…of Venezuela’s controversy
Now don’t get your Eyewitness wrong. He doesn’t think Maduro’s sabre rattling from Caracas is “ha ha” funny. It’s the farce that follows the “tragedy” Marx warned about. A man who insists on holding on to power when five million of his citizens have fled like beggars to neighbouring countries shouldn’t elicit laughter – but dread. The former bus driver proves he isn’t guided by reason – but passions of the basest kind. The kind of passion that motivates demented dictators who’re convinced they have the key to Utopia. And by golly, they don’t mind if everyone has to die while they “prove” their point! Older folks remember Burnham and his “cooperative socialism” panacea, don’t you?
Maduro has fighter jets and tanks and troops manned by officers galore who’re now the elite of the forces backing Maduro. After all, they’ve been asked to run almost all institutions – including the sputtering oil industry. They live high off the hog, emaciated as the latter may be!! So yes, we must take Maduro’s megalomaniac sounding threats seriously. Now, your Eyewitness knows that the US has a naval vessel patrolling our waters. But note that Maduro’s seizure of our two fishing vessels and their crew was done when the said US vessel was still here! His action is as much thumbing his nose to the Americans as threatening us. And he has all those possible fifth columnists flowing into Reg 1.
Let’s not forget that the EU just reversed their acceptance of Maduro’s bête noir, the US/Trump-backed Guaidó, as the rightful President of Venezuela. Maduro would’ve been quite encouraged by this move – which coincided with Biden’s strife-ridden accession to the American Presidency after the expulsion of the disgraced Trump. He must figure that with all the challenges Biden will be facing domestically – COVID-19, a shattered economy, high unemployment and a raucous right-wing insurgency – he won’t want to embark on a foreign expedition.
But he chooses to ignore that one way Biden can placate the restive right that received 74 million votes – would be to follow JFK’s lead in the sixties and show he’s tough on “commies”! At that time Guyana was on the “receiving end” while Venezuela was on the “giving end”! As the world turns so do the tables get turned!
But the farce is that Venezuela has based its border threat on the claims of an angry lawyer to the 1899 Arbitral Commission, Prevost-Mallet who claimed there was a “deal” between the UK and Russian arbitrators to “fix” the border in favour of the UK. His claim was published fifty years after the Award and after he’d died!
And most importantly, after all the arbitrators had died. What a farce!
…of opposing gas-to-shore power
Now, there’s nothing wrong about citizens scrutinising the actions of their governments. But shouldn’t there be some rhyme and reason to the scrutiny – beyond selling newspapers and feeding egos? Now obviously there are some well-meaning sods out there who have an ideological grouse against fossil fuels for its adverse impact on Climate Change.
But your Eyewitness frankly believes that in the grand scheme of things, since that change was engendered during the Industrial Revolution for 250 years – and we received absolutely NONE of the consequent development, we should think about number 1 for once – us! Let’s note that as fossil fuels start phasing out, that’s exactly what the NOW developed countries are doing!!
But wasn’t it this same chattering class that opposed the Amalia Falls Hydro Electric Project about a decade ago – along with the APNU and AFC? And DID manage to derail it? You can’t win with them!
Once the EPA passes on the gas-to-shore project…full steam ahead!
…on the Henry murders
Your Eyewitness understands the grief of the Henry family – -and so also that of the Singh family, all from West Berbice. But why protest the charges against the arraigned three?
They have contra evidence?
