Guyana
Guyana, officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country of South America, located on the north coast of South America, member of Unasur, CELAC and associate member of Mercosur. It limits to the north with the Atlantic Ocean, to the east with Suriname, to the west with Venezuela and Brazil, and to the south with Brazil. From 1831 to 1966 it constituted the colony called British Guiana. The most populous city is the country's capital, Georgetown.
Approximately three quarters of the west of the country are claimed by Venezuela, specifically 159,542 km², which represents 74.21% of the territory, an area called Guayana Esequiba by Venezuela. Its other neighbor, Suriname, claims for itself a part of the eastern territory in the southeast of the country, specifically about 15,600 km² called the Tigri Region, which currently represents 7.26% of the country.
In 2017, 31% of Guyana's population lived below the poverty line, on less than $5.50 per day.
Etymology
The first inhabitants of Guyana were the Arawaks, who named it this way Guyana or land of water because of its humid lands and dense coasts of mangroves and swamps. The Arawaks were displaced by the Caribs, who dominated much of the region and then moved to the islands of the Caribbean Sea, which took their name from them.
History
The Arawaks and the Kalinagos (Caribs) were among the first indigenous inhabitants of the territory. They were nomads organized in families of 15 or 20 members, and they lived by hunting and fishing sharks. When the Europeans arrived in Guyana there were 500,000 inhabitants (more conservative estimates reduce it to about 20,000 to 30,000; the territory would not have been able to support half a million, only slightly less than the total population today). Today there are about 45,000 natives left, divided into nine ethnic groups, of which only seven maintain their traditional identity and culture.
The mouths of the Essequibo and Orinoco, and the entire coast of Guayana were known and explored by Alonso de Ojeda and Pedro Alonso Niño, who arrived in Demerara in 1499, as mentioned by Juan de la Cosa, who also mapped the zone. The point where they made landfall was called Cabo de San Alonso.
Between 1530 and 1531, Diego de Ordás conquered and colonized the entire Guayanese coast, and in 1594 Spain officially took possession of the Province of Guayana, which included the Guayana Esequiba currently claimed by Venezuela. It is believed that until the Dutch invasion of 1615, more than 2,000 Spanish settlers occupied this territory (again, the most moderate estimates reduce it to a maximum of one hundred or a little more Hispanic settlers and the rest up to 2,000 would be Indians or civilized mestizos from the current Venezuela).
Driven by the legend of El Dorado, the Dutch West India Company built the first fort in Guyana in 1616, which then comprised three colonies: Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo. In the mid-18th century the English had begun a massive introduction of African slaves to work on plantations along the coast. In 1763, the African Cuffy (current national hero), led a rebellion in Berbice that was bloodily suppressed. In September 1777 Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga created the General Captaincy of Venezuela and in said territory he integrated the Guayana region. Shortly after, he sent expeditions led by Manuel Centurión, also from Malaga, to colonize it and verify the non-existence of British troops, who fled before the Unzaga Defense Plan and the engineer Crame. Subsequently, Captain General Unzaga appointed Manuel Centurión as Governor of Guayana and gave him instructions to colonize various towns and allow free trade, boosting its economy. In 1796, practically half of Dutch Guiana was taken over by the English. The colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice were officially ceded to the United Kingdom in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 and at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In 1831 they were consolidated as British Guiana. The slaves who escaped from the plantations went to live in the jungles with the indigenous people. Racial and cultural miscegenation gave rise to the so-called maroons. These groups were joined by the Chinese, Javanese and Indians, brought by the English as cheap labor. The independence ideals managed to channel themselves from 1950 with the Popular Progressive Party (PPP); a program of national independence and social improvements, and in the long term, of socialist transformation of society. The plan was carried out by Cheddi Jagan for three successive terms in office as prime minister (1953-1961).
In 1953, a new constitution established universal suffrage. The April 1953 elections gave a majority to the Popular Progressive Party, which was judged too far to the left by the Colonial Office. One of the first laws of the new Government was the obligation of companies to recognize trade union rights. Troops are sent and the Constitution is suspended. The Colony Office justifies this decision by stating that "the British Government has decided that the Constitution of Guyana must be suspended in order to prevent communist subversion of the Government and a dangerous crisis in public order and economic affairs."
