Long standing tensions between Guyana and Venezuela, which claims an area that comprises two-thirds of the smaller English-speaking South American country, flared up again this month. (See last week's Updates.) Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro issued a decree to establish a new “Territory for the development of the Atlantic Facade” in the disputed Essequibo region and said, on Twitter, that he intends to reconquer the area. The Guyana government subsequently rejected the decree.
Guyana's government said that, as of last week, Venezuelan warships were in Guyana’s territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone. (South Florida Caribbean News) Guyana has deployed more army troops along its disputed border with Venezuela and the U.S. has stepped up cooperation with Guyana. Admiral Craig Faller, commander of the US Southern Command, visited Guyana last week in a show of support. (MercoPress)
The border dispute is before the International Court of Justice, but Venezuela rejects the court's authority, reports Reuters. (Guyana Times has more on the legal proceedings before the ICJ and timelines.)
While the area's riches include gold, diamonds and timber, the focus of Venezuela's claim is the massive offshore Liza oil field, reports Global Voices. Maduro also appears to be using the issue as a rallying point in national politics.
The Caribbean Community (Caricom) rejected Venezuela's decree, and voiced support for the “judicial process underway at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which is intended to bring a peaceful and definitive end to the long-standing controversy between the two countries.” (CMC) The issue could test Caricom, pitting the organization's loyalty to a member state against economic interest in relations with Venezuela, reports the Guyana Chronicle. International support for Guyana's position includes the U.S., Canada, and the OAS, as well as the Commonwealth. (Argus Media, Guyana Chronicle)
More broadly, Venezuela and the Maduro government “present a multidimensional security threat for Guyana, including ‘sindicatos’ and other armed Venezuela-based criminal groups which cross over the border and conduct criminal activities in Guyana,” according to Evan Ellis, a non-resident senior associate with the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. (BN Americas)
Briefs
Security and Human Rights
- Kidnappings for ransom have surged in Haiti, from a total of 39 in 2019 to nearly 200 in 2020 -- and experts believe there are political motivations in addition to financial ones, reports Vice News. An unexplained shift to kidnappings in opposition strongholds has led many to believe the government is working with gang members , neglecting official police departments and allowing gangs to serve as de-facto security forces.
- The U.N. Human Rights Office referenced kidnappings and gang attacks in parallel to rising political tensions over when elections should be held, and voiced concern that "that persistent insecurity, poverty and structural inequalities in Haiti coupled with increasing political tensions may lead to a pattern of public discontent followed by violent police repression and other human rights violations." Calls for mass protests raise concern about policing, and human rights violations committed by gang members during months of social unrest in 2018 and 2019, said the UNHCHR.
- Honduras' Garífuna community protested the ongoing disappearance of five community leaders who were detained by armed men in police uniforms last July. The Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH) denounced that Honduras' government has no interest in investigating the crime, which they say forms part of an extermination plan against a community that is defending its territory from land grabbers. (Pasos de Animal Grande)
- Cuba played a strong role in supporting talks with the FARC that ultimately resulted in the 2016 peace deal, according to the lead Colombian peace negotiators. "We say with total certainty: without Cuba’s commitment and contribution there would have been no peace agreement in Colombia." Humberto de la Calle and Sergio Jaramillo wrote in response to the U.S. inclusion of Cuba on its list of countries that sponsor terrorism, and emphasized the care Cuban authorities took to ensure that FARC guerrillas in Havana for negotiations stuck to the peace mission. (See last week's Updates.) "...Despite all the differences that we may have with the regime of Cuba, we are obliged to recognize and thank the generous spirit and the professionalism that Cuba deployed in favor of peace in Colombia." (In English.)
- "If a country risks being placed on a terrorism list as a result of facilitating peace efforts, it could set a negative precedent for international peace efforts," noted the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in a response to the U.S. designation. (See last week's Updates.)
- The former U.S. Trump administration's push against Cuba has implications for the rest of the Caribbean, warns Sir Ronald Sanders. In a questionnaire the U.S. will use to compile its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, Caribbean countries were asked about workers from Cuba. "The objective appears to be the classification of Cuban medical personnel as ‘trafficked persons’, thereby implicating both Cuba and Caribbean governments in criminal activity." (Kaieteur News)
- The new U.S. Biden administration is expected to extend its sphere of interest in Latin America and Caribbean beyond the limited and conflictive focus of his predecessor, according to experts at the Inter-American Dialogue. "With Biden, it is reasonable to expect greater predictability and deeper US engagement in the region," writes Michael Shifter.
- Caribbean artists, politicians and other luminaries from Antigua to Barbados to Jamaica feted Kamala Harris's historical rise as “America’s first Black Caribbean-American” vice president in a virtual celebration ahead of today's inauguration, reports the Miami Herald.
Democratic Governance
- While Puerto Ricans requested statehood on Nov. 3, 2020, with 52.3% of voters asking to change the island’s status from unincorporated territory to U.S. state, but whether it happens or not is up to U.S. lawmakers. Puerto Rican statehood advocates are hopeful that a Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress, and President Joe Biden, could give the territory its best shot in years. U.S. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has vowed to pursue Puerto Rican statehood. (Law and Crime, Conversation)
Climate Justice and Energy
- Guyana's government is reviewing the country's production sharing agreement with oil company Exxon for the Stabroek Block, but Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told Kaieteur News that all provisions have and will remain intact. In 2019 Kaieteur published an investigation that found Guyana’s PSA for the Stabroek Block has some of the world’s worst provisions when compared to 130 other deals. Critics have called for the government to demand more favorable terms from the U.S. oil giant, and say authorities are failing to leverage Guyana's significant off-shore oil findings to the country's advantage. (Kaieteur News) Kaieteur News calls on Guyanese people to stand up to political mismanagement of the country's oil wealth.
- The health of the ocean will ultimately determine the survival of humankind on Earth, according to the UN Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson.
- Global warming is expected to be a cross cutting theme in future US global and hemispheric policy. The Biden Administration is expected to mobilize multilateral institutions to develop post pandemic climate related solutions that address the unresolved issue of high borrowing costs for vulnerable nations, according to David Jessop's analysis. In previous comments, advisors have suggested that in the Caribbean the deployment of Biden’s proposed Clean Energy Export and Climate Investment Initiative will likely be a priority, with an initial focus on providing low-cost financing to small island states ‘ready to demonstrate leadership on climate change’.
- A proposed framework for the Equitable Caribbean Blue Economy by Veta Wade.
Health
- Stringent, early-implemented controls to limit movement have had an important impact on containing the spread of Covid-19 across much of the Caribbean. Very early controls to limit movement into countries may well be particularly effective for small island developing states, according to an article in Research on Globalization that documents the variety of government measures introduced across the Caribbean and explore their impact on aspects of outbreak control.
- Cuba is implementing a deep financial reform that reduces subsidies, eliminates a dual currency that was key to the old system and raises salaries. A key difference? The new system encourages people to work. The goal is to boost productivity and reconfigure a socialist system that will still grant universal benefits such as free health care and education, reports the Associated Press. But critics are concerned the plan will increase inequality without providing solutions for people without work.
- British-appointed British Virgin Islands governor Gus Jaspert established a commission of inquiry to investigate concerns over governance, including specific allegations that point to possible corruption and infiltration by serious organized criminal gangs. He was pushed to take the extraordinary measure by allegations of widespread political corruption, misuse of taxpayer’s money and a climate of fear following a November discovery of a cocaine stash worth more than £190m., reports the Guardian. The decision to set up a commission is an acknowledgement that BVI’s own criminal justice system is not capable of mounting an effective and impartial investigation. It also throws the constitutional relationship between the UK and overseas territories into the spotlight.
Women, Gender and LGBT Rights
- Women in the Dominican Republic go to extreme lengths to self-induce abortions, often in secrecy and without clear medical guidance. The DR is one of four countries in Latin America – along with Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador – where abortion is illegal in all circumstances, reports the Guardian.
- St. Kitts and Nevis is developing a national gender policy, aimed at creating a gender equality and empowerment government framework according to authorities. (Caribbean News Service)
Drug Policy
- St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris approved a governance board for the country's Medicinal Cannabis Authority. (Caribbean News Service)
Anti-Colonialism and Reparations
- While countries around the world struggle to access coronavirus vaccines, several Caribbean islands have discovered a benefit of ongoing colonial ties: jabs. The U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands became the first in the Caribbean to begin deploying the vaccine, last month. The Cayman Islands became the first British overseas territory in the Americas region to receive a vaccine shipment from the United Kingdom, earlier this month. France began vaccinating residents of nursing home and healthcare workers in its overseas territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique. While The Netherlands announced it will send vaccines to Aruba. (Miami Herald)
- Social and Economic Studies has a special reparations issue, covering a broad range of perspectives, including: "The Reparation Movement: Greatest Political Tide of the Twenty-First Century," "Women, Slavery and the Reparation Movement in the Caribbean," "Rastafari Reparation as Part of the Caribbean Reparations Movement," "The Psychological Trauma of Slavery: The Jamaican Case Study," and "Can Reparations Buy Growth? The Impact of Reparations Payments on Growth and Sustainable Development."
Culture
- The Cutlass is “a progressive podcast and platform dedicated to the Indo-Caribbean community and descendants of indentureship," hosted and produced by Vinay Harrichan. It rapidly became a substantiating hub for fellow descendants of Indian indentureship to gain access to a rich and sacred history, especially through the Caribbean Hindustani posts, according to the Art of Storytelling.
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