Dear Editor,
A group of signatories made allegations against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and called on the Guyana Government not to welcome him in Guyana. No other country has taken such a measure against the Brazilian leader.  As a student of (and am recipient of PhD) International Relations and International Law and taught same, the Guyana Government would find it impossible to honour that request. In international relations, governments don’t deal with leaders as private individuals but as government representative. Mr. Bolsonaro is the legitimate representative of our neighbor, Brazil, which is a superpower in the region. As the democratically elected leader of Brazil, no Guyana government (including Coalition) can ignore him. Guyana’s relationship with him is not in a private capacity but as the legal representative of Brazil. The voters of Brazil will determine his political faith later this year in elections.

Indian and Amerindian Guyanese were victims of racism. Going by the logic of the letter writers, should those who tried to rig the Guyana 2020 elections and Guyanese racist leaders be banned from Brazil, America, and other nations?

I object to the selective cherry-picking of groups by letter writers who would ban Bolsonaro from Guyana but remained mute when the same kinds of atrocities were committed in Guyana.  Where were members of the group when Indians and indigenous Guyanese (Amerindians) were sidelined in Guyana between 1966 and 1992 and between June 2015 and July 2020 and killed on Jan. 12, 1998 and various dates thereafter?

As Freddie Kissoon asked, why didn’t members of the group express similar sentiments on racialised violence against Indians in West Berbice in September 2020, Agricola 2012, and in so many other cases that are well documented? Is it because of racial affinity and or political affinity? Where is/was the compassion, justice, and compensation for Indians and Amerindians? Aren’t members of the group being hypocrites on the issue of racism?

One must not condemn acts of injustice on account of race. We must be race and colour blind and fully support democracy. I empathise with all victims of injustice. Like Freddie, I cannot associate with people who remain silent over the blatant attempt to rig elections and who were also silent about the claim that 33 is not a majority of 65. I cannot support an opportunistic group who remained silent when the Constitution was repeatedly violated. I ask, did members of this group take a stand against human rights abuses in other countries?

I support law and order. I abhor racism or discrimination of all kind but I cannot support duplicity and selectivity. We must be consistent and condemn all aspects of racism and racial violence, irrespective of the ethnicity of the perpetrators and victims.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram