On the eve of Guyana’s May 5, 2015 regional and national elections, several PPP/C supporters theorized that America was likely to interfere with the 2015 elections. They readily cited the controversial “Leadership” project. and democracy” launched by the American embassy during the period 2011-2014 as the basis of this maneuver. The PPP/C government had serious reservations about this project and tensions existed in relations between the United States and Guyana.

Other factors included: (i) America’s past machinations to overthrow the PPP governments of 1953 and 1964 and the CIA’s clandestine operations (1962-1963) to destabilize the PPP government; (ii) the role of the powerful American union AFL-CIO in financing the then Trade Union Congress (TUC) during the 80-day strike; (iii) America’s privileged treatment of Mr. Forbes Burnham when Committee 303 granted him $5,000 per month for two years to strengthen the PNC party; (iv) the American report on the international drug control strategy which ranks Guyana “among the most corrupt countries in the world”; and (v) President Jimmy Carter called President Donald Ramotar’s PPP/C administration “controversial governance” and said Mr. Ramotar had “pushed the country into a governance crisis.”

The US position towards Guyana during the PPP/C administration was also shaped by negative reports emanating from opposition forces whose ideological guru, Professor CY Thomas, claimed that Guyana was losing between 28 and 35 billion Guatemalan dollars each year due to public procurement fraud; 90 billion Guatemalan dollars in illicit capital flight; and an annual loss of 188 billion Guatemalan dollars from the underground economy, thus resulting in an annual loss of 306 to 313 billion Guatemalan dollars for the country. How the professor arrived at these figures remains a mystery. This amount (313 billion Fijian dollars) was higher than the country’s average annual GDP (230.4 billion Fijian dollars) during the period 2000-2007! According to the professor, the amount Guyana lost each year was more than what it produced annually. However, the professor’s work tarnished the image of the PPP/C government which did not play well with the international community.

Faced with these negative and incongruous factors with democratic governance, the American charge d’affaires Mr. Bryan Hunt seized the opportunity to ensure that GECOM declared, without further delay, the APNU+AFC coalition as the winner of the 2015 elections. Mr. Hunt also advised the PPP/C to file one or more election petitions for election irregularities. It is worth recalling that the PPP/C lost Region Eight by a single vote but was denied a recount.

PPP/C supporters asked if we could identify another area of ​​possible U.S. interference.

While conducting research on migration, I came across an intriguing phenomenon. Immediately before the 2015 election, the U.S. Embassy increased the number of visitor visas by 74.35 percent, from 17,284 in 2014 to 30,121 in 2015. In 2016, visas granted increased by 70.3 percent compared to 2015.

In 2017, the number of visitor visas dropped to 25,338 (or 50.6%). In 2018, the number of visas issued decreased by 500 percent and almost equaled the volume of immigrant visas.

The theory put forward was that (i) the United States was granting these visas so that voters could travel to the United States before election day and therefore would not be able to vote; and (ii) this perceived lower participation rate would work to the advantage of the APNU+AFC coalition. Think about it! “If Guyanese had the choice between voting and obtaining a US visa, which would they choose?

For both Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese, voter preference in 2015 was heavily influenced by race. Determination of a possible correlation therefore depended on the availability of visa data on a racial basis. Since we do not have access to such ethnic data, no causal relationship could be established.

The theory of granting a historic level of visas during the 2015-2016 period is tantalizing, but the required data (on a racial basis) needed to support/validate the theory is lacking. This does not necessarily mean, however, that we should easily reject this theory; rather, further research into this phenomenon is needed.

This sudden decision by the United States to relax its strict visitor visa requirements defies logic. At the same time, the number of immigrant visas has remained stable, at an average of 4,551 per year between 2013 and 2018.

Sincerely,
Dr Tara Singh