Trinidad Probes Reported Oil Spill as Venezuela Raises Alarm Over Environmental Damage

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An investigation has been launched into reports of an oil spill in the Gulf of Paria, following claims by the Venezuelan Government that the incident has already caused significant environmental harm along its coastline.


In a formal communiqué issued on Saturday, Venezuela—under Acting President Delcy Rodríguez—alerted the international community to what it described as an oil spill “originating from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,” with documented impacts on the coastal states of Sucre and Delta Amacuro.
According to Venezuelan authorities, preliminary technical assessments indicate that the spill has affected marine ecosystems, shorelines, and fishing communities, while posing serious risks to mangroves, wetlands, and other ecologically sensitive zones critical to regional biodiversity and food security.


The communiqué further warned of damage to vulnerable species and hydrobiological resources, underscoring the potential long-term ecological consequences if containment and remediation measures are not urgently implemented.


Venezuela has since instructed its Ministry of Foreign Affairs to formally request detailed information on the incident, including the scope of the spill and the response plan being undertaken by Trinidad and Tobago.


Additionally, the Venezuelan Government is calling for full compliance with international environmental obligations and has signaled its expectation for reparative action to address any confirmed damage.


“The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will continue to deploy all necessary actions to protect affected ecosystems and safeguard impacted communities,” the statement concluded.
In response, Trinidad and Tobago’s Energy Minister, Dr. Roodal Moonilal, confirmed that state-owned Heritage Petroleum Company Limited is currently conducting inquiries into the matter.


He indicated that a formal investigation is underway and assured that further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

The Rot at the National Stadium

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BY: Hem Kumar 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣

Allegations now surfacing about the distribution of contracts at the National Stadium strike at the very core of fairness, governance, and public trust in Guyana. The We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, led by Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, has sounded the alarm—but what is most troubling is that these claims do not exist in isolation. They fit into a long, uncomfortable pattern.

At the heart of the issue is a familiar accusation: that state contracts are being funnelled to loyalists of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP), while ordinary contractors—many already battling economic hardship—are left on the outside looking in. If true, this is not merely political patronage. It is the systematic exclusion of citizens from opportunities funded by their own tax dollars.

This is not how a functioning democracy allocates resources.

The Procurement Act of 2003 was designed to prevent precisely this kind of abuse. It was meant to guarantee transparency, competition, and fairness. Yet, more than two decades later, confidence in the system is eroding, not strengthening. The persistent complaints from contractors and civil society suggest that the law exists more on paper than in practice.

There are growing concerns that procurement procedures are being manipulated—whether through sole-sourcing, restricted tendering, or opaque evaluation processes that raise more questions than answers. When contracts repeatedly land in the hands of the politically connected, merit becomes irrelevant and public confidence collapses.

And where, one must ask, are the watchdogs?

The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) and the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) were established to act as safeguards against precisely this kind of misconduct. Yet the perception—fair or not—is that oversight is either weak, selective, or entirely absent. Silence in the face of mounting allegations only deepens suspicion.

This is bigger than one stadium. It is about whether Guyana’s development is being built on competence or cronyism.

Small contractors across the country are watching. They are working, struggling, and competing—only to feel that the game is rigged before it even begins. When access to opportunity depends on political allegiance rather than qualification, the message to citizens is clear: loyalty matters more than legitimacy.

That is a dangerous message for any nation.

The government must understand that transparency is not optional—it is a duty. If the procurement system is clean, then open it. Publish the contracts. Disclose the evaluation criteria. Let the public see who is winning, and why. If everything is above board, there should be nothing to hide.
But if it is not, then what is unfolding at the National Stadium is not just mismanagement—it is a betrayal of public trust.

Guyana cannot afford a system where national resources are treated as political rewards. Development must belong to all, not a privileged few. Until that principle is upheld—not in words, but in action—the questions will not go away.

They will only get louder.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣-𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 , 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮,𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙄𝙣𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙖 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨.— ✦—

Luxury Lies, Missing Millions: How Guyana’s Tax System Was Gamed Again

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BY: Hem Kumar 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣

Another day, another gut-punch to the Guyanese taxpayer—and this time, the stench of elite privilege and systemic failure is impossible to ignore.

Information now in the public domain reveals that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) may have been fleeced of hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes tied to the importation of three high-end luxury vehicles by a prominent attorney, Devindra Kissoon, a founding member of the London House Chambers.

