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Aug 07, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
The leader of the opposition has not been given a lifeline by the revelations in the United States court. In fact he has been placed in a most difficult position and could end up being the biggest loser in this matter.
Mr. Corbin had no choice but to take to the streets in protest. If he did not do this, his political future would have been precariously placed.
When the street protests peter out as it will inevitably do, we will hear more about the lack of inspired leadership rather than the truth and that truth is that the Guyanese people are not ready for political struggle.
This is why Mr. Corbin is in a predicament. He would have been damned if he did not take to the streets and he will be damned when it is all over. It is a no win situation for him.
The outcome of the present protests does not rest with Mr. Corbin. It rests with the Guyanese people and the Guyanese people are not ready for political struggle, which is what is taking place in Guyana.
It is not Robert Corbin who will make the difference in Guyana; it is the Guyanese people and right now there is no momentum to take forward the political struggle.
Robert Corbin is experienced enough to know this. There are great many political adventurists in Guyana who believe that they have the answers to the problems of the PNCR.
They believe that the problem is leadership. They believe that a new political leader within the PNC will make a difference. They are misguided.
The problem is not leadership. The problem is that the best of leaders cannot lead the unwilling.
The Guyanese people are not ready for sustained political struggle and the Roger Khan issue will not provide the momentum for this struggle because even the supporters of the PNCR are divided on the issue of Khan.
On the one hand, Khan is said to have helped with intelligence gathering to combat criminal gangs that were causing people to shut themselves indoors in Guyana.
On the other hand, his alleged links with government officials provide fodder for those who wish to see the government demit office.
What is clear is that the United States is not going to be party to any attempt to use the Roger Khan issue to force undemocratic regime change.
The United States of America is not interested in removing a democratically elected government. They are not going to support such efforts.
They have made it clear that their interests is in supporting democracy, not in unseating any government simply because of an allegation that someone who is being prosecuted within the Courts of the United States has had some links with the Guyana Government.
There is also someone indicted on serious charges within the US who has had links in the past with the PNCR. But this does not mean that the US wants to see the implosion of the main opposition party.
The United States of America has always had limited interests in these parts. Up until 1989, its major interest was the containment of communism.
The latest declassified releases from the Office of the Historian clearly indicate this was the fear of communism was their major concern and because of this, they preferred to support the undemocratic PNCR so as to prevent Cheddi Jagan from assuming leadership.
Right now, the US interests are about fighting terrorism and the containment of the narcotics trade. They are however not going to undermine a democratic regime to simply further that objective.
The reason being that they see the support of democracy as an important element of their foreign policy since it is their mission to ensure the entrenchment of neo liberal values of which multi-party democracies is the most essential manifestation.
The United States has a strategy in relation to narco-trafficking. A few years ago, it launched Operation King Fish and this strategy has allowed it to capture through rendition and extradition, a number of drug-trafficking suspects in the Caribbean have been placed before the Courts in the United States.
It may surprise many but the governments of the Caribbean, including Guyana, have supported the United States in this undertaking.
In the case of Guyana, the United States have gotten the person whom they wanted.
They have got a plea bargain with Roger Khan will most likely see him behind bars for the next fifteen years.
They will not support the undermining of a democratically elected government simply because of an allegation that a government minister may have been in contact with the drug accused.
There is too much at stake for the US to be complicit in the destabilization of a region in which political stability is critical for the development of institutions, which are so important to the long-term objectives of the United States.
And without external support, any political struggle in Guyana will fade away quicker than it started.
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