Dear Editor,
There’s been quite a bit of hysteria recently about thousands of Venezuelan troops, armoured vehicles and pontoons on the border near Eteringbang.
People make comments about “them Spanish” coming over after completing an age-mandatory military draft and having been taught since school that the ‘true’ map of Venezuela, already 352,144 square miles, comprises an area of an additional 28,000 square miles that includes land to that country’s east.
The general sentiment is that the arriving Venezuelans pose a potential threat from the inside – and an excuse in years to come for an invasion to “reclaim” historically owned lands largely settled by Venezuelan nationals. I have met and seen many of them at work in the interior, and found them to be diligent workers – but that’s how immigrants are! Guyanese who moved abroad in search of a better life have acquired an excellent work ethic reputation.
The comments of the people raise important points that can be instructive, rather than just topical material for a ‘lil gyaffe – mainly about Spanish women and the obvious disparity of capability between the Venezuelan army and the Guyana Defence Force, and always with an underlay of a vague hope that the threat to the status quo somehow does not materialise. There is an apathy about what can be done. After all, we no longer have National Service, the Venezuelan land claim has not been explained to our children as an important subject on the school curriculum, and we are outnumbered 30:1 in terms of population, in any event.
Thanks to Dave Martins, we have the rallying song “Not a Blade of Grass” to keep truly Guyanese spirits high though!
The fears will continue even after the ICJ rules in Guyana’s favour, as is rather likely, unless something radical is done about immigration into Guyana from the west overland especially.
Guyana’s path to development will need to be paved by a significant amount of labour, skilled and unskilled, from abroad. We will need a population of around 3 million in the relatively short term, who in turn will largely comprise the expanded local market that will make more types of businesses viable and facilitate the expansion of solid local businesses, due to economies of scale.
The radical step needed is a purpose-built Immigration Office that will have the capacity and robustness to simultaneously encourage and curb immigration into Guyana – radical only because of the necessity to vet immigrants from Venezuela sometimes in ways that overlook international obligations that our country subscribes to, because of the real continuing threat that is unique to Guyana as a sovereign country.
Unilateral Government action will not achieve this. Parliamentary consensus will be necessary, for there must be buy-in from the private sector, which benefits from “Spanish man” labour that costs less than Guyanese males, who in turn appreciate Spanish women, whom they see as exotic and open-minded – whilst Guyanese womanhood tend to view the competition with suspicion.
Given all those competing and merging yet separate interests, there is only one factor that can have a definite impact upon determining who will be patriotic Guyanese in 20 years’ time, when the population has grown perhaps to 5 million. That factor is us becoming One Guyana right now. England is 33,000 square miles less in size than Guyana, has a population of 57 million people, and does not feel crowded at all.
We need immigration into our country – a lot of immigration – to develop an infrastructure and the institutions that will facilitate further development and endure well into the future as a solid foundation for our grandchildren and their children to sustain and thrive thereon. By holding ‘one head’ as Guyanese, we can make immigration rules and enact immigration laws that are restrictive as to who can become Guyanese. Only then can we look forward to embracing having a population of 5 million, up from less than 1 million currently, of which only 2 million are Guyanese – but we have to start off with a unified core of Guyanese.
While we get on well on an inter-personal level, Guyanese already have the uneasy feeling that Venezuelans are Venezuelans. We must become One Guyana – we need to ‘feel’ it now when so many extra reasons show us why we should – because if not so, in all honesty, it will be no big deal to the individual whether allegiance is to the Golden Arrowhead or a yellow, blue and red flag.
Yours truly,
Ronald Bostwick
