Given their own understanding of the importance of non-interference

by external powers in the sovereign national affairs of states, we feel confident in observing that the government and people of Guyana would be encouraged by the news that the United States of America and Venezuela have now agreed to “restore ambassadors”, and generally improve relations.
In reporting on this development last Friday in its ‘Latin America and Caribbean’ Service, the BBC noted:
“Washington had angered Caracas by backing the Venezuelan opposition’s demand for a full recount of the presidential election in April to replace Hugo Chavez, who died in March…Mr Chavez’s anointed successor, Nicholas Maduro, won the vote by less than two percentage points…”
Well, in welcoming the release and deportation last week by Venezuela of an American filmmaker (Timothy Tracy) who had been held in Caracas on “conspiracy charges”, U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, told the media, during a regional summit in Guatemala, of the desire by Washington and Venezuela to re-establish normal diplomatic relations that had been ruptured during the Chavez presidency.
As a country that appreciates having good relations with all member states of the United Nations, and, in this particular case, involving both the USA and our border neighbour, Venezuela, the signal of a promised normalisation in diplomatic ties between Washington and Caracas can only be viewed as a welcome initiative. Not just for both countries, but more widely as being helpful for all hemispheric partners.
Too often major powers have had to contend with complaints by nations in this hemisphere, and elsewhere, of interferences in their domestic and sovereign affairs. Guyana, and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), have suffered—both during colonial and post-independence periods of governance—from not merely subtle, but open, naked, gross foreign meddling that has had serious negative consequences for the Guyanese people.
Therefore, in welcoming the declared intention for normalisation in Washington/Caracas relations, it is to be hoped that accredited diplomatic envoys to Guyana would seek to avoid the path mistakenly taken, at times, by a few others before them.
Regrettably, those few envoys had demonstrated a curious habit of publicly lecturing successive democratically-elected PPP-led governments, and even becoming entangled in partisan politicking.
In the circumstances, we expect that as Washington/Venezuela relations improve, others would seek to better work for strengthening Guyana’s ties with their respective countries, so that, together, we can achieve what’s best for all our citizens, and befitting good diplomacy. We shall continue to monitor.