Saw this months back and became intrigued. Time to become the black Saudi Arabia ...with more freedoms obviously
The World’s Newest Petrostate Isn’t Ready For a Tsumani Of Cash
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Cut the check!
With Unrest Next Door in Venezuela, Air Force Hopes to Make Strides in Guyana
U.S. Air Force airmen assigned to the 52nd Combat Communications Squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, construct the communications tent during the New Horizons exercise at Camp Seweyo, Guyana, May 11, 2019. The New Horizons exercise 2019 provides U.S. military members an opportunity to train for an overseas deployment and the logistical requirements it entails. The exercise promotes bilateral cooperation by providing opportunities for U.S. and partner nation military engineers, medical personnel and support staff to work and train side by side. (Derek Seifert/U.S. Air Force)
31 Aug 2019
Military.com | By Oriana Pawlyk
A detachment of U.S. airmen recently returned to the South American country of Guyana for the first time in a decade in an effort to shore up relationships amid growing tensions in neighboring Venezuela.
The four-month long New Horizons humanitarian outreach program, led by the Air Force, was meant to be a stepping-stone toward a prolonged relationship with the Guyana defense force. Air Force officials hope the service’s relationship with the Guyanese military remains strong, especially as Russia and China continue to encroach into southern hemisphere and political unrest in Venezuela shows no signs of subsiding.
"Guyana is going to become a larger player in this region, both economically and politically in the future, so it's important that we are closely tied with them," Maj. Gen. Andrew Croft, 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) commander, said in an interview.
"What we leave is an enduring, physical presence in addition to the partnerships that we build," he added, citing medical facilities and schools built in 1997 that are still used today.
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Roughly 600 service members participated in the project to construct community centers and a women's shelter in Guyana, on South America's northern coast.
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Air Force and Army personnel, who worked in areas near port cities such as Port Mourant, New Amsterdam and Georgetown and in the countryside near Linden, also conducted several medical outreach and veterinary events that brought in 13,446 patients, according to officials who participated in the exercise.
That presence reminds local communities and government that the U.S. will be there, not only to help its citizens in future rotations, but also for emergency response.
Guyanese spectators sit at the handover ceremony for the village of Yarrowkabra community center during New Horizons exercise 2019 in the village of Yarrowkabra in Guyana, Aug. 5, 2019. The New Horizons exercise 2019 provides U.S. military members an opportunity to train for an overseas deployment and the logistical requirements it entails. The exercise promotes bilateral cooperation by providing opportunities for U.S. and partner nation military engineers, medical personnel and support staff to work and train side by side. (Derek Seifert/U.S. Air Force)
Guyana, third-smallest country on the continent, sits just east of Venezuela, which has endured political turmoil and economic hardship since 2010. Millions of Venezuelan refugees have migrated to neighboring countries since the onset of the crisis.
U.S. medical personnel treated some Venezuelans during the Medical Readiness Training Exercise (MEDRETE) event tied to the program, officials said.
"Guyana sits is in a strategic location on the north edge of South America and on the Caribbean," Croft said during a telephone interview from Guyana last week. "That's what makes it important. Also, as political change happens in the nation and they become more aligned with us, it's important for us to make those personal relationships not only through the embassy, but also through the military and the Guyana defense force, which is currently about 3,000 strong with the intent to nearly double it in the upcoming years."
The exercise, under U.S. Southern Command, concluded Aug. 22.
Intermediate exercises can act as an "insurance policy" against other conflicts, Croft said.
"It builds a foundation for the future so that we're not stuck in a situation that we're in the Middle East, where we're actually doing full-up combat operations," he said. "The more we can help them build rule of law, education and services functions, the more we can then help them build the foundation of a workforce."
China and Russia have made inroads in South America. For example, local citizens were operating off of a Huawei network to communicate. While the U.S. brings in its own communications, "You wonder about where all that data goes," Croft said.
The officials also noticed that the local bauxite mines, used to make aluminum, may soon be under new management as both Russia and China weigh investments or expand on operations already underway within the country's mining industry.
"Other folks will step into the breach if there is one or they'll fill a gap. So if we don't actively encourage U.S. commerce and U.S. interests, [it will] not only [happen] here, but in the other nations in this region," Croft said.
He added that his command often sees competing areas of interest. Partners of Air Forces Southern and SOUTHCOM would benefit from annual rotations, but the service "just doesn't have the bandwidth or the capacity to do that level of effort" for every participating country simultaneously, he said.
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Caleb Baumcratz, security forces fire team member assigned to the 911th Airlift Wing, and Amanda Hedman, registered veterinary technician from World Vets, vaccinates a local goat during a Veterinary Medical Readiness Training Exercise during New Horizons exercise 2019 in Linden, Guyana, July 9, 2019. (Derek Seifert/U.S. Air Force)
Next year, the exercise will move to Honduras. Officials have already started planning it.
During the exercise, local conditions were sometimes a challenge. For example, supply delivery to remote areas wasn't always smooth, and equipment broke "over and over and over again," added Air Force Col. Kenneth Bratland, 346th Air Expeditionary Group commander. Bratland said the rainy season, which typically concludes in the early summer months, went long this year, posing a setback for quick construction.
"Fighting the weather and the rain and the water everywhere has been a physical challenge," he said.
The exercise cost roughly $8 million, according to Croft.
The program utilized local goods and supplies where it could, such as concrete, gravel, cinder blocks and roofing material, Bratland said, adding that the Guyana defense force's persistence made it work.
"We were extremely impressed the GDF's commitment to doing this," he said.
The two commanders have faith that the commitment will last.
"Those are the reasons why it's important that we still remain focused on this region, which, oh by the way, is closest to our shores as well. And you see the effects of things like illegal migration right now," Croft said.
Guyana's military force is looking to add personnel for efforts such as protecting oil fields, monitoring illegal fishing, counter-drug trafficking and border crossings, he said.
"If you don't pay attention to [these things], it becomes a military problem rapidly," Croft said.
-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
Red Shield
Global Domination
Guyana having oil and the usa having a hard on for fukking with Venezuela...
Hope Guyana is smart about this..
y'all expectations are much too high. a country with a lot of division doesn't improve with money, it gets worse.
Time and experience continues to prove Marx correct, Capital will be the death of us all.
Was going to go to Georgetown for work next week but held off on it.
THERE'S NO HOTELS AVAILABLE
never ending oil conferences...if any of you go or have been... the best hotel is the Marriott and its consistently sold out right now
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Was going to go to Georgetown for work next week but held off on it.
THERE'S NO HOTELS AVAILABLE
if any of you go or have been... the best hotel is the Marriott and its consistently sold out right now
Oh lawd.
My aunt has a house over there and a friend of the family has a guesthouse.
What field do you work in?
The fact that they're so small is the only hope I have that it has any chance of working out. But I'm pretty pessimistic.
Hypothetical questions?
Do you think corruption will get better or worse with this wealth?
Do you think political divisions will get better or worse with this wealth?
Do you think foreign interference in domestic policy will get better or worse with this wealth?
Do you think environmental destruction will get better or worse with this wealth?
Do you think social vices will become greater or lesser with this wealth?
Do you think the potential for conflict is greater or lesser with this wealth?
Oil wealth is one of the worst kinds of "windfalls". Almost every country which has become dependent on oil wealth has found itself worse off for it. Norway comes to mind as the exception to the rule, they better figure out how to emulate that model and fast.
Hypothetical questions?
Do you think corruption will get better or worse with this wealth?
Do you think political divisions will get better or worse with this wealth?
Do you think foreign interference in domestic policy will get better or worse with this wealth?
Do you think environmental destruction will get better or worse with this wealth?
Do you think social vices will become greater or lesser with this wealth?
Do you think the potential for conflict is greater or lesser with this wealth?
Oil wealth is one of the worst kinds of "windfalls". Almost every country which has become dependent on oil wealth has found itself worse off for it. Norway comes to mind as the exception to the rule, they better figure out how to emulate that model and fast.
Airbnb is good money, I bet. I was considering using it since there legit is no hotels. All of the expats are at the Marriott on the Sea Wall. The Ramada just south of town is also booked and its a huge ass hotel. And everything in between is sold out
I work in international development, right now launching a State Department funded initiative in Guyana. Been working on a youth project there for the last 18 months too. We're opening a country office and there's just so much administrative stuff to do and hiring of local staff plus putting our expats down there this month.
Oil wealth is raising the stakes... I'm not too versed in Guyanese politics but the Indo-Guyanese run the opposition PPP which ran the country for 2 decades till Granger's coalition which was multi-racial came in 2015.
The US is putting a lot of attention in Guyana now. The Chinese are all up in there, you'll see the Chinese workers at Cheddi Jaggan Airport building stuff and I encountered multiple Chinese people, who are from China, with Guyanese passports
And apparently the Chinese mafia has a big operation in Suriname
Most of Guyana is jungle, untouched, no infrastructure to connect these regions. Flying is the best way to get around but its expensive..
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Gipex 2019 opens...
creh speaks ^
creh speaks ^
dora_da_destroyer
Master Baker
tell me more...didn't know there was a big divide, don't know much about trini outside of carnival. i thought it was a place where the two got along due to how much they mix
dora_da_destroyer
Master Baker
where are the investment opportunities for normal people