Dear Editor,
ANIMAL FARM – PART 4: The Parallels Between Guyana and the Animal Farm in the Vice President’s Speech on Thursday: Vice President Warns of “Pablo Escobar Model” Taking Root in Guyana
I continue to link Guyana to Animal Farm in just so many ways. Let me break it down some more with the parallels and possible assumptions in key areas of the Vice President’s speech on Thursday.
Corruption
In Animal Farm, the pigs begin as liberators, promising equality and justice after chasing Mr. Jones, his wife and farm workers from his farm. However, as they gain power, they become indistinguishable from the oppressors they replaced. This mirrors the Vice President’s warning about “criminal enterprises buying influence” those who manipulate power structures for self-enrichment, eventually corrupting the very system meant to protect citizens. A way of life in Guyana for many decades and supported by the government, the many “Pablo Escobars” walking around and wielding power throughout Guyana.
The Vice President must be asleep or suffering from dementia when he forgets the government’s link to all the “Pablo Escobars” in Guyana for the past several decades and ongoing. The U.S. sanctions and indictments on several of these persons, including government officials – confirm this with evidence on file with the U.S. Treasury OFAC and throughout the U.S. Government apparatus. Guyana has been mired in corruption for many decades and it is getting worse, becoming a fabric of society and way of life.
Buying Influence
In the Vice President’s warning: Guard against “wealthy criminal enterprises attempting to buy influence in the judiciary, security forces, media, and politics.” However, in the Animal Farm parallel: Napoleon and the pigs use propaganda (Squealer and the sheep), coercion (the dogs), and manipulation of the rules (altering the Commandments) to consolidate control. We can say that just as Napoleon turns revolutionary ideals into tools of domination, Vice President warns that unchecked corruption transforms democratic institutions into instruments of tyranny. We can say with certainty, the government has been decimating the democratic institutions in so many ways for the past several decades. Let’s not fool ourselves – Guyana is an autocratic dictatorship entrenched with deep corruption linked to narco terrorism.
Role of the Media
The Vice President criticised “sections of the local media acting as cheerleaders for criminal figures.” In Animal Farm, this is Squealer’s propaganda, which constantly distorts truth to maintain Napoleon’s image. When the media serves the powerful instead of truth, it becomes a mechanism of corruption. Clearly seen in Animal Farm, an example: Squealer insists that “Napoleon is always right” and rewrites history (claiming Snowball was a traitor) much like how compromised media can whitewash and coverup the actions of the elites, those in government and the well resourced and connected criminal enterprises. The other local media and newspapers in Guyana seem not to want to publish my letters to the editors – they are truly part of the Animal Farm. The local media is behaving like Squealer in the Animal Farm.
Why is the local media like Squealer in Animal Farm: Squealer, the pig uses rhetoric to distort reality and justify Napoleon’s actions. In Animal Farm, Squealer repeatedly revises history, insisting that Napoleon is always right and that any dissenters, like Snowball, are traitors. This mirrors how compromised media can serve the interests of the powerful rather than the public. When truth is controlled by those in power, corruption thrives unchecked and citizens lose the ability to hold leaders accountable. The media must never take sides and should report fairly to the citizens and not be compromised.
Institutional Decay in the Judiciary, Police, and Government
The Vice President’s concern about criminal infiltration of the judiciary, police, and regulatory bodiesparallels the pigs’ capture of every institution on Animal Farm. We see this in the commandments, the security forces (the dogs), and even the educational system.
In the Guyana’s context: The Vice President’s warning implies that when corrupt money penetrates state institutions, the law becomes a weapon of the powerful. In Animal Farm, the pigs rewrite the commandments to justify their privileges, symbolizing how laws can be manipulated to protect corruption instead of justice. However, this has been ongoing in Guyana and a part of the culture. We see that in the coverups and lack of justice in Adriana Younge, ‘Paper Shorts’ and many other incidents, killings, corruption and drug runnings in Guyana. Therefore, when the Vice President says “We must ensure nothing like that takes root here.” This has been the very foundation in Guyana for many decades (protecting only the closely connected to the government) and said better in Animal Farm. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Both express fear of a moral collapse and we are seeing this unfolding in Guyana’s society where institutions serve the few, not the many.
So Many Pablo Escobars in Guyana for Several Decades
The Vice President’s reference to Pablo Escobar, a criminal who infiltrated political and legal systems certainly fits well with Animal Farm’s Napoleon’s trajectory. Both start by positioning themselves as defenders of the people but use wealth, fear, and influence to dominate. Escobar and Animal Farm’s Napoleon both blur the line between legitimate authority and organized crime. This has been going on in Guyana and allowed to flourish for so many decades. The lines are blurred in Guyana. Let’s not fool ourselves, like in Animal Farm, a corrupted state that looks stable on the surface but is hollowed out by greed and fear. All operating and powered by the powerful figures in society who operate with impunity and power – while running their illegal drug trade, money laundering, bribery and criminal syndicates – corrupting our society.
Guyana Today
The Vice President’s speech share a cautionary message that like in the Animal Farm disturbance by the animals. Democracies alike are vulnerable not only to overt tyranny but also to the slow corruption of ideals through wealth and influence. The fall of Animal Farm was not just about power, it was about the animals like citizens, who get complacent and fail to guard our institutions and allowing the criminals and corrupt to gain influence and control the society.
The Vice President’s warning might be too late when he warns citizens to “guard against criminal enterprises buying influence.” Since Guyana has been controlled by a criminal elite set of untouchables who have been expanding their power for decades and being well supported by the government. All goes well with the relationship until they are sanctioned by the U.S. Government and then indicted.
We can end by saying in Animal Farm, their fight for freedom, justice and accountability ended when the pigs started dining with the humans and sleeping in beds like humans. The greatest threat which destroyed and undermined the Animal Farm came not from outside enemies, but from within when power and corruption merged to destroy accountability. Guyana continues to lack accountability in so many ways for so long and the citizens seem to ignore the erosion of accountability. Allowing the corruption to flourish and become more embedded in our society. Let’s remember that corrupt elites in the real world can reshape laws and media narratives to protect their power.
The pigs manipulate the Seven Commandments to justify their privilege, culminating in the infamous declaration: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. This perversion of the law symbolizes how our leaders can rewrite rules to protect themselves. Leading to when institutions serve the elite rather than the people, the very foundations of society begin to crumble.
The animals in Animal Farm get rid of Mr. Jones, Mrs. Jones and the farm workers to establish a society founded on equality and fairness. However, as the pigs assume leadership, they begin to manipulate the system for personal gain. Napoleon, the pig who consolidates power, slowly transforms from revolutionary leader to autocrat, mirroring the human oppressors the animals once resisted. The fierce and barking dogs are then brought in on the Animal Farm as the enforcers to overlook the pigs and their safety – to make sure the pigs stay in power and control all the animals.
I will leave a few Squealer, the propaganda pig from Animal Farm and “pig” proverbs (they could be applicable to Guyana and Animal Farm) with you today:
“The pig squeals loudest when he’s caught.”
“The pig does not see its own snout.”
“The pig that squeals the loudest is the one that’s getting stuck.”
“He who lies down with pigs will rise up with fleas.”
“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
“The best pig keeps the trough clean.”
“The pig that grunts the loudest is not the fattest.”
“A clean pig is a rare pig.”
“Pigs grunt least when they eat most.”
“The sow that’s used to wallowing will wallow again.”
“A hog in armor is still but a hog.”
“As poor as a church mouse, as fat as a parish pig.”
“Greedy as a pig.”
Yours Truly,
Marco Shaw