This is not a story about success or wealth. It is a story about manipulation, apparent deception, and a tax system that continues to bend for the powerful while squeezing the ordinary citizen.
Start with the most recent transaction.

In January 2025, a Lamborghini Urus—one of the most recognisable luxury SUVs in the world—was imported and declared at a value of just GY$22.5 million, roughly US$107,000. Globally, that same vehicle commands between US$240,000 and US$280,000. That is not a minor discrepancy. That is a brazen undervaluation that effectively slashes the government’s rightful tax intake by tens of millions of dollars.

And this was no isolated incident.
In April 2024, a Porsche sports car was declared at a laughable GY$4.7 million—just over US$22,000. That figure would barely secure a used economy vehicle, far less a high-performance German machine with a market value starting around US$135,000.

Then there is the 2021 importation of a Mercedes-Benz GLE 350, declared at GY$9.3 million (US$44,000). While less outrageous on paper, it fits a now unmistakable pattern: luxury vehicles, consistently undervalued, systematically eroding the country’s tax base.

This is not coincidence. This is a method.

And the most disturbing question remains unanswered: how did these declarations pass through the GRA without triggering red flags, audits, or enforcement action?
Because here lies the deeper crisis—not just individual conduct, but institutional weakness.

When a school teacher, a vendor, or a small business owner falls short on taxes, the system moves swiftly and decisively. Penalties are imposed. Licenses are threatened. Compliance is enforced.
But when the elite manipulate invoices and shave millions off import values, the system appears to fall silent.

This is the very definition of a two-tiered society.

Even more troubling is the eerie resemblance to the Azruddin Mohamed scandal, where luxury vehicles were similarly undervalued, and where political proximity blurred the lines between governance and favouritism. In that case, the country was rocked by revelations of a staggering $1.2 billion in unpaid taxes, alongside claims of direct communication with the Head of State regarding reduced tax payments.

Different actors. Same playbook.
Guyana cannot continue down this road.

Every dollar lost through tax evasion is a dollar stolen from public development—schools left unfinished, hospitals under-equipped, roads riddled with neglect. These are not abstract losses. They are real consequences borne by citizens who play by the rules.

The GRA must answer.
Were these valuations independently verified?

Were internal controls bypassed or compromised?

Who approved these declarations?
And most importantly—will there be consequences?

Because without accountability, this is not just a scandal. It is a signal.


A signal that in Guyana, wealth can purchase leniency, influence can silence scrutiny, and the law can be negotiated.

That is a dangerous precedent for any nation—especially one standing on the brink of unprecedented economic transformation.
If the institutions tasked with protecting public revenue cannot—or will not—act decisively, then they risk becoming complicit in the very corruption they are meant to prevent.

The Guyanese people deserve better.
And they are watching.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣-𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 , 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮,𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙄𝙣𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙖 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨.— ✦—

Government’s Rice Gamble Backfires

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BY: Hem Kumar 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣

This is what happens when policy is crafted on the fly and dressed up as strategy.

The Government rolled out a $3 billion rice subsidy with a glaring loophole—an acreage-based payout structure that practically invites manipulation. Now that farmers are responding exactly as any rational actor would, the Agriculture Minister is reaching for the police instead of the mirror.

That is not leadership. That is deflection.

You cannot design a system that rewards smaller declared acreage with higher per-acre payments and then act shocked when large-scale farmers begin restructuring on paper. That outcome was not accidental—it was inevitable. Any serious policymaker would have seen it coming.

But instead of building safeguards into the framework from the start, the Government rushed the announcement, threw out attractive figures, and left the back door wide open.
Now the same administration is warning farmers not to “smart the system.”

The uncomfortable truth is this: the system was not smart to begin with.
Farmers are not operating in a vacuum. They are dealing with collapsing paddy prices, skyrocketing input costs, and shrinking margins. When survival is on the line, people will adapt. What the Minister is calling manipulation, many would call basic economic response.
And yet, rather than fixing the structural weakness, the Government is escalating to threats of prosecution.

This is governance by afterthought.
If the Guyana Rice Development Board already had detailed acreage records—as the Minister now claims—why were those records not used to design a subsidy mechanism that could not be easily gamed? Why introduce a tiered system without enforcement triggers, verification protocols, or clear legal definitions from day one?

Because this was never about precision. It was about presentation.

