Dear Editor,
There are few things that rattle my feathers, shock me or make me mad. But when I read the Chronicle of December 3 that the “EU pledges cash if Guyana abolishes death penalty,” I was shocked and mad.
According to the Deputy Head of the Division for the Caribbean European External Action Service, Fernando Ponz Canto, “the European Union (EU) is willing to give political and financial support to any country that abolishes the death penalty, including Guyana.”
It’s unthinkable that the EU could make such a bold, blatant and boldfaced offer to bribe Guyana to abolish its death penalty laws. I guess the EU knows Guyana’s secret, which is, it would do anything for money. And the EU is taking advantage of the weakness.
Editor, the EU is taking advantage of a poor country. Just as poor people are taken advantage of by the rich because of their poverty, a poor country like Guyana is being taken advantage of by a rich country because it is poor. Editor, the EU isn’t only bribing our country to abolish capital punishment, but it is also bullying us to abolish it. It’s a sad day when Europe is trying to europeanise a developing country in the twenty-first century.
As I write this letter, I’m so annoyed by the article that my blood pressure is going up because another taxi driver was just found murdered. How can people call for an end to capital punishment when the murder rates are so high?
I still don’t understand why the EU wants us to get rid of capital punishment so badly. What is the urgency of ending capital punishment? Is it because it is archaic? It can’t be because capital punishment is still legal in the United States of America, unless the EU is saying that America is also an archaic country. More importantly, the US Supreme Court still upholds the death penalty in those states where it is still legal and in the federal system.
Editor, one of the reasons why I felt angry is that the EU would never ever ask America to get rid its capital punishment. The EU wouldn’t disrespect America. Why, then, do they want to disrespect Guyana? Why is the EU is picking on little Guyana to abolish capital punishment when we’ve not executed a single person in over two decades? And during that period a large number of people were murdered. In 2014, 35 inmates were executed in the United States.
In Guyana, we have only one organisation to support the family members of victims.
We need more organisations to support family members whose children were murdered. The EU cares more about saving the lives of cold-blooded murderers than rebuilding the lives of victims’ family members. Why not give the money to help the family members rebuild their lives?
Why not give the money to an organisation to set up a victims’ reparations fund?
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Pantlitz
