The Guyana Police Force has launched an internal investigation into allegations that Deputy Commissioner of Police, Fizal Karimbaksh, may have improperly intervened in a recent anti-crime operation, Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken has confirmed. According to reports, police ranks were executing a lawful anti-crime exercise when they intercepted a heavily tinted white motor vehicle. Upon stopping the vehicle, a female occupant handed her cellphone to the officers. A male voice, identifying himself as Deputy Commissioner Karimbaksh, was heard questioning the ranks about the basis for the stop and reportedly advised them to focus on crime rather than traffic-related matters.
Addressing the issue during the Police Round Up programme on Sunday, Commissioner Hicken described the incident as โconcerning,โ noting that the intervention appeared to have been made without proper verification and outside of the established chain of command. He emphasized that while senior officers are permitted to intervene in ongoing operations, such actions must be grounded in situational awareness and strictly adhere to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and standing police orders. The Commissioner further underscored that under the Criminal Offences Act and the Summary Jurisdiction Act, ranks engaged in anti-crime duties are fully empowered to stop and search vehicles.
The incident, which was captured on camera and subsequently circulated on social media, has raised broader concerns about operational integrity and adherence to protocol within the Force. Commissioner Hicken reaffirmed that the officer conducting the stop-and-search was acting within the scope of the law.
He also reiterated the Forceโs commitment to transparency and accountability, highlighting the continued use of body-worn cameras as part of an evidence-based policing approach. These devices, he noted, provide objective, real-time documentation of police interactions. The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has since been tasked with conducting a thorough investigation into the matter. Commissioner Hicken made it clear that any interference in police operations outside established procedures will be addressed in accordance with the law and internal disciplinary frameworks. The 592 Guardian will be following this investigation closely as it unfolds, in the interest of transparency, accountability, and public trust.
The statement by the Association of Chinese Enterprises in Guyana attempts to reframe a legitimate public concern as a misunderstanding, but it fails to address the core issue at hand: compliance with local content laws and equitable participation in a tax-funded economy.
These projects are not private ventures operating in isolationโthey are government contracts financed by the people of Guyana. As such, they are subject to local content requirements designed to ensure that Guyanese workers and businesses meaningfully benefit from national development. The concern is not about efficiency or project delivery; it is about whether those legal and economic safeguards are being upheld consistently and transparently.
While the Association argues that in-house transportation fleets were created due to capacity constraints, this explanation overlooks a critical point. Local providers were not given a fair opportunity to scale, partner, or adapt to increased demand. Instead, foreign-controlled fleets assumed a dominant role in a key segment of the supply chain. This risks displacing local enterprise rather than developing it.
Moreover, the claim that these fleets are not intended to โcapture the marketโ is difficult to reconcile with the reality of sustained operational control in transportation. Intent does not negate impact. When a single group gains functional dominance in an industry tied to public contracts, it raises valid questions about market access, competition, and regulatory oversight.
Guyanaโs development strategy was never meant to replace local participation with foreign control. Investment agreements were premised on job creation, knowledge transfer, and partnershipโnot the consolidation of industries under external entities. The spirit of those agreements must be respected as much as their letter.
This is not a call for exclusion, but for balance, accountability, and adherence to the laws that protect Guyanese interests. True partnership requires transparency, mutual benefit, and a commitment to strengtheningโnot sideliningโlocal capacity.
https://i0.wp.com/592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_0052.jpg?fit=1170%2C711&ssl=17111170Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/img_9918-300x150.pngEditor2026-05-12 16:24:072026-05-12 16:24:07Public Funds, Private Control: The Real Issue Behind Transport in Infrastructure Projects
There is no denying the political value of a carefully staged appearance in the aftermath of suffering. The images may be powerful, the message may be carefully framed, and the optics may well resonate with a portion of the electorate. But for the people on the ground, optics do not drain floodwater, rebuild damaged homes, or restore a sense of security.
