We’ve had time to digest what went down in the Cuyuni. We’ve called in the Venezuelan ambassador and demanded an explanation. We’ve had a response from them. No surprise there – they’ll “look into the matter”! But, of course, they took the opportunity to get in their licks on their claim to our Essequibo!! Now, while there should always be the willingness to listen to new information, in matters of state like this attack on our troops, we gotta act definitively to defend our national interest.
Let’s not pussy-foot around the issue; this was nothing more than a continuation of the war Mad Maduro declared on us over a decade ago. We don’t need a flambeau to see in bright daylight. By now, so many others have confirmed what your Eyewitness pointed out immediately after the sneaky ambush: the Sindicatos are not your garden-variety bandits and brigands; they are, for all intents and purposes, an arm of the state in the wild outer fringes of the Venezuelan state – especially on the borders of Colombia and Guyana.
And this ain’t no coincidence. Did you note the statement by the civilians on our side of the Cuyuni after the ambush?? The Sindicatos collect fees from those who use the river for transporting goods. They might as well have announced they’re collecting taxes!! They do so with the connivance of the governor and officials down the line. This is just payback for the role they play in “convincing” residents to vote for Mad Maduro’s PSUV party. With state elections coming up in April, your Eyewitness bets no action’s gonna be taken against the Sindicatos.
In a word, the Sindicatos are nothing less than a cost-free line of defence – and offence – that augments the official Venezuelan armed forces against the two countries, Colombia and Guyana, with whom the Venezuelan state had disputed their boundaries. We should dub them international terrorists like the Tren de Argua. They make out like bandits (pun intended!!) by controlling gold mining in these frontier regions, but the Governor gets his cut!!
So, what to do?? Well, let’s not get too enamored with rounding up support from our Caricom “sisters and brothers”; they’ve already proven they’ve been bought out by Mad Maduro!! Your Eyewitness can only repeat what he’s been saying for years: create a military base with a string of satellites along the border, a base that can act proactively and decisively!! Whether the aggressors are Sindicatos or army, they must be dealt with condignly!!
While we hope Trump would understand that the only language Mad Maduro understands is the THWACK of a 2X4 across his back, we shouldn’t depend only on the Yanks’ beneficence.
Mad Maduro’s gonna hear us loud and clear when we bruise his troops.
…in the north
While a “kinetic war” is starting up on our western border, according to Trump, another madman up north in Ukraine started one with Russia. He egged on NATO to continue encircling the latter nation – against what had hereto been agreed!! Trump has labelled Zelenskiy a “dictator without elections,” — elections should’ve been held there since last year – and has blamed him for strong-arming the United States into “spending hundreds of billions of dollars to go into a war that couldn’t be won. Trump declared to an audience: “If you would have had (Biden’s) administration for another year, you would have been in World War III, and it’s not going to happen now.”
Telescoping his intentions, he warned: “Zelenskiy better move faster. He’s not going to have a country left.” Well, this is good news all around, innit?? Excepting for the arms manufacturers, of course!!
That Trump wants first dibs on Ukraine’s minerals should bring home how we colonists felt when raped of our resources!! How sweet it is!!!
