First Person Singular

Guyana’s “weirdo” earthquake

Taken into high orbit on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, the watching satellite captured in astounding detail, the historic rupture from Guyana’s rare earthquake of magnitude 5.6 on January 31 last.

The rare Guyana earthquake

The dry earth was still booming and vibrating in remote southern Guyana on a blazing Sunday afternoon, but across the Atlantic, it was just after 8 p.m.

The vaccine wars

Dismayed by the brightness, the colony of dangling bats fled the starch mango tree which is still bearing a few plump fruits, out of season.

There is always light

Early Wednesday, as the sun shone through the open window, I received a short text from my American-born long-time friend writing from her chilly New York apartment, “Today is not a holiday.

Profiles in courage

On January 6, 2021 the California Congresswoman, Jackie Speier thought back to a traumatic November day, as she and her colleagues in the United States (U.S.)

 America’s dark moment

A group of visiting foreign journalists, we stood that cold morning to one side, struck into silence by the sheer size and splendour of the Capitol’s Rotunda, as we stared at the ornately decorated dome with its neo-classical motifs, in soaring symmetry above us.

Revising Caribbean history

Across schools in the region, students have long been taught that millions of indigenous Taino people died out following the catastrophic arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, but recent revolutionary genetic studies are suddenly rewriting our history.

A classic sauce

It may very well be the oldest and tastiest surviving savoury sauce in this part of the world, but Guyana is the only country where the rich, dark, intensely flavoured indigenous concoction is so seamlessly integrated into our cuisine, consciousness, and Christmas culture.

The scent of Christmas

Fragrant with warm notes of Ceylon cinnamon, pungent cloves, lacy fronds of mace, and glossy green bay leaves pulled from the potted tree that bears twinkling lights, the first sweet scent of Christmas dominated the evening air.

A fishy business

I have a precious but dwindling jar of dried Guyanese salted seabob that I save to use sparingly in my cooking.

Looking for Marlon

In this record year of a raging and deadly viral pandemic, the Belgian authorities were on secret alert, awaiting for weeks, the Guyana scrap metal shipments that came in five separate containers aboard a loaded transoceanic vessel.

The $110M US-lobby bill

A record $100M was publicly spent by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and a rising New York-based group of diaspora allies, on lobbying critical American support in the lead up to the March 2, 2020 high-stakes elections and during the five-month democracy crisis that ensued.

Loose talk and small change

Just weeks before the abrupt conclusion of Guyana’s prolonged election crisis, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) quietly ended its contract with the American lobbying firm, Mercury Public Affairs having spent over $63M against its main rival’s $10M.

The macho men

Almost exclusively of East Indian descent, the mostly older Guyanese men, on a popular site, openly bragged about voting, with their families, for incumbent United States (US) President Donald Trump.

The dark ones

Some of my favourite memories are of magical moon-lit nights with no electricity, when the white rocky orb would slowly rise in the east, above the multiple rows of triangular rooflines silhouetted against the shaded sky.

The Nabarima debacle

Six days ago, the plain-spoken environmental activist Gary Aboud, 60, slapped on his cap and denim jacket, secretly boarded a small Trinidadian boat and did the unthinkable.

A greater share

As the region’s oil-rich newcomer Guyana looks to steadily soar production, neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago (TT) is struggling with decreased resources, declining output and Covid-19 related-contractions in its troubled energy sector.

A dose of salts

With Guyana’s proven oil reserves rising to over eight billion barrels from the latest finds by the American multinational ExxonMobil, we can well imagine what famous warning would come from the late Jamaican Prime Minister, Michael Manley.

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