Latinnews Archive
Caribbean & Central America - 16 July 1982
Guyana: Cracks in the monolith
With no obvious solution in sight to the country's prolonged financial and economic crisis, there have been signs in recent weeks of a move by the private sector to push the government towards a 'free enterprise' policy. The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce last month requested a meeting with President Forbes Burnham to discuss proposals it was making, which included a call for the return of certain public trading and manufacturing corporations to the private sector and the relaxation of government controls over business.
The suggestions are not altogether unlike those reportedly made by the government itself to the World Bank, which include equity participation by foreign companies in the bauxite industry; privatisation of some public corporations, and a new investment code giving clear guarantees for investors. Talks with foreign companies are already under way on the bauxite issue, and the government is to transfer some functions of the heavily criticised Guyana Rice Board (RC-81-09) to the private sector.
In return, the government is seeking interim Worid Bank support while it negotiates a new agreement with the IMF. The plans have swiftly drawn fire from the opposition People's Progressive Party, which charged late last month that the government was pIanning to bring back 'unbridled capitalism' and had embarked on 'a full-scale retreat, back into the arms of imperiaIism.' Burnham himself this month denied that any change of course was planned, and accused foreign diplomats, who he said were behind the reports, of 'subversion'.
Some of the difficulties facing foreign companies in Guyana were highlighted last month when the British construction firm, Taylor Woodrow, pulled out of a big irrigation scheme in the Essequibo, saying that it was owed more than £ 300,000 by the government. At the same time, Home Oil, the Canadian company that announced last April that it had discovered oil in the Essequibo region, revealed that it had 'temporarily' suspended operations and shipped a rig back to Canada. Output at the weIl had dropped from 400 to 40 barrels per day, the company said, and two of its partners had dropped out of the project.
However, Home Oil officials accompanied the minister of energy and natural resources, Hubert Jack, in a visit to Brazil which produced a 'declaration of intent' from the Brazilian government to join in an oil and hydro-electric development programme in the Essequibo. If the agreement goes ahead, Brazil will construct a 50mw power station on the Potaro river, a tributary of the Essequibo, and take part in oil exploration, with Brazil enjoying purchasing rights over the oil produced.
The news of further Brazilian penetration in the region is not calculated to please Venezuela, whose claim to the Essequibo is now formally back on the table after the expiry of the Port of Spain protocol on 18 June. However, the Venezuelan government of President Herrera Campins is insistent that it seeks a peaceful settlement of the issue under the procedures laid down in the 1966 Geneva agreement. Under the agreement, the two parties have three months to decide on a 'means of peaceful settlement'. If they cannot agree on a means, they must refer the decision to an 'appropriate international organ'; failing agreement on such an organ, they must take the decision to the secretarygeneral of the United Nations.
The border issue was temporarily pushed out of the news last month by the sudden death of the former information minister, Shirley Field-Ridley, wife of Vice-President Hamilton Green. Field-Ridley, who was 44, was taken ill at home and died shortly after being admitted to hospital. She had not previously been in ill health,and had attended an official function the previous evening at which she had appeared in normal health. Her death has been followed by some speculation that it may have resulted from foul play, with some rumours suggesting that she was poisoned; no official statement has been made on the cause of her death.
Field-Ridley was minister of education from 1968 to 1971, then briefly health minister before taking over the portfolio of information, youth and culture, which she held until resigning in 1979 to devote more time to her family. She had four children, two of whom were from a previous marriage to P.J. Patterson, who was deputy prime minister in the Manley government. At the time of her death she was a vicepresident of the Women's Revolutionary Socialist Movement, the women's arm of the ruling People's National Congress.
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