Announce big numbers. Appear responsive. Deal with the consequences later.
Now the consequences have arrived—and instead of recalibrating policy, the Government is criminalizing predictable behavior.

That is not accountability. That is panic management.

The rice sector does not need threats. It needs competence. It needs policies that are thought through, stress-tested, and grounded in the realities farmers face daily—not improvised measures that collapse under the weight of their own contradictions.

Band-aid governance will always produce bleeding outcomes.

And no amount of warning from a podium can patch what was fundamentally broken at the design stage.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣-𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 , 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮,𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙄𝙣𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙖 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨.— ✦—

Guyana’s Gas Gamble Is No Panacea

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BY: Hem Kumar 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣

Guyana is being sold another expensive promise.

At the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, the language was once again grand: gas as the bridge to industrialisation, Berbice as an emerging hub, infrastructure as destiny. But behind the polished pitch lies an uncomfortable truth — the country is being asked to embrace another multibillion-dollar commitment before the full cost of the first one has even been digested.

The Berbice gas vision is now being discussed as though it were a natural next step in Guyana’s development. In reality, it looks more like the widening of a fiscal trap. ExxonMobil has already framed the new Berbice gas pipeline as a US$2 billion investment, while the original Gas-to-Energy project has been tied to long-term state payments, including US$55 million annually for 20 years for the pipeline and another US$51 million a year linked to the plant and NGL facilities. That is not a cheap transition to energy security. That is a decades-long financial obligation.

And the timing should worry every serious observer.
Guyana’s debt has reportedly climbed from about US$1.8 billion in 2019 to more than US$7.7 billion in 2025, with another US$1.7 billion added to finance the 2025 budget.

At the same time, oil revenues remain the country’s fiscal lifeline, with about US$2.4 billion flowing into the Natural Resource Fund in 2025 and oil expected to cover roughly 32% of the 2026 budget. In other words, the state is already leaning heavily on petroleum income to sustain spending, even as it is being pushed toward fresh capital commitments that will demand more borrowing, more guarantees, or more public exposure.
That is why the current marketing campaign around gas deserves far more scrutiny than applause.

The business chambers, too, should be pressed on their enthusiasm. The Private Sector Commission and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry are speaking as though gas will automatically unlock factories, ports, fertilizers, data centres, and a new industrial corridor. But that confidence rests more on aspiration than on proof. The question is not whether gas can support development in theory. The question is whether Guyana can afford the scale of infrastructure being proposed, and whether those investments will ever generate returns sufficient to justify their cost.

This is where the rhetoric becomes misleading. Development is being packaged as inevitability, when it is really a gamble. A deepwater port, expanded road links to northern Brazil, industrial estates, and gas-fed manufacturing cannot be wished into existence by conference speeches. They require rigorous feasibility, transparent financing, realistic demand projections, and public accountability. None of those can be replaced by optimism.

The danger is that Berbice is being turned into a slogan before it becomes a strategy.
Guyana does need diversification. It does need cheaper power, stronger logistics, and a wider industrial base. But none of that justifies pretending that every gas-linked project is automatically a national good. A project that arrives burdened by controversy, cost escalation, and long repayment horizons should not be gift-wrapped and sold as the answer to everything.

Because panaceas are convenient. They are also false.

And if this gas expansion fails to deliver the promised returns, the burden will not fall on the conference speakers, the corporate champions, or the chambers of commerce. It will fall on the people of Guyana — through higher fiscal pressure, deeper debt exposure, and yet another national promise that costs far more than it delivers.

Guyana deserves development.
It does not deserve another expensive illusion.

.𝐔𝐒. 𝐓𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐮𝐛𝐚 𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞

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Dear Editor, 

 The United States has significantly escalated its economic offensive against Cuba, with President Donald Trump signing a sweeping executive order that broadens sanctions to target not only Cuban officials, but their adult family members and the international financial networks that sustain them.

 The order authorizes the U.S. Treasury to freeze assets, impose visa bans, and penalize foreign banks that facilitate transactions linked to sanctioned Cuban individuals and entities—effectively extending Washington’s reach deep into the global financial system.

Issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the directive builds on a national emergency declared in January and signals a more aggressive phase in U.S. efforts to isolate Havana amid its worsening economic crisis.

 Under the new framework, sanctions can be applied to key figures within Cuba’s political leadership, security apparatus, and economic sectors, as well as individuals accused of corruption or human rights abuses tied to the state. Notably, the measures extend to adult family members of those designated—an expansion that raises the personal stakes for Cuba’s ruling elite.

