Latest update June 12th, 2025 12:50 AM
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- Canadian firm sitting on 44 sq. km with 5.4M ounces ‘buys out’ surrounding properties, now controls 71 sq. km
- Israel kills 120 Palestinians across Gaza in 24 hours, death toll surpasses 55,000
- GMIN eyes LNG from GTE project for Oko West gold mine
- Adriana to be laid to rest on June 22
- Government warned over Guyanese entering, living in US illegally
STEMGuyana signs exclusive agreement with IYRC body to train and certify STEM club coaches for global robotics competition
Kaieteur News – STEMGuyana, the non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting STEM education in Guyana, has signed an agreement with the International Youth Robotics Competition (IYRC) to be...
Billions of dollars rendered to Exxon and its associates leave the farmers of Guyana as mud rats seeking to eke out a living
Dear Editor, It is nice to have another oil conference with other topics in Guyana. When one examines Guyana’s contribution to the oil explorers of the world, Exxon, the irresistible conclusion is...
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Is there a looming crackdown on Guyanese migrants?
Kaieteur News – The diplomatic note arrived quietly, but its message rang loudly: the United States government has signalled a tougher stance on illegal immigration. Guyanese nationals have been explicitly put on notice. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation issued a public advisory on the contents of the note — a stark reminder that those entering or remaining in the U.S. unlawfully face arrest, prosecution, imprisonment, fines, and deportation. The timing is telling, the tone is stern, and the implications are unsettling. But one question hangs heavily in the air: was this diplomatic note sent to Guyana alone? This is no small matter. If similar notes were dispatched to other countries, then perhaps this is just a broad sweep — a new immigration directive sent down from Washington as part of President Donald Trump’s reinstated policies. But if only Guyana or Guyana and a handful of countries received this warning, then we are looking at something more pointed, more specific- and more troubling. Why Guyana? One possibility is that the United States has identified Guyanese nationals as a disproportionately large part of the illegal immigrant population. While our country may not make international headlines for migrant caravans or border dramas, there has been a steady and quiet stream of Guyanese leaving the country, overstaying visas, entering illegally, or being smuggled through routes in Central America and Mexico. The U.S. may be seeing this pattern emerge with sufficient clarity and frequency to consider Guyana a priority. A red flag, if you will. The issuance of a formal diplomatic note — not a general advisory or press statement — adds gravity to the message. This is not a whisper in a hallway. It’s an official record in bilateral relations. If the note was targeted solely at Guyana, then the subtext is that U.S. authorities are preparing to act. And in fact, the signs are already there. Just days ago, a small group of seven deportees arrived in Guyana. Each had a criminal record. It may have seemed routine, barely a footnote in the news cycle. But considering this diplomatic note, it now reads like the beginning of a wave. Deportations may rise. The U.S. might be preparing to send back droves of Guyanese. Crucially, the note doesn’t limit itself to criminal aliens. It extends to all those unlawfully present — including those who overstayed visas or entered without authorisation. These are not hardened criminals. Many are just people trying to make a better life. People working, studying, surviving. But the new U.S. tone is unequivocal: unlawful presence is itself an offence worth prosecuting. The consequences could be far-reaching. First, the pace of deportations could increase. We may soon see a higher volume of returnees, many of whom have no ties left here, no jobs, no support systems. Their reintegration will not be easy. They may become vulnerable, frustrated, or even prone to desperation. Our social infrastructure is not prepared for this kind of return migration. Second, U.S. immigration policy may tighten further — not just for illegal entrants but for legal applicants too. Immigrant visas could become harder to obtain. Scrutiny may deepen. One result could be a growing sense of hopelessness among young people who see emigration as their only viable option for advancement. If legal pathways are closed and illegal ones punished, what future is left for them here? Third, the diplomatic relationship between Guyana and the U.S. may shift subtly. There is no public evidence of strain, but this kind of note — with its unilateral tone and legal threats — does not emerge in a vacuum. It reflects some degree of concern, perhaps even frustration. It is hard to imagine this level of official communication without intelligence assessments or policy deliberations pointing to Guyana as a source of a growing problem. And yet, the Ministry’s advisory urges Guyanese nationals “currently residing in the United States illegally” to “depart immediately.” That is not standard language. That is a government echoing the voice of another, conveying the message that people should leave now — before it gets worse. The human cost of this policy shift will not be small. Lives are about to be upended. Families will be torn between borders. Children may be separated from parents. Deportees may return to a homeland they barely know. And those hoping to leave legally may find the door shutting faster than expected. Guyana must ask itself: Is it ready for this? But before we get there, we need clarity. Was this message sent to other nations? Or were we singled out? If we alone received this warning, or if we and a handful of nations did, it means the U.S. has cast its gaze directly upon us. If so, the storm is coming — and we have been warned. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) Read More →
