Ramblin' Round: A note on Guyana

Some men were indicted yesterday for conspiring to blow up a pipeline at JFK Airport in New York. Several of them were from Guyana, a country in South America. As one of the few Americans who've actually been to Guyana, I'd like to say a few things about the place and its people.

Guyana is a small country, about the size of Michigan, in northeastern South America. About 750,000 people live there. The country is a republic. The official language is English and for a long time it was a British colony. The population, says the CIA World Fact Book, is "East Indian 50%, black 36%, Amerindian 7%, white, Chinese, and mixed 7%." The country's religions break down similarly "Christian 50%, Hindu 35%, Muslim 10%, other 5%." Most of the population lives along the coast. The rest of the country is mostly rain-forest, sparsely populated by Amerindians and the occasional mining camp. It is a "third world country" and many of the people who live there are impoverished.

The president of Guyana is Bharrat Jagdeo. He strikes me as a decent, pragmatic man. Which leads me to one of the country's charming peculiarities, its accessibility. The place is like a third world Mayberry - a Mayberry with significant street crime. If you haven't seen the president, or any other member of the government up close, you must not get out much. It is, for the most part, a friendly and casual country.

Despite the fact that it's located in South America, the culture is more Caribbean than anything else, but it isn't what you'd call a tourist haven. The people are hard working and I never ran into any overt anti-American sentiment while I was there. Most of the people, when discovering that I was from the U.S., reacted like this: "Can you get me a job in America?" There are many Guyanese living in the United States.

As for radical Islam, I couldn't find any when I was down there last (2001). I couldn't even find a mosque. I attended a Hindu temple and a Christian church, but I couldn't find any Islamic services at all. (There are mosques in Guyana, I just never ran across any.)

The best way to learn about the country, short of a visit, is by listening to the country's official radio station. Unfortunately it's a hard catch, even via shortwave, even within parts of Guyana itself, and believe you me, I have some major shortwave equipment. VOG says it webcasts, but I couldn't get it to work, which is too bad as it's one of the most charming and informative radio stations I've ever listened to.

It concerns me that the actions of a few wannabe terrorists could give Guyana a bad name. If there are some people there who intend to do harm to the US, they must be brought to justice, but that is all. Sanctions, or worse, seem to me, entirely uncalled for. The country is not a hotbed of Islamic radicalism. Nor does it foster an anti-American climate. It is a country of hardworking people doing their level best to get along in this world, busily minding their own business, no more and no less. I hope we do the same.

©falmanac