US Prioritizing Intervention In Guyana
After Major Downsizing of USAID Programs
The “US is prioritizing election help to Guyana amid aid cuts” was the lead article in the 14thMarch edition of StabroekNews, a Guyanese online daily. Funds were being set aside for US intervention in the elections despite widespread cuts to foreign aid under the Donald Trump administration according to the US Ambassador Nicole Theriot.
Wow! Despite all the ballyhoo in the US and worldwide that the Trump Administration is shutting down USAID due to corrupt questionable progams and activities, an exception is being made for a seemingly inconsequential country on the northeast cost of South America. What is going on?
Reading deeper into the StabroekNews article there is an illogical, nonsensical explanation of why the US feels it necessary to fund Guyana’s general elections. They admit that with the 2025 National Budget the Guyanese government allocated $7.3 billion (Guyanese) or $34.8 million (USD) to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). For a country with a total population of 826,000 persons this is a whole lot of money for elections. Ambassador Theriot herself admits that Guyana is a sufficiently wealthy country to finance its own elections.
Despite Guyana being able to fund and organize its own elections Theriot reiterated the U.S. government’s commitment to supporting Guyana’s “democratic” process. She is therefore admitting that, with or without USAID programs, the US is still in the business of interfering in foreign elections.
Seems Ambassador Theriot is clearly reflecting the policies and actions of her new boss, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio who on 10th March wrote on Twitter/X that after a six-week review 83% of the contracts funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were canceled. The rest, totaling 1,000 programs, were now under the State Department.
Apparently, interfering in the Guyanese elections is part of the 1,000 programs from AID which have been brought under the State Department.
Why is Guyana that important? Let me suggest it is all about the country’s fabulous Oil reserves. According to the 30th August edition of oilprice.com Exxon/Mobil, Americas biggest oil company, is literally drooling over a Trillion-Dollar opportunity it now has on its hands.
“Exxon controls a block that holds 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil, worth nearly $1 trillion at current prices. The find has transformed Guyana from one of South America’s poorest countries into one that will pump more crude per person than Saudi Arabia or Kuwait by 2027. Guyana is on track to overtake Venezuela as South America’s second-largest oil producer, after Brazil.”
The article also emphasizes that virtually every passing day new reserves are being discovered.
They disclose “that another two fields, Fangtooth-now under delineation drilling, and the Haimara discovery-new appraisal wells planned for later this year, could take reserves well beyond the 11 bn BOIP (Bottom Of Pipe) now booked.”
But according to State Department policy documents the US is mainly concerned about democracy in Guyana. The department’s Fact Sheet dated June 2024 studiously avoids any mention of US interest in Guyana’s oil.
Only the naïve or knowingly ignorant individual would believe that the US cares about the status of democracy in any major oil producing country to which it is allied. Just a cursory glance with the biggest petro-states to whom it is allied proved the US doesn’t give a damn.
Saudi Arabia: Historically, Saudi Arabia has been a strategic partner of the U.S., with strong ties in energy, security, and economic sectors. Form of government: Monarchy.
United Arab Emirates (UAE): The UAE is another key ally in the Gulf region, maintaining strong diplomatic and economic ties with the U.S. Form of government: Monarchy.
Kuwait: Kuwait has long-standing relations with the U.S., particularly since the Gulf War, when the U.S. played a crucial role in liberating Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. Form of government: Monarchy.
In contrast to the Middle East, Guyana has always enjoyed some form of constitutional democracy despite years of alleged corruption of the voting process based on deep inter-ethic divisions in the country (Afro vs Indo) as reflected in the composition of the two main political parties.
It is already evident the newly found oil riches of Guyana will likely become a major issue in the upcoming 2025 elections, The incumbent Irfaan Ali Administration has been subject to merciless criticism by the public-at-large for failing to renegotiate the existing a Petroleum Agreement with Exxon/Mobil which makes Guyana liable for a large share of the cost of the initial capital investment to develop the oilfields, significantly reducing the country’s share of the windfall revenues and profits Exxon/Mobil is now earning from its Guyana operations.
According to KaieteurNews, the Guyanese Minister of Finance disclosed in the House of Parliament that the Stabroek Block in 2024 generated a whopping US$18B in revenue, a 55.4% increase compared with the total export earnings of the sector in 2023, some US$11.6B.
ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), the operator of the resource-rich acreage grabbed US$15.4B of the 2024 revenue from oil, while Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund (NRF) received a meager US$2.6B during the period.
What can we expect from this newest State Department intervention in Guyana’s upcoming elections? Nothing good if we are to go by history.
In 1963, on the verge of becoming independent from the UK, the British Government along with the Kennedy Administration intervened. They pushed for a change in the electoral system from first-past-the-post to proportional representation. This change was intended to prevent the People's Progressive Party (PPP), led by Cheddi Jagan, from gaining a majority in parliament due to its perceived Marxist leanings. In the next elections held on December 7, 1964, despite the PPP being the largest party, the minority parties formed a coalition, which allowed Forbes Burnham of the Peoples National Congress to become Prime Minister. Since then the electoral system was used corruptly to keep the Afro party in power and the Indo-oriented left in opposition. It was only in the 1990s was the PPP able to succeed at the polls and form the government.
The oil wealth has exacerbated these divisions, as different groups vie for control over resources. The PPP/C's control over the government and the Natural Resource Fund has led to accusations that they are directing oil wealth disproportionately to their supporters, further inflaming ethnic tensions
Already the US State Department is seen to favor the ruling PPP/C vs the opposition APNU/AFC party. After the 2020 general elections, the U.S. imposed visa restrictions on Guyanese individuals deemed responsible for undermining democracy. These sanctions targeted officials from the ruling APNU/AFC coalition who resisted the handover of power to the opposition. Rightly or wrongly this remains a divisive factor in Guyanese politics.
With so much oil riches beneficial to the US at stake, one is left to wonder whether the US State Department’s projected involvement in the 2025 elections will really enhance democracy or simply do everything to keep Guyana’s petroleum resources gushing upwards to benefit ExxonMobil.