Undemocratic Govt in Guyana can lead to freezing of personal bank accounts, visa revocation – Washington consultant

…US takes threats to democracy seriously
…as visa restrictions slapped on Chinese officials restricting democracy activists in Hong Kong

Washington-based political consultant, Jose Cardenas, who has worked with the US State Department, has urged Guyana to be cognisant of the seriousness of even the threat of sanctions and the United States’ (US) resolve to use it in extreme scenarios that can include freezing of oil funds.

According to Cardenas, who was speaking during a Zoom interview with several local reporters on Saturday, the use of sanctions is intended as a disincentive against persons who have malignant motives. Cardenas also addressed comments made by US attorney Bart Fischer, who said recently that talk of sanctions against Guyana was nothing more than “loose talk.” He added that the inter-American Democratic Charter calls on all countries to be active in defending democracy. “When it comes to the United States, for good or bad the United States has unique capabilities to discourage bad actors from undermining democratic processes,” he said.
“I know Fischer made a comment, not just about prematurity but that the United States has no authority to impose sanctions. I think that’s completely erroneous. In fact, it’s rather stunning that a Washington attorney would make such a statement. You would have practically had to sleepwalk through the last 10 years when it comes to Venezuela, to question Washington’s authority to effect sanctions,” Cardenas added.

Cardenas served in senior positions in the US Department of State, the National Security Council, and the US Agency for International Development, where he served as Acting Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Visa restrictions
Cardenas pointed out that the national elections recount had demonstrated that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is the winner of the General and Regional Elections. He spoke of some of the different forms sanctions can take, including visa restrictions, which can be applied if the democratic will of the people is thwarted.
“If there is someone that contrives to thwart the will of the Guyanese people, Washington has measures it can impose on that individual, that relate to their ability to have a bank account in the United States or otherwise do banking in their private lives that touch the US economic system,” the former State Department official said. He added that such persons also can lose their ability to travel to the United States. “Their visas to travel can be revoked. And if there is determined to be a Government-wide conspiracy, just speculating here but it’s important to understand the options, absolutely the US can impose sectoral sanctions which can threaten the oil patrimony that Guyana now possesses.”

Serious consequences
Sectoral sanctions, Cardenas explained, can have serious consequences for Guyana and its ability to earn money. It was noted that Guyana currently banks its oil revenues in the US Federal Reserve. According to him, there are implications for this.
“Those possibilities will be driven by events in Georgetown. If those funds sit in a US institution, they can be frozen,” Cardenas said. “I don’t know in-depth enough about the contracts Guyana has signed with Exxon, but I expect it’s always a possibility that the current Government and Exxon can be prohibited from further exploration and moving oil to the international markets.”
Guyana only began producing oil last year, with its first oil revenue-based earnings deposited in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in March of this year. That money, $11.4 billion, came from Guyana’s initial million-barrel oil lift. An additional sum of $7.3 billion was subsequently deposited, as well as royalty payments. This money is still sitting in the fund, earning interest.
Cardenas pointed out that the US takes threats to democracy in the western hemisphere more seriously than it takes such threats in other parts of the world, since countries in the hemisphere are expected to reflect democratic principles in governments. Continuing his hypothesis, Cardenas noted that even if Guyana were to seek allies in countries at odds with the US, this will be a complicated and expensive road to travel.
According to him, sanctions are a last resort and the US will likely work with organisations like the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to find a less acrimonious resolution to the situation in Guyana.
Visa restrictions on Chinese officials
Only on Friday, Reuters reported that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was imposing visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for restricting freedoms in Hong Kong, but he did not name any of those targeted.
The move comes ahead of a three-day meeting of China’s parliament from Sunday expected to enact new national security legislation for Hong Kong that has alarmed foreign governments and democracy activists.
According to Reuters report, the US visa restrictions apply to “current and former” Chinese Communist Party officials “believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy,” Pompeo said, without naming them.
Pompeo’s announcement, Reuters stated represents the first concrete US step in response to China’s moves.

US Senators to Granger
Chairman of the United States’ Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues, Marco Rubio, on Friday called on caretaker President, David Granger, to concede an elections defeat.

The Republican Senator from Florida noted in a joint missive from the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that “recent reports suggest questionable manoeuvres by interested parties designed to continue forestalling a final declaration of results, which members of the press say indicates a defeat for the incumbent Government.”
As such, the Foreign Relations Committee said, “President Granger should honour the will of the Guyanese people and concede.” Rubio, in the joint statement, noted that the US Senators and the Foreign Relations Committee, “share in the frustration expressed by the Caribbean Community (Caricom), the Organisation of American States (OAS), and other international stakeholders, and call on the Guyanese authorities to issue an official election declaration that reflects the results of the March 2nd election, which were confirmed in the official recount by Caricom’s observer mission.”
The grouping of US Senators has since extended publicly, “our support and solidarity to the people of Guyana, who have borne more than their fair share of patience during this process. For their sake, the future of democracy and the rule of law in our hemisphere, the ongoing uncertainty and gamesmanship must end.”
Elections were held since March 2, 2020, but a winner is yet to be declared. After controversy erupted when the Region Four Returning Officer twice subverted the process and declared fraudulent numbers, a recount was done that showed that the PPP/C won the elections by 15,416 votes.
But in a report done by Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, it was claimed that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition garnered 171,825 votes while the PPP/C gained 166,343 votes. This means that Lowenfield fraudulently invalidated more than 115,000 votes.
How the CEO arrived at those figures is unknown, since the certified results from the legally conducted recount exercise supervised by GECOM and a high-level team from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) pellucidly show that the PPP/C won with 233,336 votes while the APNU/AFC garnered 217,920.
In all of this, the unified international community including the US, United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, have made it abundantly clear that they will not stand for the will of the Guyanese people being subverted. There has been talk of various consequences if Guyana departs from democracy, ranging from sanctions to expulsion from Caricom.