The Press in Guyana | Social tensions in the new oil Eldorado

(Village No. 66, Guyana) Guyana has experienced tremendous economic growth since it began producing oil. In 2022, gross domestic product increased by 63%. But the windfall does not benefit all Guyanese, and social tensions arise.

Fishermen unloading their loot after returning from a stay of several days at sea, others preparing to leave; the small fishing port of village No. 66 is buzzing with activity, even though the sun has barely risen on this Wednesday morning in September.

Fish prices have fallen since the pandemic, but the cost of living has exploded, say community members, who attribute this inflation to the arrival of the oil industry.

“Things are getting more and more expensive,” laments Faredda Razac, while the harsh sound of machetes cutting fish on wooden planks can be heard behind her.

The 59-year-old woman, who came to make purchases which she will then resell in her shop, judges that the oil windfall praised by the government is not reaching the population.

“We don’t see any of that,” she says, as a humid breeze blows over the modest facilities of the Haut Corentyne Fishermen’s Cooperative, built in 1989 with the help of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). ).

Guyana’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth has fluctuated between 20 and 63 percent annually since the country began producing oil in December 2019.

75 day strike

Angry at the rising cost of living, teachers in Guyana walked off the job for four and a half months, from February to June, to demand salary increases of 30 to 40% per year by 2026.

“Teachers are also masons during the weekend, taxi drivers after school, do landscaping, work in bars or supermarkets,” lists Coretta A. McDonald, general secretary of the Guyana Teachers Union.

Growth “must be in the clouds, because people here don’t see it, don’t receive the benefits,” she thunders.

The government uses oil money primarily to build roads and buildings, which only benefits its “three Fs,” says Coretta A. McDonald: family, friends and favorites (family, friends and favoritesin English).

The mayor of the capital Georgetown, Alfred Mentore, also accuses the government of nepotism, explaining for example that the value of the city’s buildings has not been revised for years, for the benefit of the “three Fs”.

“We are not collecting the appropriate taxes on these buildings,” he said. And many of the people who are building these new buildings are friends of the government. »

Those left behind will not tolerate these inequalities for long, fears Mike McCormack, co-founder of the Guyana Human Rights Association and the Guyana Political Forum, two non-governmental organizations.

“I think it will get violent,” he warns, an opinion shared by Coretta A. McDonald.

“There will come a time when the poor will seek what they don’t have from those who have it,” she said.

Indigenous people divided

Guyana’s indigenous communities, who have had their share of disputes with the extractive industry in the past, are watching with suspicion the arrival of the oil and gas industry in the country and, above all, the attitude of the government.

“The government and its representatives must listen more to indigenous communities, and not try to silence them as is currently the case with techniques of manipulation, intimidation and harassment,” criticizes Jean LaRose, general director of the Guyana Amerindian Peoples Association.

“We are not satisfied with the way indigenous communities are treated in the decision-making process, favoring certain groups over [d’autres] ”, she said.

The indigenous people of Guyana, spread across nine nations living along the coast or in the Amazon rainforest and totaling more than 10% of the country’s population, were dispossessed by the logging industry until the 1990s, then by the gold industry subsequently, says M^me LaRose.

Indigenous environmentalist Annette Arjoon-Martins, well known in Guyana for her environmental work over the past forty years, differs.

“I see positive developments everywhere” since the country has benefited from the benefits of oil production, thanks to “well-thought-out” government policies, particularly in health and education, she confides to The Press.

This trained pilot, who founded the Guyana Sea Turtle Conservation Society, is pleased to have the ear of ExxonMobil, which has agreed to train “thousands” of people in emergency measures in the event of a tidal surge black or other disaster and which distributed rainwater harvesting equipment to indigenous communities during the 2023 drought.

“You don’t need to shout on the front pages of major newspapers to be heard, we can have meetings with businesses and governments to say ‘this is what we want’,” says M^me Arjoon-Martins, who is optimistic about the future.

The numerous Guyana government officials contacted for this report did not respond to requests for comment. The Press or declined them.

With the special collaboration of Nazima Raghubir

This report was produced with the financial support of the Fonds québécois en journalism international.