WHY GUYANA DOES NOT GET T&T’S JOKE

RANDY Depoo, a Guyanese-born American diplomat, had a stock response each time he heard of the harassment and disrespect of people of the land of his birth.

“Guyana is the region’s pariah,” Depoo used to say.

That was before the humongous energy discoveries, which, sadly, he did not live to experience.

His career blossomed in the post-Forbes Burnham period, when thousands of besieged Guyanese fled to Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, the New York metropolitan area, and wherever else they could keep their respective families safe and intact.

Burnham’s reign of terror began during the Wismar Massacre in 1964 – when 1,500 homes were firebombed, hundreds assaulted and women raped – and ran for two torturous decades.

Revolutionary and opposition politician Dr. Walter Rodney was murdered in 1980 by a mercenary retained by the Burnham regime, causing reggae superstar Bob Marley to decry in “Redemption Song”:

“How long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look?

“Some say it is just a part of it, we got to fulfill The Book.”

Burnham’s blood-stained era prompted many persecuted Guyanese to abandon their agricultural lands, homes, and small businesses.

In T&T, some Guyanese exiles made ends meet through menial domestic duties.

They endured routine ridicule about the cost of living in their homeland and their inability to properly feed and clothe their respective families.

With their large travelling canvas bags (“Guyanese Samsonite,” they were mocked), they were often hassled – even turned back – at regional airports.

Guyana has since secured hard-fought free and fair elections, and the huge oil and gas finds over the past decade have dramatically turned around the country’s economic condition.

The offspring of those who fled Burnham’s oppression have generally done well, many becoming traders, small business operators, or qualified professionals.

They live in much better circumstances in their adopted countries, but most have an aching feeling about the land their parents escaped, even visiting those rural districts.

They remain wounded by the lack of regional uproar against Burnham’s oppression.

To be fair, documents declassified by the United States Central Intelligence Agency a few years ago revealed that T&T’s Dr. Eric Williams had made an effort to conciliate between Burnham and opposition torchbearer Dr. Cheddi Jagan.

And, in Burnham’s final years, regional newspapers, led by T&T publisher Ken Gordon, carried serial editorials, which were ignored.

In 1982, when Caricom leaders resumed talks upon Williams’ death – I covered the conference at Ocho Rios, Jamaica, as a journalist – Burnham was on the podium backslapping with George Chambers, Eddie Seaga, Eugenia Charles and others.

The current generation of Guyanese has harrowing stories of those dreadful years.

So, when Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley takes a needless dig at the value of the Guyana dollar, it reawakens a lost innocence and Caricom’s indifference.

The much-viewed video of an upset domiciled Guyanese woman in New York illustrates the anguish.

It is a moot point whether or not Bharrat Jagdeo should have taken the high road and ignored Rowley’s pointless jab.

More important is the need for greater sensitivity and a new era of leadership, which is being unveiled with the smart stewardship of Dr. Irfaan Ali.

Statesmanship – not cheap picong – is what’s needed.