THE story of CARICOM is the story of Guyana’s survival. No other country in the integration movement has benefited more from CARICOM’s existence than Guyana. If CARICOM did not exist, would Guyana have been the country it is today? The research says no. The research puts CARICOM as Guyana’s saviour.

The generous attitude started when Guyana’s economy ran aground in the late 1970s onwards. First there was the tale of CARICOM’s Multilateral Clearing Facility. This was a mechanism that existed for CARICOM members to allow for local currency to be used to settle transactions without resorting to payment in actual foreign currency.

The bulk of the funds came from Trinidad. This vital facility for intra-CARICOM trading collapsed because Guyana, under then President, Forbes Burnham exhausted the funds in the facility.
Here is what Tyron Ferguson wrote in his very good book that remains one of the best written texts on contemporary Guyana, titled: “Management of Guyana‘s Political Economy.”

I quote Ferguson on Burnham’s foreign-exchange problem: “Whereas in 1980, the arrears stood at US$45.5 million by 1985, the total arrears had grown more than 16 fold, a significant portion essentially to the CARICOM Multilateral Clearing Facility.”

This was a lifeline to the Burnham regime that would have seen a quicker collapse if there wasn’t the clearing facility. As Guyana came close to the status of a failed state after 1980, American visas dried up.

The Canadians withdrew visa services from Guyana. In the desperation to flee Guyana, thousands found refuges in CARICOM states, particularly Barbados, Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean islands. Those who had qualifications in the teaching profession flocked to The Bahamas.

Guyanese may have endured harassment at CARICOM airports, but this was because of the sudden influx of Guyanese which CARICOM nationals were not accustomed to. When severe food shortage struck Guyana from the 1980s, it was our CARICOM neighbours who provided survival pathways.

Traders from Guyana flooded Trinidad, Barbados and Suriname. It must be remembered too that though Caribbean Airlines tends to have an anti-Guyana bias, this is a residue from the bad times when only BWIA, which later became Caribbean Airlines, was the only airline that offered services out of Guyana.

Even though President Hoyte had opened up the economy after he succeeded Burnham, the question of free and fair elections remained elusive for Guyanese. We tend to see the Americans as playing a huge part on the pressure that piled up on Hoyte to allow electoral democracy, CARICOM’s role behind the scene was crucial.

It was CARICOM simultaneously with American efforts that dialogued with Hoyte on free and fair elections. It was on the St. Vincent Island of Mustique at the CARICOM Heads conference in 1986 that CARICOM insisted that the time had come to have electoral democracy. Eugenia Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica, had laid down the gauntlet. She asked for Guyana’s expulsion from CARICOM and the removal of the secretariat from Georgetown. This was the breaking point for Mr. Hoyte.

When electoral democracy was threatened again in 1997, CARICOM once more saved Guyana. The PNC created a regime of violence in downtown Georgetown as a result of losing the elections and not recognising a PPP victory. The situation was quickly deteriorating and CARICOM once more came to the rescue of Guyana.

CARICOM appointed a high-level delegation of Sir Shridath Ramphal, Sir Alister Mc Intyre and Sir Henry Forde to visit Georgetown and break the impasse between the PPP and the PNC. Out of the negotiations, Opposition Leader Desmond Hoyte agreed to recognise the legitimacy of the elections.

This was concretised in the Herdmanston Accord and a subsequent CARICOM Heads meeting in St. Lucia strengthened the accord with what is now known as the St. Lucia Accord. The government survived and the PPP went on to win subsequent free and fair elections until once more in 2020, the PNC, this time with its political partners, the AFC and WPA, tried to subvert democracy once more.

The role of CARICOM came into play once more and CARICOM once more saved Guyana. A group of CARICOM Prime Ministers came to Guyana and refused to accept a cancellation of the elections which is what the PNC, AFC and WPA wanted.

It was through CARICOM that the suggestion of a recount was made. The recount idea did not come from any player in Guyana. CARICOM sent its team to supervise the recount, then, certified that the 2020 election results as giving victory to the PPP.

This has been a long enumeration of CARICOM efforts to save Guyana from social destruction. In remembering the priceless role CARICOM played in the post-independence life of Guyana, this country must spend every ounce of sweat and every cent to see that CARICOM becomes stronger and closer to Guyana.