BY a pleasant coincidence last Friday, diplomatic envoys of both the governments of the United States of America and the Russian Federation were separately engaged in cooperation arrangements in Georgetown that further demonstrated solidarity with the government and people of Guyana.

The United States ambassador, Brent Hardt, acting in accordance with his government’s latest initiative to provide assistance to countries of the Caribbean region in the battle against drug-trafficking and related training for security personnel and information-sharing, signed two agreements with Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett under which US$860,000 (Gy$172 million) would be available to Guyana.
This “security aid” that also involves going after financial crimes and strengthening of lie-detector testing, is consistent with provisions under the US-initiated Caribbean Basin Security Initiatives (CBSI) that require active cooperation between the USA and member countries of the Caribbean region.
Separately, on Friday,  ambassador Nikolay Smirnov of the Russian Federation signed an accord with Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh. It officially cancelled Gy$56.7 million (US$277.490) in debt owed  under an arrangement that dates back to December 2006 and which went beyond the Paris Club policy in relation to functioning of the so-called ‘Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPIC)’.
Guyana’s appreciation for the financial aid from and continuing cooperation with the USA and the Russian Federation would be known by both  these members of the powerful G-8 group of nations. So also would be their understanding of Guyana’s own commitment to maintain its policy and sovereign right to choose its friends without being an enemy to none.
Hence, for instance, Guyana’s sustained firm friendship and cooperation with the government and people of Cuba, a Caribbean nation that, most regrettably, has been facing an enormous burden for half a century under the US economic, trade and  financial embargo that’s rooted  in Washington’s firm opposition to a Castro-led administration in Havana.
As known by successive US administrations, Guyana’s principled relationship with Cuba is embedded in a Caribbean Community-wide accord with the government in Havana. The rich and powerful – of whatever continent – cannot cherry-pick for governments they choose to lecture on issues of fundamental human rights.  
The hope, therefore, in the referenced example, is that powerful nations of the G-8 Group, as well as the influence of the now widened Group of 20, could be realistically exerted to bring an end to what remains a unique punishing embargo in the Western Hemisphere by the world’s sole superpower against a small Caribbean nation that’s not at war with the American People or their Government!
For her part, Foreign Minister Rodrigues-Birkett, was to make it quite clear at a press conference, following signing of the two agreements with ambassador Hardt, that the Guyana Government “will not get involved in the internal affairs of Cuba” in response to what the US envoy had urged the CARICOM countries to do in relation to human rights issues in that Caribbean nation.
Speaking at the same media briefing, ambassador Hardt, who is also the US Plenipotentiary Representative to the Caribbean Community,  said his government was not telling CARICOM how to conduct its business with Cuba, but that since such good relations exist between Havana and the regional movement, the Cuban authorities would be more inclined to listen.
Well, it could perhaps be said that ambassador Hardt did what he felt he had to do. He should also appreciate that like Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, other Foreign Ministers or diplomatic representatives of CARICOM would do what they also consider appropriate, if necessary, in the context of the firm principles that guide  the Community’s relations with the government and people of Cuba.