By GHK Lall- The attack via a Molotov cocktail incendiary device hurled into the GPL Good Hope Distribution Substation facility is rightly designated an ‘act of terror’, a ‘deliberate act of sabotage’ and a ‘catastrophic’ development barely avoided. It is more. It is frightening. The scale of the potential destruction goes beyond the entire Demerara-Berbice grid put out of commission, and a quarter of a million consumers propelled into darkness. I’m thinking of the possible injuries, the crippling psychological damage, and the combined economic fallout, if that horror had ignited and set-in motion a chain of events that led everywhere, all of them devastating.
Now, there are two issues to consider (three, to be sharply pointed). The first is if the notorious and very much feared Tren de Aragua of Venezuela has set up a base in Guyana, then Guyanese are in for a mountain of trouble. If America could have had its hands full, that leaves much shakiness in Guyana, notwithstanding the government’s rapid response, its determination to cleanout any nest of Venezuelan vipers in Guyana. From recent history, and in more than one country, Tren de Aragua is about business. Rough business. Bloody business. The business of extreme violence and terror. They don’t need any help in those departments.
But with a little encouragement from ex-military and simmering politicos in Caracas, it could be a long season of stormy upheavals in this country. I would hope not. Not wish these people on my worst enemies. Tren de Aragua could see itself as less of a criminal gang, and more of a Venezuelan patriotic resistance movement. Like the Mau Maus of Kenya and Huks of the Philippines. In other words, for the Venezuelan Motherland, a land broken by the United States. The last thing Guyanese should want to hear, but I must still relay, is that the friend of my enemy is my enemy. Guyana’s friend is the USA; the USA is the enemy of Venezuela. This is trouble and, frankly, it may only be the beginning, which introduces the second issue.
Currently, it is the Good Hope Distribution Substation with its long reach and potential for enormous harm, and the destructive sabotage attempt that was made. Before that, there was the Regent Street gas station bombing, also by Venezuelans allegedly. A bombing that claimed one life and injured four others. Almost identical to the Good Hope Molotov cocktail act, Guyana dodged a missile and a meteor fused together. Catastrophic loss of life was only the beginning. In these two-mass killing intent situations, this country escaped unscathed, save for one young fatality and four injuries.
Now, I have no choice but to put some questions before all Guyanese from Pres Ali to a million other Guyanese: where’s next? What could be inviting, high-impact target number three? One with almost perfect odds for success? This is not to unnerve any Guyanese. It’s to alert from the president to the peons how exposed this country is. A dogged and dangerous enemy; Tren de Aragua is such a presence, can batter this country. And, this pushes me against my will to the third issue that can neither be suppressed nor ignored.
Pres Ali’s PPP Govt can continue to see and make enemies of Guyanese, from WIN to whomever, including the media, writers, and assorted conscientious objectors. To Pres Ali, PM Phillips, VP Jagdeo, and AG Nandlall, the real enemy just exposed himself at Good Hope. To all four remarkable Guyanese heroes, the only true enemy of Guyana (and the PPP) just bared its teeth. Ali, Jagdeo, Phillips and Nandlall can continue their program of divide and diminish to conquer. The new conquistadores are inside Guyana’s gates. They mean business. They don’t deal in pens, newspapers, and Facebook. They deal in deadly weapons of war.
Unify this country, Mr. Ali. Or lose it, one piece at a time, from the big blasts Tren de Aragua may have in mind. Get serious Dr. Ali, read the writing.
