US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was characteristically laconic in his announcement of sanctions on the David Granger that has been holding Guyana hostage since March 2. He declared: “Today, I am announcing visa restrictions on individuals responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Guyana. Immediate family members of such persons may also be subject to restrictions. The Granger Government must respect the result of democratic elections and step aside.”
Guyanese had been becoming impatient at the US for issuing warning for months but not following up with concrete actions. They knew through bitter experience the nature of the PNC and had long concluded they would not be deterred through moral suasion. The PNC thought they were clever in keeping their naked grab for power in the Courts and in GECOM so as to deflect foreign intervention that might earn opprobrium as being seemingly hasty. But their last ploy to challenge GECOM from making a decision sanctioned by the apex CCJ appeared to be the proverbial straw that broke the US back.
But in stubbornly pursuing their bullheaded course of action in the Courts, while simultaneously thumbing their noses at the US by attacking them directly for “intervening” on account of racist motives, the PNC is ensuring the US must ratchet up their legal processes to a higher level designed to prevent Guyana from becoming a rouge state that will destabilize the regional democratic order. This level is exemplified for the sake of clarity with the action taken in Belarus in 2006, when the then government attempted to subvert democracy. It took the form of an Executive Order titled, “Executive Order Blocking Property of Certain Persons Undermining Democratic Processes or Institutions in Belarus.”
“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America…I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, determine that the actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Belarus and other persons to undermine Belarus’ democratic processes or institutions, manifested most recently in the fundamentally undemocratic March 2006 elections…and to engage in public corruption including by diverting or misusing Belarusian public assets or by misusing public authority, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat, and hereby order:
“….all property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person, including any overseas branch, of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:
(i) the persons listed in the Annex to this order; and
(ii) any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of State:
(A) to be responsible for, or to have participated in, actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Belarus;
(C) to be a senior-level official, a family member of such an official, or a person closely linked to such an official who is responsible for or has engaged in public corruption related to Belarus;
(D) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, the activities described in paragraph (a)(ii)(A) through (C) of this section or any person listed in or designated pursuant to this order; or
(E) to be owned or controlled by, or acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person listed in or designated pursuant to this order.”
The sanctions include those who make any contributions of any form to the sanctioned person, even those who reside or are citizens of the USA. For the latter “because of the ability to transfer funds or assets simultaneously” there needs to be no prior notice before seizing assets.