In 1963, the progressive government of Prime Minister Cheddi Jagan resisted an attempted coup that left 170 dead. After years of great street violence, Great Britain recognized the independence of Guyana on May 26, 1966, within the Commonwealth of Nations. By then the PPP was divided: the majority of Afro-Guyanese had rallied in the National People's Congress (CNP), while the Indo-Guyanese remained loyal to Jagan. Forbes Burnham, leader of the CNP, took office, supported by other ethnic minorities.
Ethnic conflict and US interests influenced the split of the PPP. The United States saw Guyanese independence and Jagan's socialism as a threat to its hegemony in the Caribbean.
Burnham came to the government with the acceptance of the United States, but his policy was not conditioned to that of this country. He spoke out for non-alignment and proclaimed the Cooperative Republic of Guyana in 1970. Bauxite, the timber industry and sugar were nationalized from 1970. In 1976 the State controlled 75% of the country's production. At the same time, it promoted integration through CARICOM (Caribbean Community), SELA (Latin American and Caribbean Economic System) and the Caribbean Merchant Fleet.
In 1976 Cheddi Jagan proclaimed the need to “achieve an anti-imperialist national unity”, at a time of border tensions with Brazil, under a right-wing dictatorship since 1964. PPP representatives returned to Parliament, from which they had withdrawn in protest of fraud electoral. Burnham then announced the creation of a People's Militia to defend the revolution.
The elections were postponed due to a referendum that entrusted Parliament with the drafting of a constitutional text, reason for the withdrawal of the PPP from legislative activities for the second time. In 1980 Burnham was elected president. According to international observers, said elections would have been fraudulent. That year Burnham requested help from the IMF and authorized transnational companies to exploit oil and uranium.
In 1980, Walter Rodney, founder of the Working People's Alliance (WPA), was killed when a bomb exploded in his car. He never identified those responsible.
In 1984, with increasing financial difficulties and the crisis with the unions, Burnham negotiated with the IMF a loan of 150 million dollars. The IMF conditions according to Burnham were unacceptable. The US invasion of Grenada and Guyana's condemnation of this action worsened relations between the two countries. Guyana sought a rapprochement with the socialist countries.
Burnham died in 1985 and was succeeded by Desmond Hoyte. The PNC won the general elections of that year, but the opposition denounced an alleged fraud. In 1986, five of the six opposition parties formed the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy and won all the seats. Hoyte announced in 1987 that his government would return to cooperative socialism.
After the government declared a state of emergency in December 1991, Parliament met to postpone the planned elections. The state of emergency was extended until June 1992. In October, Cheddi Jagan (54%) defeated Desmond Hoyte (41%), in the general election.
In 1993, Jagan allowed the deployment of US troops for military training in his country's jungles, and admitted US military collaboration to combat drug trafficking and develop sanitation in the interior. Likewise, the president sought to modify the adjustment plan initiated by Hoyte, in agreement with the IMF. He proposed the market economy to solve the poverty of 80% of the population, whose emigration rate was higher than the population growth rate. The first anniversary of his mandate was marred by a strike at the national electricity company, due to the breach of the commitment to increase state salaries by 300%. In 1996, the Government managed to cancel 500 million dollars of its foreign debt, almost a quarter of the total.
On Jagan's death in 1997, his widow Janet Jagan became acting prime minister. In the December elections she was elected president with 55.3% of the vote against 40.6% for Hoyte's CNP. Sam Hinds was appointed Prime Minister. After twenty months in office, Janet Jagan, 79, resigned for health reasons and was replaced by her Finance Minister, Bharrat Jagdeo. The National People's Congress criticized the procedure for transfer of powers.
In March 2000, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez reiterated his country's demands on the Essequibo region, and denounced a US company that planned to build a rocket launching ramp in the disputed area. However, four years later, with new political alliances, Chávez changes his mind, ceding autonomy in favor of the Georgetown government, stating: "The Venezuelan government will not be an obstacle to any project to be conducted in the Essequibo, and whose purpose is benefit the inhabitants of the area. (Hugo Chávez in Georgetown, February 2004).
The permit granted by Guyana to a Canadian oil company to exploit its territorial waters sparked a conflict with Suriname. After talks mediated by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Percival James Patterson, a possibility of a solution to the conflict was opened and it was agreed to hold meetings between both parties to decide the future of the region.
In March 2001, the general elections scheduled for 1997 were held, with international observers confirming their almost normal development, despite the irregularities due to the lack of names of voters in the registers. The elections gave Jagdeo re-election.
According to a report published in October 2003 by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country's economy is highly dependent on natural resources such as sugar, gold, bauxite and rice. Production of these resources has grown very slowly in recent years, despite significant steps Guyana has taken to liberalize its trade and investment regimes over the past 15 years.
In January 2004, the Paris Club creditor countries agreed to reduce Guyana's debt by $95 million, under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt initiative, designed by the IMF and the World Bank. The creditors also agreed to provide additional debt relief of $33 million.
Under pressure from opposition leaders, who were calling for an investigation into a possible connection between the interior minister and death squads suspected of executing hundreds of alleged criminals, the head of the ministry, Ronald Gajraj, resigned in May of 2004 to make legal proceedings possible. In June, the UN formed a tribunal that should settle an old dispute over maritime boundaries between Guyana and Suriname.
Investigations into the crimes of the death squads failed to establish any connection between them and Gajraj, so in April 2005, he resumed his post as interior minister.
In the midst of a wave of crimes directed against previously chosen targets, in April 2006 the Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh, was assassinated along with two relatives. Since January, there were already 50 murders; the police attributed them to groups linked to drug trafficking and arms smuggling.
In March 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) forgave Guyana's debt, which was around one billion dollars. The government and the IDB considered the event as a historic opportunity for a new beginning.
In the 2011 election, Donald Ramotar was elected the new President. Four years later, in the 2015 election, the opposition to Ramotar won the election under the leadership of David Granger (of the PNC), ending 23 years of uninterrupted PPP rule. However, this party managed to return to power after winning the 2020 general elections under the leadership of Irfaan Ali.
During his government, large oil reserves were discovered in the jurisdictional waters claimed by Venezuela, which could make it the largest product in the world per capita in the year 2025. The elections on March 3 ended with a tight result in the that the opposition denounced fraud, plunging the country into a political crisis.
Politics
Under its current constitution, which entered into force on October 6, 1980, Guyana is technically a semi-presidential republic, albeit with a historically strong executive figure, and adopts multi-party representative democracy as its form of government. Although it is a unitary state, the country is decentralized into ten regions for administrative purposes, each of which is governed by a Regional Democratic Council, directly elected by the citizens of each region, who in turn appoint a president, who acts as executive figure of each of the administrative divisions. Due to its historical ties, Guyana is part of the Commonwealth of Nations community, headed by King Charles III of the United Kingdom.
The President of the Republic is the head of state and head of government. Although he counts as a prime minister, appointed by the executive branch from among the members of the National Assembly to manage the cabinet, and this must have the support of the chamber, in practice the president's actions have been greatly strengthened and, since the reform Constitution of 1980, the head of government no longer rests with the prime minister, which establishes a de facto presidentialism. The president is not directly elected, but rather each party submitting a list of candidates for the National Assembly must designate in advance a leader who will become president if that party receives the most votes, regardless of whether or not it receives one. absolute majority of seats.
The National Assembly is the seat of legislative power and has 65 seats. 40 are directly elected by the people through a system of proportional representation by lists, with the entire national territory as a single district and the seats being distributed by Hare Quotient. The other 25 seats are designated by the ten Regional Democratic Councils. Unlike a full parliamentary regime, the National Assembly does not have the authority to dismiss the executive power, while the latter can dissolve the National Assembly and advance the elections at will, although it must do so within a period not exceeding five years after its first session. The Assembly can, on the other hand, execute a motion of no confidence against the cabinet, which in practice usually causes new parliamentary elections and, consequently, advances the presidential renewal, but it is not possible to replace the president only with an unfavorable legislative vote.
