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FM
Former Member

Granger seeks support from Cuba

September 28, 2015 By 

Venezuela-Guyana border controversy 

Hours before he entered into talks on the ongoing border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela, President David Granger asked the Cuban President Raul Castro for support amid the international disagreement.

President David Granger seeks support from Cuba

President David Granger seeks support from Cuba

According to a press release, President Granger is convinced the outcome of the historical meeting between him and Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro would be favourable towards Guyana- in terms of the region remaining a zone of peace since Cuba was formally briefed on the territorial threat Guyana faces from Venezuela.

On the sidelines of the United Nations 70th General Assembly, President Granger met with the Cuban Head of State, where he formally briefed the leader on the circumstances surrounding the border controversy and the impacts it has on Guyana’s development.

“We took the opportunity to thank the Cuban leader for the support they have given. They have played a very important role in the Caribbean and Africa, as well as a great humanitarian role. We were particularly concerned about the territorial controversy,” President Granger said.

According to reports, Granger told journalists that Guyana is fully aware of the closeness between Cuba and Venezuela and therefore, highlighted that Cuba could use its influence to aid in bringing a speedy end to the controversy.

“Guyana has lost territory to Venezuela, as you know, in the 1899 Tribunal award and we want to get ahead with our development and we believe that Cuba’s weight in the Caribbean could influence the outcome in ensuring that the Caribbean remains a zone of peace,” he said.

Further, the President emphasised Guyana’s role in support of Cuba. “As you know Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica were instrumental in working for the normalisation of relations with Cuba since the early 1970s. We have a long tradition of friendship. We have many Cuba trained doctors and many points of contact between the two states,” President Granger said.

 

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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by yuji22:

It was the same old AFC/PNC which were cussing down Communist Cuba.

Yuji...Fix yuh Mouth

Unknown

 

Cuban Vice President

was the First Official

to Visit Guyana and meet

Prime Minister Nagamootoo

 

  Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo greets Cuban Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Sugar and Agriculture, Ulises Rosales del Toro during a courtesy call  Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo greets Cuban Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Sugar and Agriculture, Ulises Rosales del Toro during a courtesy call

 

Cuba to help salvage

Guyana’s sugar industry-

PM Nagamootoo-

as Cuba’s Minister of Sugar

pays him courtesy call

 

 

Georgetown, GINA, May 26, 2015         

Cuban Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Sugar and Agriculture, Ulises Rosales del Toro who is currently in Guyana as a special guest to share in the country’s 49th Independence celebrations, today paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

         The Prime Minister pointed out that part of their discussion was centered on areas of interest, particularly in the field of agriculture.

 

He added that Cuba will work with Guyana

in a joint effort to “help salvage our sugar industry.”

 

Further, he noted that Guyana will continue to work

with Cuba to complete ongoing projects and programmes.

 

         He also thanked the Vice President

for all the assistance that Guyana has been receiving

from the country over the years since 1976,

primarily in the area of medicine.

 

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Cuban Vice President of the Council of Ministers Ulises Rosales del Toro sharing a light moment

 

         In addition, PM Nagamootoo expressed his joy

over the fact that the tension

between Cuba and the United States of America (USA)

is finally “thawing” out.

 

         He added that he has met many dignitaries of Cuba,

but it is an honour for him to meet a hero of the Cuban people.

 

  Meanwhile via his interpreter, 

Vice President del Toro said that the two countries

will seek to strengthen their relationship

which they have established and

improved greatly over the years. 

 He added that he was delighted to be in Guyana

and share in the country’s independence celebrations.

 

 

The Minister described the relations

between the two countries,

and their people as magnificent.

 

