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  • Writer's pictureeagleclanarawaks
    • Nov 21, 2023
    • 7 min read

RESULTS OF THE 15-19 NOVEMBER 2023 DAMON CORRIE (OF BARBADOS) FACT-FINDING MISSION TO GUYANA





RESULTS OF THE 15-19 NOVEMBER 2023 DAMON CORRIE FACT-FINDING MISSION TO GUYANA - CONCERNING THE DECEMBER 3RD PUBLIC VOTE IN VENEZUELA ON THE ESSEQUIBO REGION.


Including recent information supplied by Political & Military contacts in Brazil & Suriname - who were acquired over the course of Damon's 16 years work in Organisation of American States (2000-2016) as a member of the Caribbean Caucus of the Indigenous Peoples Working Group on the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.


The first observation based on 100 Guyanese persons interviewed - of the African, Amerindian, and East Indian ethnic groups, of both genders and ranging in age from 20 - 80 years of age, is that most Guyanese are more concerned about the current border controversy than they ever were before in their country’s recorded history.

51% have a ‘strong feeling/suspicion’ that ‘Venezuela is not joking this time’, and ‘Maduro means business’ , they also fear that they will witness the end of ‘Guyana’ as they know it.

37% believe that Venezuela is ‘only bluffing in a bigger way than ever before - and nothing will happen’.

12% have a ‘wait and see’ attitude and are just living their lives as normal day to day not ‘taking on’ anything.


None of the 100 Guyanese interviewed said they want war with Venezuela, as all were of the opinion that the Guyana Defence Force could not win a war against Venezuela, they all wanted peace to prevail and their lives to continue as before in the country they knew all their lives.


Some Guyanese said their relatives in Venezuela are already sending their children out of Venezuela because they fear persecution after 3 December. Most said “this oil is a curse on we more than a blessing”.


When asked the question:

IF GUYANA INVADES WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN?

The answers were as follows:


Some Guyanese stated that they would stay put and just try to cope with the new reality until ‘betterment comes’.


Some Guyanese stated they would try to defend their country by any way they could.


Some Guyanese said they would use the opportunity of widespread chaos and diminished law and order to settle scores and take revenge on Police, Soldiers, and Politicians - whom they feel have ‘wronged them and gotten away with it’


Some Guyanese said they would flee the country and go into Brazil or Suriname or fly to other countries if they could afford to and the opportunity was still available after an actual invasion.


Some Guyanese said they would ‘loot every skunt’ to make sure themselves and their families ‘don't punish’ because of hard times an invasion would bring’ .


Some Guyanese said ‘if no other country don''t come to rescue we and kick the Venezuelans out - we will have to roll with the punches and get used to life under Spanish people that's all’.


Most Guyanese said they believed IF Venezuela invaded - that the UK would come to Guyana's rescue like in the Falklands war, and that the USA would come also because they want our oil and they hate Maduro and would love the excuse to bomb he Ras into dust”.

One older Guyanese who said he knew both Cheddi and Forbes personally, said he believed that 1 of the following 2 scenarios is going to play out:


#1 - that the USA was giving Maduro the false impression - like they did to Saddam before he invaded Kuwait, by recently removing sanctions on Venezuela, that the USA would ‘not get involved in Venezuela's internal affairs - as long as Venezuela keeps selling oil to the USA and does not interfere with Exxon Mobils extraction offshore of oil, and the USA would only verbally condemn, and perhaps make a Naval show of force offshore around their oil interests - but not put boots on the ground to oppose Venezuela in Guyana IN the Zone, but the USA would put troops to the east of the Essequibo - to appear to be ‘doing something heroic in defense of Guyana, and would only limit that protection to the ⅓ of Guyana not claimed by Venezuela, thereby leading Maduro into a trap set up to give the USA a UN sanctioned legal excuse to declare war on Venezuela in order to cause regime change there and install a puppet regime to the preference of the CIA and the USA government.


Or that:


#2 - The CIA itself is responsible behind the scenes for the crisis we see unfolding, and that the USA would actually stab Guyana in its back and allow Venezuela to retake the Essequibo region, or at least the northern half of it - which has more cross border trade with Venezuela already established - albeit on a small scale, because the USA is well known for making sure any country that is rich in natural resources - is kept permanently unstable, so that its natural resources can be plundered cheaply to the benefit of the USA, and the USA can blackmail the struggling nation to give in to all the USA’s demands - if they want the USA to ‘help’ you, as the USA does not do anything without a price to be paid by the weaker country.