The highest judicial instance is the Court of Appeal, presided over by the Chancellor of the Judiciary. Below it is the High Court, presided over by the Chief Justice. The President Chancellor and the Chief Justice are appointed by the President of the Republic.
Since its inception as a state, race has been a dominant factor in Guyana's politics, often taking precedence over ideological issues. At the partisan level, since before independence, electoral politics has generally been bipartisan, the two main political parties being the People's Progressive Party (PPP) and the People's National Congress (PNC), both theoretically socialist in nature. or social democrat, but with different voter bases related more to ethnic issues. Historically, the PPP has been linked to Guyanese of Indian descent, known as "Indo-Guyanese," while the PNC is in the majority among Afro-descendants, known as "Afro-Guyanese". Other sectors, such as indigenous people or Guyanese of mixed descent, together make up just under a third of the population. In the context of the Cold War, the National People's Congress, which remained in power by rigging the elections, had the support of the United States. The 1992 elections, which brought the Popular Progressive Party to power, were the country's first free elections since independence. Since the definitive democratization of the country, at the beginning of the 1990s, both parties have expressed their interest in moving their rhetoric away from racial issues and seeking a unique national identity, seeing itself reflected in the founding of a sector called "Civic" #3. 4; within the PPP and led by the Afro-Guyanese Sam Hinds (Prime Minister between 1992 and 2015), and the slogan "One Guyana" (in Spanish: "Una Guyana") used by the PNC in some elections. However, both third parties and human rights organizations have stated that these attempts are relatively unsuccessful and rather "cosmetic changes." Guyana has been described as a "flawed democracy" by The Economist Democracy Index.
Human rights
In terms of human rights, regarding membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), Guyana has signed or ratified:
 Guyana | International treaties | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CESCR | CCPR | CERD | CED | CEDAW | CAT | CRC | MWC | CRPD | |||||||||
| CESCR | CESCR-OP | CCPR | CCPR-OP1 | CCPR-OP2-DP | CEDAW | CEDAW-OP | CAT | CAT-OP | CRC | CRC-OP-AC | CRC-OP-SC | CRPD | CRPD-OP | ||||
| Pertenence |  |  | |  |  | | | | | | | | | | |  | |
 Signed and ratified,  signed, but not ratified,  neither signed nor ratified,  without information,  it has agreed to sign and ratify the body concerned, but also recognizes the competence to receive and process individual communications from the competent bodies. | |||||||||||||||||
Status of major international human rights instruments
Situation of the LGBT community
Guyana is the only country in South America that considers male homosexual relations a crime (with penalties between 2 years in prison and life imprisonment), as well as a law that prohibits wearing clothing of the opposite sex. The Society Against Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation (SASOD) has demanded that the Government revoke the law that prohibits transvestism in public (22-2-2010).
Defense
The Guyanese Military Forces are organized under the name Guyana Defense Forces or (GDF), these include the Ground Forces, the Coast Guard), and the Air Corps (Air Corps). 210,058 men are of military service age (according to 2015 estimates). The former Guyana People's Militia and the Guyana National Service were replaced.
The Guyana Defense Forces known by its acronym in English as GDF were created on November 1, 1965, enlistment in the Force is voluntary for officers and soldiers. Basic training is carried out within the training schools of the GDF, which has also trained officers and soldiers from other Caribbean territories linked to the Commonwealth. However, officers are also trained at two of Britain's world-renowned officer training schools: Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where Infantry is trained; and the Royal Britannia Naval College (Britannia Royal Naval College), which is in charge of training the Coast Guard.
Territorial organization
Guyana is organized into ten administrative regions that are divided into sixty-five neighborhood councils and six municipalities or cities.
Regions
Each region is administered by a Democratic Regional Council (Regional Democratic Council - RDC), headed by a chief or president (chairman).
Neighborhood Tips
In addition there are a number of Democratic Neighborhood Councils (NDCs) within each Region. These operate at the local, communal or municipal level. The regions are subdivided into a total of 65 neighborhood councils, plus seven municipalities and 39 unadministered areas.
Venezuelan claim
The territory corresponding to regions 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 is claimed by Venezuela, receiving the name of Guayana Esequiba, area under claim or simply the Essequibo. Venezuela declares, in article 10 of its Constitution (1999), that «The territory and other geographical spaces of the Republic are those that corresponded to the Captaincy General of Venezuela before the political transformation that began on April 19, 1810, with the modifications resulting from treaties and arbitral awards that are not invalidated". The Captaincy General of Venezuela included the territories of the former province of Guayana, which occupied the Esequiba region today in dispute, however, the pact between Venezuela and British Guyana not to exploit the claimed area has not been respected, because currently said area has been exploited by international companies brought by the Government of Guyana.
Surinamese claim
Part of the southeastern territory corresponding to region 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne) is claimed by the Republic of Suriname as a part of the Coeroeni resort belonging to the Sipaliwini district. The area is delimited by the Boven-Corantijn rivers (which in Guyana is called the New River) and the Coeroeni and Koetari. This triangular-shaped area is known in Guyana as the New River Triangle (the New River Triangle) while in Suriname it is known as the Tigri region.
Geography
The Guyanese relief is formed by a flat basement on the coast, which constitutes the agricultural area where 90% of the population is concentrated. A sector of the plain is located below sea level and is protected by a series of dikes. In the interior of the territory, hills and jungles abound, in the south.
The main rivers are the Essequibo and the Demerara, among others.
The climate is equatorial-tropical, softened by the sea breeze (with temperatures averaging 28 °C in Georgetown), and very humid (with more than 2,000 mm of annual rainfall in the country's capital).
Economy
| Exports to | Imports | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Percentage | Country | Percentage |
 United States
| 26.2 per cent | United States
| 25.4 per cent |
Canada Canada
| 13% |  Portugal
| 15.6 per cent |
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago
| 9.45% | Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago
| 10.4% |
 Jamaica
| 6.04% | China China
| 10.4% |
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates
| 6.01% | United Kingdom.svg){kind=small} United Kingdom
| 4.22% |
| Other | 39.3 % | Other | 34 % |
Guyana's main economic activity is agriculture, which employs most of the workforce. In the polders of the coast there are fields of rice, other food crops (vegetables, tubers) and fruit trees (citrus, coconut).
Among the main agricultural exports, it is worth mentioning cocoa, coffee and, above all, sugar. The fishing activity, favored by the continental platform, allows the sale of shrimp abroad. Apart from agriculture, the other great wealth of the country is bauxite (aluminum industry). There are also deposits of diamonds and gold, and notable timber reserves, some consumer goods industries (textiles) have emerged.
Since the discovery of significant crude oil reserves off the Atlantic coast has had a major impact on Guyana's GDP since drilling began in 2019. GDP grew considerably (43%) during the year of the pandemic COVID-19 of 2020, and is expected to continue at a high level in 2021 (estimated at 20%). The non-oil sectors contracted as public health measures to control the spread of the virus; GDP growth rests on the oil sector for these two years.
The issuance of postage stamps intended mainly for philatelic collecting is also a source of income for its economy.[citation required]
Infrastructure
Transportation
There are a total of 187 km of railway lines, all dedicated to the transport of minerals (bauxite and manganese). There are 7970 km of roads, of which 590 km are paved and has the railway in Guyana.
Guyana is called the Land of Many Rivers (Land of Many Rivers), therefore, the best and most traditional way to access the interior of the country are its rivers. Waterways include 1,077 km, including the Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo rivers.
The country's largest seaport is Georgetown, located on the Demerara estuary, a navigable river. The main river ports are Essequivo, Everton, Port Kaituma, and New Amsterdam-Lindem.
The main airport is Cheddi Jagan International Airport. This has regular commercial flights to North America, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Suriname and to some English and Dutch Caribbean island states. There is one regional level airport, Ogle Airport. Both are located close to the capital of the country. It serves this airport, Transguyana Airways, with domestic flights and to Suriname.
There are also around ninety aerodromes, nine of which have paved runways, but very few have regular commercial passenger flights.