That is the core problem. At a time when victims need urgent, practical help, too many political actors seem more interested in performance than relief. They arrive with cameras, umbrellas, and rehearsed concern, but the public is left asking the only question that matters: what exactly are you going to do?
Where is the road ?
It is not enough to show up. It is not enough to pose in the rain and speak in broad, comforting phrases. People facing hardship do not need song and dance. They need action, coordination, resources, and a government that understands that compassion without competence is merely theatre.
What makes this even more troubling is the timing. In moments of crisis, there is a fine line between solidarity and self-promotion. When that line is crossed, the result is not sympathy but suspicion. The public can see when grief and hardship are being used as a backdrop for political branding.
This is why the entire exercise feels so transparent. The performance may be polished, but the message beneath it is plain: the spectacle comes first, the suffering second. That is not leadership. That is politics at its most cynical. The people deserve better than optics. They deserve seriousness, urgency, and real relief.
If we look long enough the solutionwill rise up from the waters
https://i0.wp.com/592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_0047.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/img_9918-300x150.pngEditor2026-05-12 12:25:072026-05-12 12:25:07Their Cameras Came Before Their Compassion
President Irfaan Ali wants investors to come prepared, to do their homework, and to stop treating Guyana like a drive-through market. Fair enough. But the problem is that this is the same administration that has spent years cultivating exactly the kind of investment culture it now wants to scoldโone marked by preferential access, political convenience, and a troubling tolerance for foreign actors who seem to get the soft landing locals never receive.
The President is not setting standards so much as trying to retrofit them after the fact.
Guyana cannot spend years projecting itself as open for business at any cost, then act offended when investors come expecting access, speed, and influence. That image was reinforced by the governmentโs defensive posture on the oil contract, where the 2% royalty arrangement remains protected behind the familiar shield of contract sanctity, even as ordinary Guyanese are told to accept the deal as settled history. A state that refuses to revisit glaring imbalances in its most consequential contract cannot suddenly pose as a hard-headed gatekeeper when it is convenient.
The message abroad is not hard to decode: some deals are untouchable, some interests are protected, and some players are simply more welcome than others.
That is why Congressman Gabe Evansโs recent letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio matters. Evans warned of โcreeping Chinese influenceโ in Guyana and raised alarms about reports of Chinese firms securing contracts, financing, and political footholds in ways that could threaten U.S. interests in energy, diplomacy, and critical minerals. In plain terms, Guyana is not only being watched; it is being scrutinized for the very habits its leadership has normalized.
So when Ali stands before an American audience and lectures on investor expectations, the paradox is obvious. He is effectively telling U.S. investors to temper their assumptions while Washington is already asking whether Guyana has become too accommodating to Chinese influence.
The U.S. ambassadorโs point about predictability cuts straight through the noise. Predictability means rules that are clear, consistent, and applied without regard to who has the best political connections. It does not mean one set of doors for locals, another for foreign firms, and a VIP corridor for the well-connected.
That distinction matters because the complaints from Guyanese businesses are not imaginary. Local truckers have protested what they describe as a system that favors Chinese-linked firms and squeezes out domestic operators, with some alleging that contracts and access flow through family ties, political connections, and selective facilitation.
When local players are forced to shout just to be treated fairly, the government has already admitted the weakness of its own system.
The administrationโs favorite phraseโsanctity of contractโhas become a political refuge. It is invoked to shut down calls for renegotiating oil terms, yet it is rarely accompanied by equal vigor in defending local enterprise from unfair competition or foreign dominance.
That is the real sting in this debate: the government is fiercely principled when protecting corporate arrangements, but noticeably flexible when the national interest requires courage.That is not consistency. It is choreography.
The accusation now hanging over the administration is not simply that it welcomes investment. It is that it has rolled out the red carpet for certain foreign actors, especially Chinese businesses, and then turned around to demand restraint from everyone else.You cannot preach prudence to investors while refusing to exercise it on behalf of your own citizens.
