Dear Editor,
I refer to a letter from Mr D Singh which was printed in your issue of September 9 (‘What are the requirements for Brazilians to take up residence in Guyana?’) Mr Singh says that he is an overseas Guyanese and he is outraged at there being Brazilians working illegally here in Guyana removing our gold.
The Brazilian miners are contributing to our economy in a very significant way, they have improved the mechanical structures of the dredge pumps, and they have provided and are continuing to provide workers who know about servicing and maintaining the dredges, since every Guya-nese with any skill in mechanical work has migrated like Mr Singh.
Sadly the Brazilian miners are not being allowed to operate here legally and this is helping to fuel the drug trade. By not making them legally able to operate here, they are forced to sell their gold on the black market here in Guyana; D. Singh is completely wrong when he alleges that their product goes to Brazil; it is sold in Guyana, since the dredges which consume a huge chunk of what they earn, operate with goods and products bought here in this country, and that should be obvious to all.
However, because they are not allowed to operate legally in this country they sell their gold on the black market. This gold ultimately does end up at the Guyana Gold Board where the necessary royalty and taxes are paid by persons with dredge operations who are buying this gold from the Brazilians with drug money and selling it back to the Gold Board where they get clean money for it; it’s called money laundering.
Why did they build a bridge to Brazil? Well Mr Singh must understand that many of us feel that our future economic destiny lies in that direction, to the south, and not anywhere else. Telling us that we will have to speak Portuguese is so outrageous that it almost defies logic. What language, for example, do the European Union members speak? A common language? Or closer to home did the Surinamese and the Haitians and the people of the Dominican Republic have to learn to speak English to become members of Cari-forum?
Caricom has failed to fulfil its promise since it was formed on August 1, 1973. The only thing that we Guya-nese can be thankful for is that it has now yielded the CCJ.
So I for one welcome the Brazilians to Guyana; there are numerous other areas where we can help each other. The former Brazilian Ambassador Mr Prado signed nearly one dozen bilateral agreements to facilitate our economy benefiting from closer ties with Brazil; it’s only a matter of time.
Yours faithfully,
Tony Vieira
