Guyana’s attendance at Summit of the Americas should be viewed as an expression of realpolitik

If anyone had any doubts about Guyana’s participation in the 9th Summit of the Americas to be held from 6-10 June in the United States those doubts have since been put to rest by President Ali’s confirmation on May 22nd 2022, that Guyana will attend. There are some antecedents to this decision.

Following a meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Belize from 1-2 March, 2022 a communique was issued declaring publicly that, ‘CARICOM will not attend the Summit if Cuba were excluded and/or if a Mr. Guaido was invited.’ The US government was so informed.

On April 20, 2022, Christopher Dodd, Special Adviser to the US President for the Summit held a virtual meeting concerning the Summit with President Ali. This was part of the Biden administration’s lobbying effort to encourage Guyana to attend the Summit.

Soon after invitations had been issued to CARICOM Heads of Government, consultations were initiated on the question of participation, the agenda and farming out of the seven topics to Heads as Lead Presenters. But the fundamental question that had to be settled was the issue of attendance in the light of the US government’s decision to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua

and Venezuela.

On May 11, 2022, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines wrote to John Briceno, Prime Minister of Belize and Chairman of CARICOM stating, ‘I urge my colleagues in CARICOM not to attend the Summit. I realize that it is a difficult decision, but, our American friends have left us with no other credible, principled and practical choice. We may yet persuade them to alter their posture.’

Indications are that PM Gonsalves’ appeal was ignored by some of his colleagues. While it is clear that some will attend, others will stay away. The end result being a divided CARICOM once again.

Whether those CARICOM governments who are holding out are doing so as leverage to wrest some economic or financial concession from the host, or, to fulfill an unfulfilled commitment or simply as a matter of principle is anyone’s guess.

The 9th Summit has on its agenda topics such as: A green future and clean energy; Fostering youth participation in politics; Economic prosperity, Democratic governance; COVID-19 recovery and pandemic resilience; Migration; and

Transforming the western hemisphere’s digital Infrastructure.

It is expected that Guyana’s delegation led by the President may comprise of the Vice President, and ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Health, Home Affairs, the Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and other officials.

It is interesting to note that three stakeholder fora for dialogue have been included in the Summit’s programme of activities, these include, the Fourth CEO Summit of the Americas, the Sixth Young Americans Forum and the Ninth Civil Society Forum. It is envisaged that governments will facilitate participation of representatives from the local business community, youth organizations and civil society.

As far as Guyana’s attendance is concerned there should have been no second guessing whether or not it would have been at Los Angeles.

The thrust of the Irfaan Ali administration’s foreign policy was laid down in the PPP/C’s 2020 election manifesto. Unlike the more expansive sections treating with critical and relevant foreign policy issues in previous manifestos, the 2020 manifesto captures in just two brief paragraphs what portends to be an incoming PPP/C government foreign policy priorities. Under the head ‘Securing our Sovereignty/Strengthening our International Rela-tions,’ the PPP/C declared inter alia in favour of strengthening ‘bilateral ties with our neighbours and friendly countries and multilateral organizations.’

While Venezuela is one of Guyana’s three neighbouring countries, having regard to the attitude of the US towards the Maduro administration and given the fact that the GuyanaVenezuela controversy is now with the International Court of Justice and the limited thrust of the Ali administration’s foreign policy, these elements combined, indicate that it would not be in Guyana’s interest to advocate in favour of Venezuela’s participation at the Summit at this point in time.

In the light of US foreign policy towards the Ortega administration in Nicaragua and looked at through the prism of Guyana’s extant foreign policy, Nicaragua would not qualify as a friendly country, therefore, it would be foolhardy were Guyana to push, much less call for Nicaragua’s participation at the Summit.

And while Cuba is not a neighbouring country, it certainly qualifies with high marks as a friendly country to Guyana at both the bilateral and regional levels.

In its 2015 election manifesto, the PPP/C ‘Acknowledged the invaluable assistance of the Cuban government to the development of our human resources; continue to take advantage of scholarship offers and develop with Cuba a mutually beneficiary tertiary education training programme, particularly in the area of post-graduate medicine.’

And while Cuba may not be interested in attending the Summit so long as Venezuela and Nicaragua are excluded, given the historical antecedents and extraordinarily high degree of functional cooperation between Guyana and Cuba, it was generally expected that Guyana would have adopted a firmer and principled stand, particularly with respect to Cuba’s exclusion from the Summit. In an effort to appease the countries who have threatened not to attend the Summit, signals are emerging of an intent to consider inviting Cuba to attend but not at the level of President’s nor Foreign Minister. This palliative is bound to be rejected.

The long-standing controversial US-Cuba relations aside, Guyana’s attendance should be viewed as an expression of realpolitik and the superiority of its primordial interests that has dictated its participation at the Summit.

While the ideological factor should not be discounted, at the bottom line is Guyana-US relations. This became obvious in the light of the strong backing the PPP/C received from the US on the eve of the March 2020 election, during the March - August 2020 attempt by the APNU+AFC to thwart the will of the electorate and following the assumption to office by the Ali administration.

For a host of reasons, save the 1962- 1992 period while the PPP was in opposition, the stormy relationship following the July 2014 episodic ‘feral blast’, and questions about the ABC&EU’s role in the 2015 election, the USA would, nevertheless, qualify as one of the countries with whom Guyana has, over a number of years, enjoyed friendly and cordial relations.

Yours faithfully,

Clement J. Rohee

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs