Clear and present danger from IRI youths

Just a year ago, this newspaper ran a series of editorials on the activities of the International Republican Institute (IRI) – an arm of the US Republican Party – as the executing agency for the USAID “Leadership And Democracy” (LEAD) Project in this country.

We were concerned that under the cover of the LEAD Project, the IRI would be acting to mobilise Opposition youths through training in social media to destabilise the present Government.

Inter alia, we pointed to the activities of the IRI in other jurisdictions to illustrate that predilection in its modus operandi. In January, 2014, we had cause to refer to the 2009 Opposition coup d’État in Honduras:

“The IRI was heavily involved in a ‘democratisation’ project in Honduras at the time and provided much non-monetary aid, such as training, advising and providing resources to the Opposition forces benefiting from the coup.”

In Feb 2014, we noted the condemnation by UNASUR of Opposition violence in Venezuela and quoted from an article by Dan Beeton of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, a credible Washington DC-based Think Tank, “Violent Protests in Venezuela Fit a Pattern”:

“Venezuela’s latest round of violent protests appears to fit a pattern, and represents the tug-and-pull nature of the country’s divided Opposition. Several times over the past 15 years since the late, former President Hugo ChÁvez took office in 1999, the political Opposition has launched violent protests aimed at forcing the current President out of office.

“Venezuela’s Opposition receives funding from US ‘democracy promotion’ groups including the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and core grantees such as the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

“The NED, which the Washington Post noted was set up to conduct activities ‘much of’ which ‘[t]he CIA used to fund covertly’ has made a number of grants directed at empowering youth and students in Venezuela in recent years, and the USAID has also given money to IRI, NDI and other groups for Venezuela programmes.

“In Venezuela, (the IRI) funded groups involved in the 2002 coup, and (their) spokespersons infamously praised the coup after it happened.”

On their website, the IRI actually boasted: “New York Times cites IRI programmes in Venezuela.” It printed in full, an article by that newspaper of record in the US: “Venezuela groups get US aid amid meddling charges.”

In Guyana, without even consulting the Government on its parameters of operations, the IRI launched its programme and only paused when the Government threatened to deport the Head of the IRI from the country.

As in other jurisdictions, which include North Africa (including Egypt), the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Haiti, while claiming to educate “Guyanese” on their responsibilities in a democracy, the IRI ended up in Opposition constituencies more often than not.

In light of the above information, we find it alarming that the supposed “neutral” Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has actually engaged a Guyana National Youth Council (GNYC), which was funded and trained by the IRI, to “mobilise” the youth vote in the lead up to the May 11 elections.

The point we wish to reiterate is that GECOM should at least consider whether it is not being used by the IRI to achieve the same ends that it pursued across the globe during the past three decades: regime change.

What makes GECOM’s decision even more troubling is that it appears that the Commissioners representing the political parties in the body were not involved in the decision.

The Chairman was reported by this newspaper to have interpreted its general mandate to be engaged in “voter education” to give him the authority to engage the IRI-funded GNYC in this task. We believe the Chairman has overstepped his authority and should be reined in by the Commissioners.

The May 11 elections must reflect the will of the Guyanese people – not that of outsiders.