Dear Editor,
For quite some time many of us overseas have tried in vain to warn Guyanese back home of the terrible results that would certainly follow if and when drug smuggling was allowed to take root in Guyana. When the Columbian and Panamanian drug cartels were busted and the escaping drug barons were sent scampering for cover, Guyana with its porous borders, weak economy and unstable politics became a very inviting target for an international drug operations base. Those warnings fell on deliberately deafened ears because of eyes blinded by the flaunted ill-gotten gains of drug smugglers and dealers. Now our dear land of Guyana is overrun by gun-toting bandits and plagued by political stupidity and overall rapid decay; marijuana being grown and consumed on the Essequibo Coast, cocaine smuggling by sea and road along the coast, clandestine airstrips used by smugglers in the Berbice interior and the term “businessman” freely applied as a flimsy cloak of respectability to common drug dealers.
Just 23 days ago eleven innocent people were murdered in their homes by a bunch of armed criminals. Now here we go again; “…Gunmen last night slaughtered around a dozen persons…” this time around, at Bartica. It does not require rocket science to determine that wherever illegal drugs appear, extreme violence is sure to follow. Those who consciously lay down in bed with the Central American drug dogs are now getting up with the fleas and local politicians and public figures are beginning to itch. All along this government with its “talk-shop” parliament sat twiddling its thumbs and now expects British, American and other governments to help it scratch that itch. Meanwhile poor hard-working people continue to suffer and many continue to leave the country by whatever means available.
As much as I would love to, I cannot see any change for the better during my lifetime since it will take generations of Guyanese to undo the damage that has been done and cure the rot that has set in. Meanwhile, hope springs eternal.
Yours faithfully,
Joe Fraser
Maryland, USA