'Address to the Nation By His Excellency Donald Ramotar President of the Republic of Guyana August 12, 2013 Sithe Global/Blackstone Withdrawal from the Amaila Falls Project My Fellow Guyanese, I take this opportunity to let you know that the partners we have been working with, to develop the Amaila Hydro Project, Sithe Global/Blackstone, have withdrawn from this project. They took this decision after a numerous efforts by the Government, national stakeholders and the two companies themselves to obtain Parliamentary Opposition support, but failed. This Government had placed this project as the highest priority after the 2011 general and regional elections as no one needs convincing that cheaper energy is indispensable to faster and greater advancement of our economy and country, moving Guyana from a commodity/agricultural based economy to one that manufactures value added products. I cannot over-emphasize the fact that a successful Hydro project will bring direct and indirect benefits to every single Guyanese. As was demonstrated after the most rigorous examination of the Amaila Project, the cost of electricity for both domestic and commercial consumers would fall by 40 percent in the first instance of hydro power-generation. It will then fall by 71 percent and in twenty years would fall by 91 percent of today’s cost. Moreover, Guyana would have saved billions of US dollars of its expenditure on fuel importation used to generate electricity. We would also save the subsidy to GPL which was $6billion last year. This money would have been available to be used to provide more, better and higher quality of goods and services in order to improve the welfare and quality of lives of all Guyanese. My fellow Guyanese, cheap energy is vital to the industrialisation of Guyana. Industrialisation would create thousands of high quality jobs for all Guyanese, particular our young people. I would like to let you know that we exerted great efforts to stress the importance of this project to the opposition parties and to all stakeholders in the country. Sadly the opposition remained unconvinced. In March 2012, a few months after assuming the Presidency in 2011, I invited the two opposition parties in Parliament, the APNU and the AFC to the Office of the President to give them a presentation on the Amaila Hydro Falls Project and its status to date. I asked our technical staff to give that presentation. It was agreed that the opposition parties would take two weeks to go through the documents provided and then to have follow up discussions on their concerns. I emphasized to the opposition leaders that their buy-in was critical to the success of this, the largest single transformative project ever undertaken in the history of our nation. I mentioned that I did not want to taint this project in wild charges of corruption. Finally, I made it clear that we were ready to answer any question and provide as much information as we could to satisfy their concerns. At that same meeting, we offered to give them similar presentations on any of the other major projects we had on-going or in the pipeline – I asked them if they were interested to let me know. I never heard from them on any of these projects. In that same year, Sithe Global also met the leaders of the opposition and gave them a presentation on this project as well. Both Sithe and the Government also briefed the private sector. During the debate on the estimates of the 2012 Budget, our ministers, including the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance answered exhaustively every question put to them by the opposition on this project. This was repeated in the 2013 Parliamentary Budget Debate. In June of this year, I once again invited the Opposition Parties in Parliament to another presentation to give them updates and developments with regards to the project. The AFC declined the invitation, so the presentation was made to the APNU delegation. We also shared with them other agreements that were commercially confidential so that there could be full-disclose and they could have a full picture of where and what were the critical stages on the project. They were also advised on the two parliamentary interventions that would have to be submitted and supported in order to conclude the financing of this project. Copies of the Hydro-Electric Power Bill and the motion on the increasing of the debt ceiling in order to guarantee the investment were shared with the opposition delegation. Although the AFC was not present they too received the volumes of documents shared with the APNU. On June 13, 2013, the bill and motion were laid in the National Assembly. On June 28, 2013, the opposition parties asked that we defer the debate on these 2 matters which we agreed to whilst warning that timelines had to be met. The Government even asked the Inter-American Development Bank to meet with the opposition parties and bring them up-to date with the developments on the Project and what were the critical junctions and timelines to be met in terms of keeping the project alive. Two such meetings were held. Despite these efforts on July 18th the AFC and APNU voted against the bill and motion. It was clear that Amaila was now in Jeopardy. The Government, unwilling to see this major national undertaking squashed held a National Stakeholders Forum on July 25th with over 300 representatives from the labour movement, the business community, religious and faith based organizations, women, youth and Amerindians. The Forum concluded with a declaration calling on the opposition parties to support the project. Additionally, we invited Sithe Global and Blackstone to come to Guyana to speak with the Parliamentary Opposition and the public at large to answer and allay any misleading and ill-conceived theories that were being fed to the public by some of the opposition anti-government commentators and “experts”. Sithe Global and Blackstone met privately with the opposition parties on July 31, 2013, in the Parliament Chambers and held a public consultation later on the same day at the Guyana International Convention Centre. Fellow Guyanese, There has been considerable confusion in recent weeks concerning the cost of the Amaila Falls Project to be borne by Guyana. Let me clarify, the total cost to the taxpayer is US$100 million in equity, of which US$15million has already been spent and [US80million) of the remainder is already deposited in the GRIF and is awaiting transfer. The future cost to the taxpayer is limited to the outstanding amount needed for the access road. - The total savings to the taxpayer because of the removal of GPL’s subsidy will be at least US$30 million per year, or US$600 million over twenty years – far in excess of the US$100 million provided by the tax payer in equity. - The total reductions to the consumer tariff will decrease because of Amaila Falls. The total public debt for Amaila Falls is zero – this fact has been lost the most in the majority of recent media coverage. After twenty years, Amaila Falls will be 100% owned by Guyana, and is expected to last for a hundred years. My Fellow Guyanese, I have gone into details on these efforts so that you can be well informed. The Opposition parties cannot say that there was not full disclosure nor that they were not fully engaged on this project. They were privy to exactly the same information that the Government had. I must also stress that labour and private sector bodies were active in discussing the merits of this project to Guyana and in meeting with the Parliamentary opposition parties calling on them to support the project. Yet on August 7, 2013, when the bill and amended debt ceiling motion were returned to the National Assembly the APNU voted against it. For the first time the AFC voted for the bill but not before slashing the debt ceiling guarantee from $130 billion to $50 billion. This is even after we acceded to their request to confine the debt ceiling to only the Amaila Falls Project. Unfortunately, the AFC did too little too late. Sithe Global and Blackstone wanted full Parliamentary support for this project because of the magnitude of their investment. Because of the lack of support from all the opposition parties, the country has lost the prestigious international partners support. My Fellow Guyanese we were so close to being in a position of reaching growth rates of more than 10 percent per annum. This investment alone would have been approximately 25 percent of GDP. By their short-sighted position and a clear reluctance or inability to rise above narrow political agendas to support national policies the opposition has put Guyana in danger of losing much more money. The USD80million dollars we have earned by selling Carbon Credits to Norway is in real danger of being lost since this was to be ploughed into this project as our equity. At the same time we have expanded USD15 million of our own money on doing preparatory work. Much of this it should be noted was approved by the joint opposition in the 2012 budget. Now with their rejection of support for this project they have in essence wasted these funds. I want to thank all of you who supported this project and urge that you remain committed. My Fellow Guyanese, I want you to know that I will continue to work to get cheaper energy for Guyana. I will continue to try to convince investors to stay on and invest in this project and in this country and I still hope that the opposition [particularly the APNU) could see the bigger picture and that they would put the interests of our people above narrow party lines and rise to the call to support this project.'

FM
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Z ZedSenior Member
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

Yuji upset that Granger did not do like Jagdeo and Ramotar by asking communist China for help. China, the regime that murders the muslims and christians.

Granger is correct In making his case to other countries and asking their intervention. Venezuela and Cuba has very good relations so it is worth a try.

Z
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S seignetSenior Member
Originally Posted by Zed:
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

Yuji upset that Granger did not do like Jagdeo and Ramotar by asking communist China for help. China, the regime that murders the muslims and christians.

Granger is correct In making his case to other countries and asking their intervention. Venezuela and Cuba has very good relations so it is worth a try.

Mrs Jagan said, "Hugo Chavez is a socialist, we are from the same cloth. He will not proceed with claims to the Essequibo." Perhaps, Maduro was not there for Chavez lecture that day.

 

These chats with the international communities will do no good in the end. If they must talk, USA and Britian must be in the loop.

 

Cuba will not get involved in Guyana's favor. If the the USA request it from Cuba, they will try very hard. Cuba always knew the importance of the USA, the craved their attention for 60 years.

S
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Billy Ram BalgobinBilly Ram BalgobinBilly

What the hell do we care about a country like Cuba that can barely help its own people. A few scholarships for our people is great, but lets not think of them as saviors. They are courting the big powers of the world to help their economy. Why don't we do the same??

Billy Ram Balgobin
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MarsMarsSenior Member
Originally Posted by Billy Ram Balgobin:

What the hell do we care about a country like Cuba that can barely help its own people. A few scholarships for our people is great, but lets not think of them as saviors. They are courting the big powers of the world to help their economy. Why don't we do the same??

Have you been in a prolonged slumber recently? The Guyana Government has been courting the "big powers" for months now.

Mars
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MarsMarsSenior Member
Originally Posted by Billy Ram Balgobin:

The Guyana gov't. has no freaking idea how to run an economy. calabashing the great powers is not the answer. Seeking loans for viable economic projects is the way to go.

The only thing your PPP was doing before was enriching themselves and watching the economy fall apart. Every industry was in the shithole when the new Government took over and they are now tasked with cleaning up the mess left behind from years of tiefin and mismanagement.

Mars
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Mr.TMr.TI pity the fool
Originally Posted by Mars:
Originally Posted by Billy Ram Balgobin:

The Guyana gov't. has no freaking idea how to run an economy. calabashing the great powers is not the answer. Seeking loans for viable economic projects is the way to go.

The only thing your PPP was doing before was enriching themselves and watching the economy fall apart. Every industry was in the shithole when the new Government took over and they are now tasked with cleaning up the mess left behind from years of tiefin and mismanagement.

The PPP was the shithole.

Mr.T
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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by yuji22:

It was the same old AFC/PNC which were cussing down Communist Cuba.

You are plainly an ignoramus. The Coalition has never had a reason for acrimony with any of our neighbors. That is in your imagination. It is prudent to seek and secure support for our cause against the Venezuelans everywhere it can. Our Caribbean neighbors is a logical choice in this matter.

 

Further, the ABC countries are firmly in our corner. If you noticed Obama in his speech to the UN firmly chided China for its encroachment in the South China sea reflecting on similar principles as we have with our dispute with venezuela.

 

You have to be more creative....if you can...with your fabrications.

FM
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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by Billy Ram Balgobin:

The Guyana gov't. has no freaking idea how to run an economy. calabashing the great powers is not the answer. Seeking loans for viable economic projects is the way to go.

Guyana has never...let me repeat....never balanced a budget on its own productive capacity.  We have been a begger bowl economy for the enterity of our origination as a state. It is to great benevolence that the western powers that the PPP so much hate that we our daily bread.

 

The wheat for HIV care financing saved us from the scourge of AIDS. They fund our elections....our anti poverty programs and countless others from our battered women shelter to fostering information on democratic precepts.

 

Again, you need to get off your knee jerk habit of presuming you know something when you speak completely from   willful ignorance. Pretending that the APNU, being a black government, is less than the PPP, an indian government, is self deception of the most silly sort.

FM
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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by Billy Ram Balgobin:

The Guyana gov't. has no freaking idea how to run an economy. calabashing the great powers is not the answer. Seeking loans for viable economic projects is the way to go.

Yes.  Make Guyana even more indebted than it already is.  Skeldon, Tha Amaila road, the Marriott, an lavish airport terminal.  All evidence of the PPPs "wisdom".

FM
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