Maybe your Eyewitness should bill himself as a Guyanese think tank!! After all, without access to satellite pics and all that high-tech spyware, with upraised arms, he’s been telling all and sundry in this space that while Mad Maduro’s been talking about maintaining a “zone of peace”, he’s been preparing for war!! And that’s exactly what the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) announced in a report issued a few days ago – with satellite pics of massed troops and war materiel on our border!
Here’s what the report says – verbatim, lest some think your Eyewitness might be burnishing his claims: “There is likely more than meets the eye when it comes to Venezuela’s approach to negotiations. Maduro regime may be engaging in a strategy of compellence” aimed at Guyana. And what is “compellence”, pray tell? Well, evidently, it’s “a strategy aimed at pairing the use or threat of force with diplomatic incentives to coerce another actor into changing its behaviour. Under this reading, Venezuela’s participation in the Argyle process represents the diplomatic carrot, while its military engagement in provocative behaviour acts as a stick to tilt negotiations in Caracas’s favour.”
“Recent activity by the Venezuelan armed forces within the Essequibo and in nearby waters observed in satellite imagery lends credence to this argument, and suggests Maduro may be duplicitous in his commitment to resolve the dispute through diplomatic channels.” In the weeks preceding the follow-up meeting in Brasilia of the Argyle Declaration, the Report noted that a “A video linked to the Bolivarian National Guard, dated January 15, 2024, shows a staging area across the Cuyuni River from Anacoco Island where construction materials are piled up. Three armoured amphibious personnel carriers are also visible in the staging area…” That’s right – the same Ankoko of which Venezuela annexed our half back in 1966!!
The Report continues: “recent satellite image from January 13, 2024, also reveals the beginnings of the expansion project at the base with signs of road traffic, significant ground clearing suggesting planning for additional buildings or a vehicle park, and the construction of a small fuelling station — an indication of future construction and military vehicle presence. The expansion would likely indicate an increase in stationed personnel from platoon to company or battalion size, increasing personnel from around 50 up to, and possibly over, 300.
Notably, a mixed group of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) can be seen, consisting of six vehicles, likely Scorpion light tanks, and at least one amphibious personnel carrier. A Bell 206 helicopter can also be seen.”
Your Eyewitness has always maintained that “when blind man tell yuh ‘e guh pelt yuh; ‘e done gat brick in ‘e haan!” Mad Maduro’s a man blind with a desire to remain as the dictator of Venezuela!!
…our politics
It ain’t easy being in politics in Guyana nowadays. Used to be you told the folks what they wanted to hear – meaning, promise them the sun and moon! – buy some rum in the rum shops and give your private (racial) spiels under the bottom houses, and that was it!! Since folks voted mostly racially, it was already a foregone conclusion as to who’d win – that depended on the colour of the various noses!!
But now things are different: the noses are almost equal in number – which creates a dilemma to the old order. Suddenly, you gotta be nice to everybody, since the least misstep could cost you those crucial fence-sitting noses!! Problem is the new “bottom houses” where folks engage in the race talk – the social media. Here, it’s a case of everything hanging out, and since the content’s available to everyone with a smartphone – meaning EVERYBODY – it means everyone’s riled up!!
And politicians now gotta be “outing” fires every minute of the day!!
…sugar costs
Finally, the mechanization programme in the sugar industry is getting to a point where it might bring down the cost of production significantly enough to make up competitive with the big boys.