EXCERPTS OF A RECENT PRIVATE MEETING IN THE SURINAME MILITARY:


One hard-line Suriname Army officer suggested that Suriname use the opportunity of a Venezuelan invasion in the west, to retake the New River Triangle area of Guyana in the south East - that Suriname still claims as its own, as the GDF could not fight on two fronts and it would be the best opportunity ever for Suriname to ‘get its land back’.


Another Suriname Army officer reminded the meeting that Suriname was part of CARICOM and has to show public support for a fellow CARICOM country, so that idea to annex the New River Triangle was a counter-productive suggestion that could irreparably damage Suriname's standing in CARICOM and make it a pariah, or even be expelled from CARICOM, the moderate majority agreed.


Another Suriname Army officer suggested to offer the Guyana government to send Surinamese troops into Guyana to help defend the country - but only the areas not claimed by Venezuela, so the Surinamese troops would not be in any real danger, but would appear as hero's to the Guyanese people, as Venezuela was a more powerful country and could be of more importance to Suriname in the long run than Guyana, as he said this would be good PR for Suriname, however he believed the Guyanese were too prideful or suspicious to allow it - outside of a token CARICOM joint force with other Caribbean nations as had been the case in the Grenada Invasion.

Another Surinamese Army officer said they should see what Maduro does first, as even their Venezuelan military officer compatriots could not say for certain what might occur on or after 3rd December 2023, so it is unknown whether it is just sabre rattling and bluster on a grand scale, or an irreversible action. He also blamed Guyana for the crisis because it had allowed itself to be manipulated by the USA like Ukraine.


EXCERPTS OF A RECENT PRIVATE MEETING IN THE BRAZIL MILITARY:


A moderate Brazil Military Officer in Roraima State said that Brazil would not allow its strategic Amazon-Atlantic road link to be threatened by any Nation, not even a friend like Venezuela, he said that if Venezuela invaded the northern part of the Essequibo that they claim, it might be more successful for them, as those Guyanese there speak English and Spanish already in many cases, and already do small scale business on the Venezuela border, but no Guyanese in regions 8 or 9 in Guyana - which border Brazil, speak Spanish, as most of them speak English and Portuguese, therefore Brazil would temporarily send its forces into regions 8 and 9 in Guyana to protect them and ensure Brazil's national economic interests are secured, as Venezuela will not go to war with Brazil, and Guyana would probably welcome the protection we can provide, and if not we could ignore them anyway because we cannot allow our national interests to be threatened by the inability to make rapid strategic decisions by politicians in Georgetown.


A hard-line Brazil Military Officer in Roraima state said that if Venezuela invaded Guyana in the north, the Brazil army should do as the moderate officer suggested, but if it appears that the USA is not going to physically challenge the Venezuelan action, Brazil could use the ‘temporary protection’ excuse to complete the Northern Perimeter plan created in the 1960's - and permanently occupy regions 8 and 9 in Guyana if Guyana is left to fend for itself, and encourage mass settlement of those regions by Brazilian civilians as we did to Bolivia in 1867, then claim the territory is rightfully ours because most of its inhabitants are now Brazilians and we have a duty to protect them.


He was rebutted by most other officers, who said he was talking like the Junta that no longer ruled Brazil, and that Brazil now believes in checkbook diplomacy not brute force. The Hard line officer then replied that ‘If you knew the true mineral deposits of Guyana you would agree with me, the Guyanese do not even know how rich their country truly is, why should a few thousand people have such wealth when we have over hundred million desperately poor Brazilians need and deserve it more, furthermore there were ruins of a Portuguese ship found near Pirara from the time long ago when the savanna used to become a vast lake in the flood season proving Brazilians explorers reached the Rupununi before the English so we have a valid historical claim as well.


Authors note:


This information is for educational purposes and hopefully reflects the wide range of opinions and potential scenarios - that COULD theoretically ensue - post 3 December 2023.

It is my fervent wish and hope that peace and good judgement will prevail on and after 3rd December, for war is the greatest tragedy that human beings can engage in, and I too want to live in a world with less violence and injustice, and more peace and justice - everywhere, and for the higher good of everyone, for at the end of the day, we are ALL global citizens, and we are ALL children of the one true God of peace and love, and to kill each other over land is folly on the grandest scale, as it leaves no moral winners, only innocent victims and inter-generational trauma in its wake. For WAR in and of itself, is a crime against humanity.



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