Guyanese must realise what the build-up of military artillery in the Caribbean Sea by the United States means for Guyana. “This is not about politics, human rights, poverty, or extrajudicial killings — this is about Guyana’s offshore resources, which are sweet and have a low-cost production,” said Rear Admiral (Ret’d)Dr. Gary Best in an interview with Village Voice News.
The former Head of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) explained that he hopes to see the 13th Parliament address more than infrastructure in its budgetary allocations. “I do not see resources being gifted to the GDF. The last two budgets were highly biased and skewed towards infrastructure, and therefore resources are not being allocated to defense,” he stated.
According to Dr. Best, “We have some of the best hydrocarbons; we are already producing several hundred thousand barrels per day, heading to one million, and that has to be protected.” He noted that from 2023 to the present, he has not seen any major moves by the Government of Guyana to improve the stock of weaponry or other logistics necessary for a 48-hour hold “until help arrives” should there be an attack on Guyana.
“The GDF is responsible for the protection of our maritime and land borders, but there is a constitutional mandate for collaboration with the Guyana Police Force as well,” Dr. Best explained. “Diplomacy is our first line of defence, but our second line of defence is under-resourced — and that’s a fact. We must be able to identify the enemy, hold the enemy line for at least 48 hours, and during that time have some nation state come to our assistance.”
Dr. Best further outlined that the United States feels it has a right to protect the interests of Exxon and Chevron, which are operating in Guyana.
He warned that there appears to be a political fear of a sophisticated military operation in Guyana, and if so, “that is an embarrassment to the Guyana Defence Force.”
“We have never, in history, had interference with government. What we had in the 1980s was a credible Defence Force that was able to instill confidence in the people that it was ready to hold the line for that 48-hours until help came from the international community,” Dr. Best recalled.
He noted that significant sums were spent on defence then, and though it was criticized by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) as wasteful spending, “here we are three decades later in a similar situation — and the government, because of its politics, has not spent resources on defence. We are left alone and have to depend almost exclusively on external support.”
Dr. Best’s comments come amid rising regional tensions. Venezuela has recently declared that Trinidad and Guyana will be targets if Venezuela is attacked by the United States.