UN Security Council Fails Ukraine, Gaza and the World
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- When Russian drones stalk civilians along Ukraine’s Dnipro River and Gaza’s hospitals lie in ruins under relentless bombardment, the world cannot pretend that these are distant crises. Yet the UN Security Council, which is entrusted to uphold global peace, is paralyzed by the self-interest of its veto powers, exposing its failure to fulfil both its mandate and its duty to safeguard humanity. Sir Ronald Sanders For small Caribbean nations struggling to build themselves in a world whose financial and trading architecture excludes their meaningful participation, such failures impose immediate costs. Among these costs are: rising energy costs, food insecurity, and the alarming precedent that might, makes right. It is time for every voice, large and small, to rise in defence of law, humanity, and the UN Charter’s promise of global security. Campaign of Fear Since July 2024, Russian forces have executed a coordinated drone assault across Kherson Province in Ukraine, killing nearly 150 civilians and injuring countless more. The UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found that these strikes targeted people going about daily life — fetching water, riding mopeds, and even boarding ambulances — using live video feeds to pick off victims with surgical precision. One witness described rescuers, who were tending to the wounded, being blown apart by a second strike. The Commission concluded that these were deliberate war crimes and crimes against humanity, designed to drive entire communities from their homes. Yet when some members of the UN Security Council moved to condemn these atrocities, Russia vetoed the resolution, transforming the veto from a safeguard of human life into a license for impunity. Meanwhile, estimates put the number of Ukrainian and Russian deaths – military and civilian – at much more than 300,000 since the conflict started in 2022. Gaza’s Descent into Collective Punishment Since the horrific attack on Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023, Gaza has endured an unrelenting counteroffensive that has reduced whole neighbourhoods to rubble by the Israeli military. In the most recent atrocity, the UN reports that nearly 4,000 Palestinians—mostly civilians—have died under a blockade that cuts off food, water, and medicine. This adds to the more than 54,000 that had reportedly been killed before this latest cruelty. The UN Special Coordinator stressed that families are being “denied the very basics” and warned of looming famine. Hospitals and schools, even those sheltering the displaced, have not been spared. Calls for a ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access have repeatedly faltered on threatened or actual vetoes – each one a vote for further suffering. The Israeli government said its action is to stop Hamas from “stealing aid”, which Hamas denies. Either way, civilians continue to suffer and perish. When the Veto Shields Aggressors The UN Charter gave its five permanent Council members “primary responsibility” for keeping the peace, not for shielding those who flout humanitarian law. Each self-interest veto of this kind is a blow to the rule of law, eroding the norm that civilian lives must be protected from direct attack. Small States, Big Stakes Caribbean nations live daily with the consequences of the Security Council’s failure to act. Rising energy costs sparked by conflict erode their budgets, threaten their food security, and stoke social unrest. Worse still, if veto-wielders can ignore mass atrocity, what protections remain for a small state that cannot count on the UN to safeguard its welfare? National sovereignty, territorial integrity, and individual human rights, which were hard-won through centuries of struggle, demand that small, developing states speak out, or risk standing by while these rights are trampled. Commending the European Union In the current climate of diplomatic paralysis, the European Union (EU) has recently shown rare courage in relation to the horrifying events in Gaza. EU High Representative, Kaja Kallas, declared that “Israeli strikes in Gaza go beyond what is necessary to fight Hamas” and rejected any aid distribution model that bypasses the UN, warning that “humanitarian aid cannot be weaponised”. EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, described recent attacks on civilian infrastructure as “abhorrent” and “disproportionate,” and Germany’s new chancellor publicly questioned Israel’s objectives. By suspending trade talks with Israel and reviewing its association agreement, the EU is sending a clear message: strategic partnerships must not eclipse human life. Raising Voices in Unity Like the EU, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states need not wait for the UN Security Council to perform its duty. Their parliaments can pass motions demanding accountability; their foreign ministries can coordinate regional statements; their civil societies can keep Ukraine and Gaza in the public eye. When CARICOM states speak with one voice – rooted in their shared history of fighting for self-determination – they amplify the UN Charter’s promise that “representative democracy is indispensable,” and remind the great powers of their pledge to protect it. A Collective Imperative The UN Security Council veto was never meant to be a refuge for perpetrators. If left unchallenged, aggression becomes the new normal, spreading like a cancer until every nation feels its ruin. Now is the moment for Latin American and Caribbean states – and all who value stability – to demand that the Security Council honour its founding covenant. For if the rule of law dies in Ukraine and Gaza, it will be extinguished everywhere. The nations of Latin America and the Caribbean – each forged in the foundry of oppression and steeled by ancestral struggles for liberty – must unmask every veto that shields atrocity, champion resolutions that protect civilians, and restore the Charter’s promise of peace and security. (The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS. He is also the Dean of the Ambassadors of the Western Hemisphere Group accredited to the U.S. The views expressed are entirely his own. Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronaldsanders.com) Read More →
