A US base would augment our diplomatic initiatives

Dec 13, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

Several persons have come out against my proposal (“a shocker”) that Guyana consider establishing a US Military Base in our Essequibo to help protect us against the aggression launched by Venezuela’s Pres. Maduro when he de facto annexed our Essequibo – two thirds of our national territory. (SN 12-023) He has already appointed a governor and announced “development plans”. This is not just a declaration of war against the Guyanese state but actual war. My proposal was an answer to the question of what we can do?

One of the KN’s Peeping Tom for instance, (“Say no to a US Base, 12-11-23) argues, “South America remains fiercely anti-imperialist” and a US military base “not only collides with this anti-imperialist posture but also challenges the principles of sovereignty but also carries the ominous shadow of neocolonialism.” We are very sympathetic to this view but would like to point out it is quite ahistorical in our circumstances. In the last sixty years, it has been Venezuela that has deployed imperialist imperatives in seeking to colonise Essequibo in complete violation of a “full and final” Arbitral Award of 1899 which they signed. Some would forget that they annexed our half of Ankoko Island in 1966 and occupy it to this day and they blocked the developed World bank financing of the Upper Mazaruni. Now they have de facto annexed Essequibo and have ordered oil companies we have licensed, to leave. What could be more imperialistic than that, yet South America has restrained its “anti-imperialism” to mild reproaches? Have they taken cognizance of the billions of US dollars in military hardware Maduro has acquired from Russia?

Secondly, he contends, “The US is hostile to Venezuela and it is not necessarily an ally of Brazil. None of these two countries is likely to look kindly upon any suggestion that a US military base be established on their doorstep. To do so would invite aggression from Venezuela and a rejection from Brazil.” We have already experienced “aggression” from Venezuela. Pres Lula’s leftist tendencies have not made him cancel the RDT&E Agreement that facilitates joint development of basic, applied, and advanced technology between the U.S. DoD and the Brazilian Ministry of Defense. He accepts that Brazil’s interest in being a strong regional power with global ambitions is facilitated by cooperating with the US.

PT wants to know whether “the presence of a military base (is) genuinely for mutual defense?” We have made it clear that the US would be acting in its own interests to counter Venezuela, not because they “like” us. It would be up to us to ensure that the Military Base also serves our interests beyond the Venezuelan imperative. According to reports, the US presently has around 78 military bases in the Caribbean and South America to which Pres Lula have not objected. These are divided into three types: the “base of operations”, the “small military base” or “Lily Pad”, and the most common, “funded base”, which would be best for us. Unlike the first two, this facility would be owned by us but to which US military personnel will have access. This would be our first line of defense against Venezuela near our Border and for which we should immediately put together specialized army and air force personnel to staff it. In our 2000 ROAR Blueprint we had called for such a specialized Border Unit.

In Feb 2022, the Colombian Institute for Development and Peace Studies president noted, “The goal of the Nicolás Maduro regime […] is expansion […]. They want to expand that power to different territories in Latin America, […], something that is very similar to the goal Putin has in Russia, of expanding Russia to neighbouring lands”.

Venezuela has taken cognizance of the seven US bases in Columbia and pivoted east towards what Maduro thinks is the low-hanging Essequibo fruit. A US base would augment our diplomatic initiatives and assist in persuading him otherwise.

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A US base would augment our diplomatic initiatives

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