This is not a neutral posture. It is a choiceโone that signals to global capital that Guyana is willing to prioritize investor comfort over national leverage. When disputes arise, the government has too often appeared aligned with oil majors rather than the Guyanese people, particularly on issues of environmental liability, cost recovery audits, and regulatory enforcement. The result is a credibility gap wide enough to swallow the Presidentโs Houston remarks whole.
Investors notice these signals, and so do citizens
A country cannot market itself as business-friendly, then punish the public for believing it.
๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐
If President Ali wants to be taken seriously, he must first explain why Guyana keeps attracting the same complaints: one-sided contracts, preferential treatment, weak procurement credibility, and a pattern of accommodation that now has even U.S. lawmakers sounding alarms. The issue is not that investors need to come prepared. The issue is that Guyanaโs government should have prepared its own house long ago.
Until it does, the Presidentโs lecture will remain what it sounded like in Houston: not a statement of principle, but an attempt to put discipline on an image his own administration helped create.
If President Ali truly wants investors to come prepared, then the government must first do its own preparationโby strengthening institutions, enforcing accountability, and demonstrating that Guyana is not just open for business, but serious about protecting its people, its resources, and its future.
Because in the end, the investment climate is not defined by speeches in Houston.
https://i0.wp.com/592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_0043.jpg?fit=1170%2C749&ssl=17491170Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/img_9918-300x150.pngEditor2026-05-12 11:50:202026-05-12 11:50:20Ali Cannot Lecture Investors While Guyanaโs Own Record Raises Red Flags
While polished presentations and confident promises painted Guyana as the next oil-powered success story, back home the streets told a very different truthโone submerged in floodwater, dysfunction, and neglect. This is Georgetown today. Not a once-in-a-century disaster. Not an anomaly. But a recurring reality.
A capital city in a nation now awash with oil wealthโyet still unable to manage something as basic as drainage. Investors heard about billions in revenue, booming GDP, and โworld-classโ ambitions. What they werenโt shown is this: เฆฆเงเฆเฆพเฆจ fronts half underwater, streets turned canals, and citizens navigating daily life in conditions that belong to a forgotten era, not an emerging petro-state.
Because the uncomfortable truth is thisโGuyanaโs development story is becoming dangerously lopsided. We are building upwards, showcasing glass and concrete, while the ground beneath usโour systems, our infrastructure, our planningโcontinues to fail. And no amount of international praise or investor confidence can mask a simple question: How can a country swimming in oil money still be drowning in rainwater?
This is not just about flooding. It is about priorities. It is about governance. It is about whether the wealth of a nation is being translated into real, lived improvements for its peopleโor merely into headlines and high-level speeches. Because if โworld-classโ is the goal, then reality like this is not just inconvenientโit is disqualifying.
And the longer it is ignored, the more it exposes a truth no investor pitch can hide: Guyana is not just rising. In too many places, it is still sinking.
https://i0.wp.com/592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_0038.jpg?fit=1290%2C1437&ssl=114371290Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/img_9918-300x150.pngEditor2026-05-12 10:23:102026-05-12 10:23:10Oil Wealth, Flooded Streets: The Reality They Didnโt Sell in Houston
Why submit to a court you have already decided to ignore? Venezuelaโs latest performance before the International Court of Justice wasnโt diplomacy โ it was theatre. After participating in
proceedings, presenting arguments, and engaging the very machinery of international law, Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has now declared that her country will not accept the Courtโs ruling if it affirms that the 1899 Arbitral Award legally settled the Essequibo boundary.
That raises a fundamental question: what was the point? You do not walk into a courtroom only to announce, in advance, that the judgeโs decision is irrelevant. That is not legal engagement โ it is strategic posturing.
Rodriguezโs argument attempts to dress defiance in legal language. She claims that any ruling affirming the 1899 Award would somehow invalidate the 1966 Geneva Agreement and broader international law. But this is a contradiction that collapses under its own weight. The Geneva Agreement did not erase the 1899 Award; it created a mechanism to resolve Venezuelaโs contention. When that mechanism failed, the matter was lawfully referred to the ICJ โ the very process now underway.