The arcs of self-contamination, self-destruction
Hard Truths… By GHK Lall Kaieteur News – I start with evergreens. The hand that rocks the cradle sometimes suffocates it. Forget biology and philosophy. Think reality. A man often is his own worst accuser. He does nothing, and there is self-condemnation; he speaks, draws pen, and self-abasement reigns. The arcs of self-contamination leading to self-destruction unfold slowly. But when they do, there is a shrinking in horror, retreating in pity. Parliament. Procurement. Information. The big boss promised that there would be a delivery of transparency. Competency, integrity, and incorruptibility in governance, he said. Look what Guyana got in recent years. The young and old stand at attention. Male and female block the gates: no one passes here. No one gets anything from here. Get lost! those who seek certain things- sensitive things, corrosive things, destructive things. Democracy, that’s called. The big man calls that accountability. A man has hollowed out himself with hollower words. The result is Guyana’s emptiest barrel put on global exhibition. Frankly speaking, it is how the system works, and can be twisted and manipulated by those who have the advantage of numbers. One is enough. It is what makes the arrogant display how subservient they can be to the too-clever-by-half, what is sick, what dangles them before all as caricatures, as creatures of some grotesque essence. A young child dies in a hazy, troubling context, and a moment of silence could not have been allowed the first time around. This is how Guyana’s most immaculate house is profaned. This is a glimpse of the barbaric nature that’s now Guyana. If not a fleeting moment to respect the fallen in a moment of national trauma, then it follows that not one damn piece of paper could be introduced into its corridors, not one motion allowed. Loaded or not, not one motion of substance, for insights, that has the potential to render leadership nakedness public, or exposes governance perversities, can be allowed to pass. That is not a national house of illumination. It is a regional house of ill repute. There is a certain kind of people who cavort within its walls. The PPP Government chose well. It is a poisoned well that comes back to haunt it. Congratulations, Mr. President. The Speaker of the House somehow faces himself? A set of documents is sought, pursuant to law, only necessary information. Guyanese get some paragraphs in newspapers. The dictionary converted to the obscenity of political pornography. Howzat for information! How is that for the tragicomedy to which Guyana has been reduced! Such are the perverse defences made to the house of citizens from the house of information. I thought that age, as accelerated by random spirits, would know better, walk straighter. The president may comfort himself that he put the right people in the right jobs. He did. Look at the hatchet jobs and garbage jobs they deliver. Something oozes. Mr. President, there is a stench in this land that hovers over high heads. Mine is too low. I point Guyanese to the highest office. The guys overdid things. Give a little, release something. If the norm in government was done in the streets, words like thuggish and snakish would enjoy national popularity. Burnham had ‘not a blade of grass.’ Ali delivered ‘not a scrap of information. Thanks for nuthin; daktah commissionah of infomashun. The most muscular presence in Guyana after oil is public procurement. I think that tender awards are like a Yakuza or Cosa Nostra convention. This one gets gambling, another swallows up prostitution, a third controls narcotics, and a fourth handles collections. This is how the multibillion-dollar infrastructure and services portions of national budgets are managed in Guyana. A meeting of the minds, and masterminds to move the procurement proceedings along. Key operating procedures tell most of the story. Don’t go there. Don’t look there. Don’t stop what’s going on there. And don’t think twice about erecting roadblocks before those who blabber about getting value for money, and integrity in performance. The president outdid himself: he spread the wealth outside the old boys’ club. But even then, the linkage goes way back to that same club that is about total control, and circling the wagons to keep secrets in the family. In Guyana, the Procurement Commission is like a family commission. Keep everything there. Summation: old and young, male and female, freely consent to hanging themselves in effigy. Self-respect banished. Self-humiliation rules. Distorted narratives, distressed numbers, however slickly packaged, do not lessen the sewage that overpowers local consciousness. No amount of money, or loyalty, or prominence should make a man or a woman barter intellect and integrity for the proud roles of lackey and flunkey. From poetry, there is a creature that bears a close resemblance to those. Mr. President, behold thy choices, thine handiwork. This is the PPP Government. A nocturnal street worker would hide his or her face. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) Read More →
Weekend Cartoon