In a move likely to reverberate across global banking systems, the order also targets foreign financial institutions. Banks that conduct or facilitate significant transactions for sanctioned Cuban entities—including the Central Bank of Cuba—risk losing access to U.S. correspondent or payable-through accounts. This effectively threatens their ability to clear U.S. dollar transactions, a powerful deterrent in international finance.

 The policy intensifies pressure on Cuba at a moment of acute vulnerability. The island is grappling with severe fuel shortages, recurring nationwide blackouts, and disruptions to international travel. Washington’s earlier actions—including halting Venezuelan oil shipments and pressuring Mexico to cease exports—have compounded the crisis.

The latest order builds on Executive Order 14380, signed January 29, which introduced a separate tariff mechanism targeting countries supplying oil to Cuba and declared the Cuban government an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security.

 While the White House has framed the sanctions as a necessary response to Cuba’s alleged support for hostile actors and regional instability, it has yet to disclose the first wave of individuals and institutions to be designated under the expanded authorities.

Behind the policy lies an increasingly blunt posture from Trump himself. In remarks that have drawn international scrutiny, he openly floated the idea of exerting direct control over the island, stating in March, “Taking Cuba in some form… whether I free it, take it, I think I could do anything I want with it.”

 Despite the hardening rhetoric, diplomatic channels remain open. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in a recent interview, acknowledged the possibility of dialogue but rejected U.S. demands tied to changes in Cuba’s political system, underscoring the entrenched divide between the two governments.Yet, amid this hardline approach, there are faint signals of dialogue. Pres . Diaz- Canel has acknowledged that discussions with the United States remain possible, though difficult. That fragile opening, however, risks being suffocated under the weight of escalating sanctions and maximalist demands.

 History has shown that sanctions, particularly broad and prolonged ones, rarely achieve their stated political objectives without imposing significant collateral damage. They entrench hardship, strain social systems, and often harden the very governments they seek to weaken.

Cuba today stands at a perilous crossroads. What it needs is not further isolation, but pragmatic engagement—solutions that recognize both the political complexities and the humanitarian realities on the ground.

 The question that must now be asked is not whether the United States has the power to impose such measures. It clearly does.

The real question is whether it has the moral clarity to recognize when that power is being exercised without sufficient regard for human consequence.

 Because when policy begins to disregard people, it ceases to be strategy—and becomes suffering by design.

Ultimately, the real impact of the sanctions will depend on enforcement—specifically, which individuals are targeted and whether global banks choose compliance over risk. If widely observed, the measures could further choke Cuba’s already fragile economy. If not, they risk becoming another symbolic escalation in a long-running geopolitical standoff.

For now, Washington has made one thing clear: economic pressure on Havana is not easing—it is accelerating.

 

Sincerely 

Hemdutt Kumar

Applause Without Accountability: The Dangerous Rise of Political Cheerleading in Guyana

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Halim Khan’s latest outpouring of praise for President Irfaan Ali reads less like an objective assessment and more like a rehearsed tribute designed to curry favour with power.

This is the same figure who once applauded the President’s “visionary leadership” while merely observing the construction of Joe Vieira Park—hardly the mark of transformative governance. Now, he reappears, once again cloaking routine political engagement in grandiose language about global recognition and economic destiny.

Let’s be clear: calling an award “proof” of national transformation does not make it so. These pronouncements are not grounded in scrutiny or accountability, but in a pattern of uncritical endorsement that does little to serve the public interest. It is political flattery dressed up as private sector commentary.

At a time when Guyanese citizens are demanding transparency, measurable outcomes, and equitable development, this kind of rhetoric is not just hollow—it is misleading. It attempts to manufacture a narrative of success while sidestepping the real questions about governance, distribution of wealth, and long-term sustainability.