Venezuela cannot invoke the Geneva Agreement as both shield and sword โ embracing it when convenient, rejecting its logical outcomes when not. More revealing, however, is the political strategy behind the statement. By declaring in advance that no ruling will be accepted, Caracas is attempting to delegitimize the Court before judgment is even delivered. It is laying the groundwork to ignore an outcome it anticipates will not go in its favour.
That is not a legal argument. It is an admission of expectation. Rodriguezโs pivot toward โregional mediationโ is equally telling. Calls for bilateral talks sound reasonable on the surface, but history shows that such approaches have produced decades of stalemate. The ICJ process exists precisely because those avenues failed. Suggesting a return to them now is less about peace and more about prolonging uncertainty.
And then there is the narrative โ the sweeping historical claims, the maps, the emotional appeals about identity and memory. These are not new. They have been repeated for generations, often without substantiated control, governance, or administration over the territory in question. Meanwhile, Guyanaโs case rests on documented legal instruments, internationally recognized boundaries, and continuous administration. You cannot replace legal title with sentiment.
Even more striking is what Rodriguez chose not to say. Gone was the familiar rhetoric about US conspiracies and ExxonMobil plots โ a notable shift given Venezuelaโs changing geopolitical posture. What remains is a more calculated message: less noise, more positioning.
But beneath the recalibration lies the same core stance โ reject the process if it does not deliver the desired outcome. This is the contradiction Venezuela cannot escape. It wants the legitimacy of international law without the obligation to accept its conclusions.
So again, the question stands: Why go through the exercise if you already knew โ and rejected โ the end result?
https://i0.wp.com/592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_0035.jpg?fit=1170%2C749&ssl=17491170Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/img_9918-300x150.pngEditor2026-05-11 17:03:162026-05-11 17:03:16Theatre at The Hague: Venezuela Rejects the Verdict It Asked For
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has once again escalated its claim over Guyanaโs Essequibo region, with President-in-charge Delcy Rodrรญguez appearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday to assert what Caracas describes as its โhistorical rightsโ to the territory.
Rodrรญguez argued that Venezuela is the sole legitimate owner of Guayana Essequiba, advancing the governmentโs long-standing narrative that the controversy must be resolved under the framework of the 1966 Geneva Agreement. In reaffirming its position, the Bolivarian Government insisted on the โabsolute validityโ of the Geneva Agreement, continuing to reject the legal weight of the 1899 Arbitral Award that internationally settled the boundary in Guyanaโs favour.
The move underscores Venezuelaโs ongoing effort to challenge the jurisdiction of the ICJ while simultaneously attempting to reframe the territorial controversy as an unresolved bilateral matterโan approach that stands in direct contrast to Guyanaโs reliance on international law and judicial settlement.
While one citizen receives the full attention of a Vice President and five ministers, the sharper question is this: what value are the rest of us getting for the money that is financing this entire expedition? Public office is not a stage for pageantry. Taxpayers are entitled to ask whether this is genuine service or an expensive exercise in political optics.
https://i0.wp.com/592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_0031.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1640960Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/img_9918-300x150.pngEditor2026-05-11 16:15:222026-05-11 16:15:22One citizen, one Vice President, five ministers โ a whole government at the table. Micromanagement or public service?
Police are probing what appears to be a calculated, execution-style killing of a 23-year-old Cuban national in the heart of Georgetownโyet troubling questions are already emerging about the pace and intent of the investigation.
Dead is Dainier Vegas Infante, a janitor who lived in Alexander Village, gunned down just before dawn on Sunday outside a business place on Forshaw Street, Queenstown.
According to police reports, at approximately 5:45 a.m., four men descended on the location. One, armed with a handgun, approached two men sitting outside and casually engaged them in conversationโmoments before violence erupted. As Infante exited the building and moved toward the group, the gunman allegedly opened fire without hesitation, striking him and leaving him to die on the spot.
