By GHK Lall- Wait! President Rodriguez at the Hague and welcomed. What was she doing there? I thought that America had Venezuela under an iron fist. Thought that America had Guyana’s back. Recall that kiss: special friendship. So special that a suddenly less special friend got kicked out. Cuba. Go back to Guantanamo and blackouts, skimpy rations. The common thread is America.
Guyana got 2%, and visions flashed that Guyana got protection. Discernment comes slowly to the limited. The US picked up Guyana’s ‘fire-rage’ (somebody translate for Exxon’s Routledge and Venezuela’s Ambassador) and rushed a flotilla of ships, admirals, and generals to signal the seriousness of its friendship for, and identification with, Guyana and its interests.
How dumb can we all be! Flybys, flyovers, flights of fancy, and Guyanese swooned. Up with America. Down with Venezuela! There is President Delcy Rodriguez in the Netherlands. She was supposed to be under control, wasn’t she? So, how did she slip the noose, and made her merry way to the Hague? Simple, as I see it.
It wouldn’t go down well for the US to be blowing up boats left and right in Caribbean waters, then claiming they are all drug boats. With Exxon, Chevron, Jet Blue, American Airlines, Schlumberger (feels like ole times, am stateside) all here, Guyana changed from host producer, to host accommodator for American ambitions, as backed up by Uncle Sam armaments. Out went Maduro, in goes Senora Delcy. Poor Dona Maria Machado; just the way the dice rolls.
Guyana saw itself as the big winner with big brother firmly in charge over there. Chevron back in play. Exxon playing hard to get. Construction types and Wall Street sharks must be drooling. So much rehabilitation needed. So much business waiting. Venezuelan oil flowing a little more freely. So why was President Delcy Rodriguez traveling? Traveled to the ICJ to put in a last-ditch effort for her people, despite holding a losing hand.
What game is the US playing? What happened to the Guyana-America special relationship? What plans does the US have for Guyana and Venezuela? Well, it got control of the 300 billion barrels. So, why not let bygones be bygones? Leave Venezuela and Guyana to duke it out over a century-old land dispute.
Who cares? Why care, when there’s bigger fish to fry? The business of America is business. Not carrying other people’s load, fighting their battles. When Delcy Rodriguez went to the ICJ it conveyed that, having achieved its primary objective re oilfields, and having both GT and Caracas under a whip hand, the US is now content to focus on making money and making up for lost time, all those Chavez and Maduro years.
In Delcy Rodriguez, there never was the thought that she would be the anti-Maduro. My expectations were managed down to she being a mini-Maduro. Wrong! Those Simon Bolivar and Hernan Cortez wannabees still carry a heavy hand, and cast a long shadow, behind the New American-Venezuelan Age. Bad news for Guyana, as much as there is a lot to say about Senora Delcy’s dramatic Perry Mason-like move to Europe.
The US had to have cleared that move, since she was under virtual house arrest. I have always asserted that 300 billion trumps 11 billion. Even when Guyana appears to win, it loses out. Frankly, all this high-level intrigue is too much for my creaky constitution. Oil came. Exxon crushed Guyana. Leaders lost the heart to resist. So, where is the insurance paid for by that lousy 2% and tricky half-and-half split? Guyana got shafted again.
What else to conclude when Venezuela’s Delcy Rodriguez was allowed into the hallowed halls of the ICJ, put on a performance, and dimmed Guyana’s star? I believe that the US is playing Guyana and Venezuela against each other. In that way, it has the role of perpetual policeman. Rakes in the dough from both sides, while keeping everyone on edge.
