Relocating Guyana’s capital from Georgetown to Matthews Ridge in the northwest was under discussion in the 1970s and was one of the issues that attracted the attention of the US.
This discussion would have taken place amid heightened awareness and tensions around Venezuela’s claim to five eights of Guyana and the then PNC government’s drive to counter Caracas’ machinations. It appears that these discussions petered out and it is unclear how serious they were at any point.
A March 16th 1973 cable from the US Embassy in Caracas to the Georgetown embassy reported that there had been no comment from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry on the report about the shifting of the capital.
The cable transmitted that the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said that the report “did not merit official comment”.
The matter was expanded on in a March 22, 1973 cable from the US State Department to the US embassies in Georgetown and Caracas. The cable reported that in a March 21 conversation with a State Department officer, Second Secretary at the Guyanese Embassy in Washing-ton, Philip Chan volunteered that press reports about the intended Government of Guyana relocating of the capital from George-town to Matthews Ridge were indeed so. Chan said that he had learnt of the government’s intentions during a visit to Georgetown in the week of March 11.
The cable said that according to Chan, Burnham has “strong feelings about the desirability of such a move and he has already drafted a parliamentary message on the subject”. Chan added that the transfer of the capital was a long term government goal and that Burnham “intends to use the announcement as a means of underscoring his government’s commitment to agricultural development and economic self-sufficiency”. Chan reiterated that in light of Burnham’s personal interest in the matter, the proposal to move the capital should be taken seriously. He cited the transfer of the Brazilian capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia.
The cable asked the embassies for any further information on the matter.