Communications
Telephone system
- Telephones: 110 100 fixed telephone lines (2005)
- Mobile or mobile phones: 281 400 (2005)
- National: microwave radio for the network of lines of link, fixed-line teledensity is about 15 per 100 people, many areas still lack fixed telephony service; mobile teledensity reached 37 per 100 people in 2005.
- International: the country code is 592; tropospheric dispersion to Trinidad; terrestrial satellite stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean).
Radio stations
According to 1998 data:
- AM: 3
- FM: 3
- short wave: 1
TV stations
According to 1997 data: Guyanese channels:
- CNS channel 6: is a general entertainment television channel that broadcasts various film programs (Bollywood and Hollywood), interview programs, music and other programs.
- NCNTV: it is state-owned television and broadcasting in Guyana.
Internet
- Country Internet Code:.gy
- Internet companies: 6218 (2008)
- Internet users 190 000 (2007)
Demographics
According to UN statistics, the population of Guyana is 801,196 in 2014, which is divided into three main groups:
- Indians or Indians (about 50%) living in rural areas
- African or Afro-Guyanese (between 36 and 43 per cent) residing in urban centres
- Native Americans (between 4 and 7 %), residents of the interior.
The Chinese and European population (mainly Portuguese and British) make up 2%.
90% of the population lives in the coastal zone, where the population density reaches 115 inhabitants per km². There is great tension between the Indian and African communities, which is reflected in the political sphere (where the two main political parties are uniracial).
Emigration has been a persistent problem in the country's history, with an estimated 500,000 number of nationals living outside the country. Since independence, more than 11,000 citizens a year have settled in the United States. Likewise, Canada, the United Kingdom, Venezuela and other English-speaking Caribbean countries have been the destination of these emigrants. Venezuela is listed as one of the countries that has received the largest flow of Guyanese immigrants.
Languages
English is the only official language of Guyana and is used, for example, in its schools. In addition, the Carib languages (Akawaio, Wai-Wai, Arawak, Patamona and Macushi) are used, which are spoken by a small indigenous minority, while Guyana Creole (English based on a creole with syntax from India and African countries, whose grammar is not standardized) is widely spoken. On the other hand, a feature of Guyanese English, particularly in the lower registers, is the fact that English pronouns are almost completely interchangeable. Due to the cultural influence of its environment, the Spanish language and the Portuguese language are widely spread in the country.
Religion
Religion also draws a dividing line between the population. According to Guyana's breakdown of religions, based on the 2002 census, Christians make up 57% of the population (of which 16.9% are Pentecostal; 8.1% Catholic; Anglican 6.9%; 5% Seventh-day Adventists and 20% from other Christian denominations); 23.4% are Hindus; 7.3% Muslim; 0.5% Rastafarians; 0.1% Baha'is; 2.2% other religions; and 4.3% without religion. The majority of Guyana's Christians are either Protestant or Catholic and include a mix of all races. Christians, predominantly those attached to the Church of England, are of African ethnicity. For its part, the Indian community that arrived in the country at the beginning of the XIX century, mainly professes Hinduism, although there is a percentage of Indo-Guyanese who adhere to Islam, along with some Afro-Guyanese.
Culture
Until its independence, Guyana was more culturally linked to the Caribbean island-states, such as Suriname and French Guiana, than to the rest of South America, in whose continent it is fully inserted.
Guyana was settled by settlers from the Indian subcontinent (which has made it possible for Urdu, Hindi and Tamil to be spoken in the country), black Africans and some Europeans, mainly from the United Kingdom, its former mother country. These various ethnic groups have remained quite differentiated and, today, each group has its own lifestyle and culture, although the links promoted by nationalist groups tend to merge.
Slowly, a growing regional policy (UNASUR), the construction of highways to Venezuela and Brazil, migratory flows and the unavoidable influence of Venezuela and Brazil cause Guyana to insert itself more and more into South American culture, dominated by languages Spanish and Portuguese.
Sports
The most popular sport in the country, as in many former British colonies, is cricket, with Guyana being part of the West Indies team that participates in the cricket world championships held every 4 years. Other sports practiced are softball, soccer and Rugby, also to a lesser extent netball, rounders, tennis, basketball, table tennis, boxing, squash, among others.