Who does Mad Maduro think he’s foolin’?? Everybody and their uncle know that with US sanctions once again squeezing his oil production, he’s had to revive all the old subterfuges used to counter America’s sanctions!!! Oil’s practically the only generator of the foreign currency to pay for vitally needed items like medicine, etc. – lacking which, some eight million Venezuelans have flown the coop. Think of the worst years of Burnham’s destruction of our economy – and multiply it by TEN!!
And that’s why when – at the US Ambassador’s Independence bash – Pressie said, “We’re putting enormous resources into ensuring that the threat of illicit gold smuggling that can help empower or safeguard undemocratic forces is uprooted,” Mad Maduro went into a tizzy!! The madman retorted nastily, “Venezuela firmly rejects Irfaan Ali’s shameless statements!! Ali has made outrageous and baseless accusations against Venezuela, lying about an issue that he knows very well.” That’s right… Pressie and most Guyanese DO know about the smuggled gold issue – which has provided a valuable lifeline to Mad Maduro’s tenuous hold on power.
Back in 2019, the US Treasury Department had blacklisted Venezuela’s state mining firm Minerven as part of its wide-reaching sanctions programme to force Maduro to accept democratic elections. In terms of our gold exports, in 2021, the Royal Canadian Mint had suspended imports from El Dorado Trading over allegations that shipments included gold from Venezuela. It’s widely suspected that the reason why the Americans were so concerned about another gold exporter that they slapped sanctions on them when US$50 million in taxes to Guyana were evaded was that Venezuelan gold had been mixed in the TWO TONNES of gold involved!!
And that much of that gold was being shipped to the Mid East, where it could be financing terrorist activities. One 2021 report pointed out questionable discrepancies involving the US and the UAE as follows: In 2018, Guyana reported sending 827 kg to the United States; the United States reported imports of 2 862 kg. Guyana’s reported 2019 exports to the UAE totalled 3 492 kg, while the UAE reported a significantly higher 9 423 kg in imports.
In trying to evade American sanctions on their gold – and knowing that Minerven was being monitored by the Yanks – Mad Maduro has sponsored Sindicatos gangs to extract and smuggle gold out of the so-called Gold Crescent adjoining our Essequibo border. As that 2021 report says, “Everything has to go through the military… it’s a chain that starts from the lowest grade: the Hoti or Sanema, then the Yekuana [indigenous peoples], then the mafia groups and armed groups, and at the top is the general who controls the entire area.
And above him: the high government in Caracas”!! Gotcha!!
…from American shift
As a small nation we have resorted overwhelmingly to the multilateral system that developed after WWII. Guyanese are – or should be – aware of the role played by the UN and its organs like the ICJ, the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF, etc. But the US – still the largest economy and the most powerful country militarily – is recalibrating its involvement under the Trump II administration!
Most recently, 70 world leaders and other delegates unanimously adopted the so-called Seville Commitment to deal with world poverty. Many delegates were glad to see the US walk out of talks this week: a recently leaked draft version of the outcomes document laid bare Washington’s demands, which included rejection of debt reform and reference to the Sustainable Development Goals. It underscores the sharp policy shifts under US President Trump by what had been formerly the world’s largest aid donor and long-standing patron of the global multilateral system.
We’re gonna have to do some rethinking ourselves.
…and diversification
After that crack by Secretary of State Rubio about the Chinese-built “Concussion Highway”, your Eyewitness was pleased with the smooth, just-commissioned Indian-built Ogle to Eccles 4-lane highway! It received its seed funding from India over a decade ago – when we didn’t have oil.