The shooter then fled in a waiting car, while his accomplices scattered in different directions, suggesting a coordinated escape. Infante was pronounced dead at the scene. His body now lies at Memorial Gardens Funeral Home awaiting a post-mortem.
In what should be a significant breakthrough, investigatorsโutilizing the Guyana Police Force Command Centre and surveillance networksโintercepted a vehicle believed to be tied to the killing. A 45-year-old woman from Little Diamond has since been arrested, and the vehicle is undergoing forensic examination.
More notably, sources confirm that investigators already know the identity of the gunman. Yet despite surveillance footage, vehicle tracking data, and what appears to be a clear investigative trail, concerns are intensifying that the case is being inexplicably slowed. The question now looms large: with critical evidence in hand and a suspect identified, what is holding back swift justice?
In the months leading up to the dramatic January 3 United States military operation that resulted in the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolรกs Maduro, quiet diplomatic manoeuvres were already underwayโfar from public scrutiny.
Qatar, acting as a discreet intermediary between Washington and Caracas, hosted discussions on what a post-Maduro Venezuela might look like. However, in a striking revelation, those talks reportedly excluded any role for one of the countryโs most internationally visible opposition figures, Maria Corina Machado. According to a Qatari source familiar with the negotiations, neither US nor Venezuelan representatives raised Machado as a viable participant in any transitional government framework. This omission is particularly significant given Machadoโs longstanding alignment with US policy positions and her open advocacy for foreign intervention against the Maduro administration.
Despite her international profile and subsequent Nobel Peace Prize recognition, the Trump administration appeared unconvinced of her domestic political viability. President Donald Trump himself publicly questioned her level of support within Venezuela, stating bluntly that she lacked the necessary backing to lead a national transition.
That position reportedly remained unchangedโeven after Machado made a symbolic visit to the White House, presenting Trump with her Nobel medal in what many observers interpreted as a strategic gesture aimed at consolidating US support. Her adviser, David Smolansky, has maintained a vastly different narrative, asserting that Machado commands overwhelming national support. Yet, the decisions emerging from Washington suggest otherwise.
Instead, in a move that has raised serious questions about the true objectives of the transition process, the United States facilitated the rise of Vice President Delcy Rodrรญguez to the presidency. Rodrรญguez, a key Maduro ally, had been directly involved in backchannel communications with US officials during the Qatar-mediated talks. Her prior engagements with Qatari leadership, including multiple visits to Doha and meetings with Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, positioned her as a central figure in the evolving diplomatic architecture.
Qatarโs role in this geopolitical recalibration has been both strategic and carefully managed. Initially engaged during the Biden administration to broker prisoner exchanges and secure the release of detained Americans, Doha expanded its involvement to include broader political negotiations. Notably, the Qatari government was not informed in advance of the January 3 raid that resulted in Maduroโs captureโhighlighting the limits of its intermediary role despite months of engagement.
Further underscoring the complexity of the arrangement, a temporary financial mechanism was established at Washingtonโs request, allowing Venezuelan oil revenues to be deposited into a Qatari bank account. That account has since been closed, raising additional questions about transparency and the ultimate disposition of those funds. Meanwhile, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, remain detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, facing drug and firearms charges. Both have pleaded not guilty, and the case has proceeded at a sluggish pace, with US authorities only recently permitting the Venezuelan government to finance their legal defence after weeks of delay.
The unfolding developments point to a transition shaped less by democratic legitimacy and more by strategic convenience. The sidelining of Machadoโdespite her international standingโcombined with the elevation of a Maduro insider, suggests that Washingtonโs priorities may lie more in stability and control than in genuine political reform.
For Venezuela, the question remains: is this truly a transition, or simply a recalibration of power under new management?
https://i0.wp.com/592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_0014.jpg?fit=1170%2C962&ssl=19621170Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/img_9918-300x150.pngEditor2026-05-11 09:58:412026-05-11 09:58:41US-BACKED VENEZUELA TRANSITION TALKS EXCLUDED MACHADO AS POWER QUIETLY SHIFTED TO RODRรGUEZ
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