secondary, level, with Venezuela. Now may not be best time, but it cannot be the current wall of resistance, dismissal. Being ill-equipped to confront, we must converse.
What is it that Venezuela seeks, wants to bargain? Land for peace? I say NO! What is it that Guyana is prepared to listen to, reject out of hand, or parse through and inch towards? Meeting of minds without yielding an inch of treasure. Land is. Let’s get a measure of what Venezuela is thinking, when the curtains are drawn.
One consideration on Guyana’s side has to be for how long will it live with going from phony calm to manufactured crisis? The rise and fade of developments-mostly hostile, recently bloody-isn’t a sound way to exist. Especially with so much on the march here. Naturally, there is no guarantee that if there is progress that Venezuela will honor, post Maduro.
Think of something else, contemporaries and country folk: there were 60 years of relative quiet, with 60 years of unsteadiness and ongoing aggressiveness from Caracas. The border controversies have originated with and been perpetuated by Venezuela, as any neutral reading will attest. Still, there must be openness at talking with neighbors.
Then, I have read of strengthening Guyana’s readiness capabilities. Unavoidable, what must be; quicker is better, if only for deterrent presence. But can Guyana match Venezuela in such a race? An economically tottering Venezuela still has the breadth and depth of assets assembled.
An economically freed (or eased) Venezuela will be sure to enrich further its already rich ordnance strengths. Moreover, who will man the guns here, produce the bodies here? I doubt that those drawn to and energized by profit opportunities will give them up for the motherland. Think personal sacrifice. No more is said, other than a shooting encounter would be unfavorable to Guyana. Too much and too many arrayed against.
Thus, I exhort: as we boost, engagement must soonest on a second track. The present vacuum has been filled with Maduro’s escalations, and now with hollow points. Guyana must never commit to talking at the point of a weapon. A Venezuelan one. But Guyana must never fear to talk, flinch from it.
Still further, Guyanese at every level must make their minds about a foreign base here. I am for it. Everybody commits. Of, course, the entire chessboard in the region shifts, is realigned. Well, what else has Guyana going for it, beyond words; in this I am compelled to include CARICOM. An opportunistic ally, if ever there was one.
Therefore, unambiguously, who else has been there for Guyana, but America? For sure, its own vital interests stand paramount. Guyana gets to piggyback, by default; gets carried along in the bigger stream.
Other options, anyone, besides some fusion of self-protection buildup, conversation, and a national decision/invitation? This is where I am, what I believe, can back.
The overall issue is gigantic enough, and its choices demanding, if not unsettling, enough, to put all the supporting points tabled today in a national referendum. Guyanese must decide on country-to-country dialogue, and an American base here.
Guyanese cannot continue in this perpetual state of being held hostage to any ambitious and covetous strongman in Caracas. There is a rabid one today. There’ll be others. Guyanese must vote common sense for the best approach to counter this most existential of threats.