The private sector has a responsibility to speak truth to power, not echo it. When business leaders choose applause over accountability, they abandon that duty and weaken the very credibility they depend on.
Guyana deserves honest voices, not cheerleaders.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣-𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 , 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙄𝙣 𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙖 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨.— ✦—

She Carries the Nation: Honouring the Strength and Sacrifice of Our Mothers

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On this Mother’s Day, we pause to honour the women who so often give more than they have, and ask for nothing in return. Across Guyana and throughout our diaspora, mothers continue to carry the quiet weight of families, communities, and, in many ways, the nation itself.
They rise before dawn and rest long after night falls, stretching limited resources, absorbing burdens, and shielding their children from hardship—even when they themselves are weary. Their labour is not always seen, their sacrifices rarely quantified, yet their impact is profound and enduring.
In homes where challenges persist—economic strain, social pressures, and uncertainty—it is mothers who steady the ground beneath us. They are providers, protectors, teachers, and, too often, the last line of support when systems fall short. Their resilience is not accidental; it is forged daily in the face of responsibility that rarely relents.
Today, we do more than celebrate. We acknowledge. We recognize the overextension, the silent endurance, and the unbreakable commitment that define motherhood in its truest form.
To every mother who continues to give, to hold, to build, and to believe—thank you. Your strength shapes generations. Your love sustains a nation.


Happy Mother’s Day.

How taxpayers paid for relief — and got burden instead

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BY: Hem Kumar 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣

Royal Chicken and its consortium benefitted from state-backed land and infrastructure meant to lower feed costs and reduce food prices. Instead, the public now faces imported concessions, local exports, and no meaningful relief at the checkout line.
The Royal Chicken arrangement is a textbook example of how public power can be used to manufacture private advantage while ordinary citizens are left to carry the cost.
What was presented to the Guyanese people as a bold agricultural solution was supposed to do several things at once: build local soya and corn production, reduce dependence on imports, lower feed costs, support farmers, and eventually bring down the price of chicken and eggs. To make that happen, taxpayers helped fund the land, the roads, the silos, the wharf, and the wider infrastructure needed to sustain the project.
That was the promise. Relief.
But the reality now emerging is deeply troubling.
Royal Chicken is still reportedly receiving duty-free concessions for feedstock imports, even as the consortium tied to that taxpayer-supported venture is exporting locally grown product that was supposed to help meet domestic needs. In plain terms, the public financed a system designed to reduce costs, but the same system appears to be allowing the same players to import tax-free and export for profit at the same time.
That means the people have been made to pay twice.
First, they paid through taxes that helped build the infrastructure and support the venture. Then they paid again in the market, where food prices remain high and the promised relief has not materialized. The burden never went away; it was simply shifted onto the backs of consumers.
This is not a small administrative mistake. It is a serious abuse of public trust.
A handful of dominant operators appear to benefit from every side of the arrangement: public land, public infrastructure, import concessions, and market control. Meanwhile, small farmers continue to struggle with high production costs, and ordinary households continue to face expensive chicken and eggs. The people who were supposed to benefit from the policy are the very people still paying the price for its failure.
If the goal was self-sufficiency, why are imports still being subsidized? If the goal was lower prices, why is the consumer still suffering? If the goal was to strengthen local production, why is local output being exported while domestic demand remains under pressure?
Those questions go to the heart of the matter. This is not simply about feedstock. It is about whether state policy is being used to serve the public interest or to protect a privileged few.
The greatest insult is that the public was sold a story of relief, development, and national benefit. Instead, it appears to have received a system where taxpayers underwrote the infrastructure, subsidized the imports, and still did not receive affordable food in return.
That is why this issue has cut so deeply. It is not just a policy failure. It is a warning about what happens when public resources are captured by private interests under the banner of development.
The result is brutally simple: the people paid for the relief, and then they were left subsidizing the very arrangement that denied it to them.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣-𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 , 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮,𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙄𝙣𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙖 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨.— ✦—

CANU’s Anti-Drug Booklet Initiative a Step Forward, But Questions Remain on Impact

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GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — The Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) has launched a new anti-drug booklet series aimed at raising public awareness about the dangers of drug use and trafficking, particularly among young people and vulnerable communities.
According to the Department of Public Information (DPI), the initiative forms part of ongoing national efforts to address substance abuse through education. CANU Director James Singh stated that the programme is intended to provide “accurate and accessible information” to help citizens make informed decisions.
While the distribution of educational materials in schools and communities is a welcome step, the effectiveness of such initiatives has long depended on sustained engagement, measurable outcomes, and integration with broader social interventions. Guyana continues to face complex challenges linked to drug trafficking and substance abuse, raising questions about whether public awareness campaigns alone can meaningfully curb the problem.
The booklet series will be rolled out nationwide through schools, community programmes, and public outreach efforts. However, stakeholders will be watching closely to see whether this initiative is supported by long-term strategies, including rehabilitation services, enforcement strengthening, and community-based interventions.