The first publicized act emanating from Guyana’s joining of the UN Security Council is a condemnation of the Houthi’s attacks on shipping on the Red Sea. If such a condemnation is justified, what about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, about which Guyana has been deafeningly silent, except being a part of Caricom’s weak call for a ceasefire and the President condemning the killing of children, without naming anyone.
Guyana has had a long, admirable and courageous fight against British colonialism and then American imperialism. The post-1992 PPP and its governments, succeeding to office as a beneficiary of the end of the Cold War, saw it fit, and in its best interests, as Cheddi Jagan made peace with the United States, not to pursue a foreign policy that is antagonistic to US foreign policy interests. Anchoring Guyana in Caricom’s broader international perspectives makes sense and helps to protect Guyana in an unsafe environment, particularly with Venezuela’s serious aggression against Guyana. But Belize and Jamaica, Caricom members, demonstrated divergent positions. So can Guyana.
