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http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/editorial/07/14/the-security-of-the-guyana-brazil-border/
The security of the Guyana-Brazil border
By Stabroek staff July 14, 2009 in Editorial
The influx of illegal Brazilian miners into Guyana’s hinterland, their involvement in the mining industry, its impact on the environment and the incidence of trans-border crimes have been security concerns for the last two decades.
The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association recently called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to address the question of foreigners working illegally in the hinterland. One association official claimed that some unlicensed dredges are operated by the Brazilians. Another claimed that Brazilians do not contribute significantly to the economy and much of the gold they produce does not reach the local market. These infractions affect state revenue but there have been some security problems as well.
It is known also that many of the handguns used by crooks to commit armed robberies are of Brazilian manufacture and were brought into the country illegally. It is suspected also, that narcotics have been trafficked across the border. It is recalled that a Trans-Guyana commercial aircraft was hijacked at gunpoint in the Rupununi and the pilot was forced to fly to Brazil back in November 2001.
The Brazilian government seems to think that these are Guyana government problems. Their huge country has a vast 17,000 km-long frontier with ten countries and it has become quite blasé about border issues. In an interview with this newspaper, outgoing Brazilian Ambassador Arthur Meyer was cool about the prospect of an influx of Brazilians into Guyana. He thought that the Brazilian community in Guyana was “quite small” adding, for good measure, that “In the same way there are Brazilians living in Guyana there are many Guyanese citizens living in Brazil and especially in the regions closer to the border.”
Guyana government policy seems to be ambivalent. When he was Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Mr Robeson Benn asserted that “Brazilian miners have brought energy, investment and technology to the small-scale mining sector” and emphasised that their presence in the mining industry benefited the communities surrounding mining areas, as well as the Guyanese government as a whole, through contributions to the state exchequer by means of taxes and duties.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance’s Guyana Revenue Authority did embark on a large-scale ‘regularisation campaign’ aimed at arresting illegal Brazilian residents in 2001. This initiative soon petered out, things are back to ‘normal,’ Guyana’s 1,100 km border remains as porous as ever and aliens can come and go as they please. While some rich Brazilian miners travel by aeroplane and enter the country legitimately, others travel by land and river through informal border crossings, strike up dodgy deals with local men of straw which involve the payment of a percentage of profits and try to avoid contact with law-enforcement and revenue authorities.
When Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited Guyana in February 2005, the Guyana-Brazil Joint Communiqué “recognised the importance of strengthening cooperation to promote security on the borders and decided to convene during the first semester of 2005, the meetings scheduled under the appropriate bilateral mechanisms in the areas of Drug Interdiction, Police cooperation and Customs.”
Windy diplomatic communiqués often remain unimplemented and, at best, are blunt tools to stanch illegal immigration, gun-running and narco-trafficking. The Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region is a zone of proven vulnerability and the Guyana government must overhaul its strategy there. Policy-makers need to think about putting more police officers and customs, immigration, mines, port health and revenue officials on the ground to ensure the security of the Guyana-Brazil border.
1. Dandy Andy says:
July 14, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Not long ago, some folks were asking how come Brazilians are migrating to Guyana while Guyanese were migrating to the Caribbean, but the truth is, the Brazilians, though illegal in Guyana – on the border and in cities and town – are making money right in Guyana on the border as miners and then they travel to the cities and towns to spend their money.
The government needs to collaborate with the private sector to come up with a plan to induce Guyanese to consider the mining methods of the Brazilians and have Guyanese move south instead of north.
Reply
2. Dandy Andy says:
July 14, 2009 at 1:23 pm
The only caveat to my foregoing post is that, with a bridge to Brazil, Guyanese might end up going further south and forget about heading north. We can’t afford to lose more Guyanese to the north or south, cause we need human resources to redevelop Guyana.
Reply
Related Articles
Rohee to meet Brazilians on immigration documents - The Minister of Home Affairs, in continuing his efforts to have foreign nationals residing in Guyana
Miners concerned about illegal Brazilians - -raise questions about low carbon strategy The influx of illegal Brazilian miners in parts of the Hi
Thousands of Guyanese living in Venezuela’s border areas - Hundreds of Guyanese live in Caracas and in the other cities but the majority - tens of thousands -
US$500,000 in goods moving from Lethem to Brazil monthly – Rupununi Chamber - Absence of Bon Fim Customs service, deteriorating road
Nota del editor del blog: Al referenciarse a la República Cooperativa de Guyana se deben de tener en cuenta los 159.500Km2, de territorios ubicados al oeste del río Esequibo conocidos con el nombre de Guayana Esequiba o Zona en Reclamación sujetos al Acuerdo de Ginebra del 17 de febrero de 1966.
Territorios estos sobre los cuales el gobierno Venezolano en representación de la Nación venezolana se reservo sus derechos sobre los territorios de la Guayana Esequiba en su nota del 26 de mayo de 1966 al reconocerse al nuevo Estado de Guyana .
“...por lo tanto, Venezuela reconoce como territorio del nuevo Estado, el que se sitúa al este de la margen derecha del río Esequibo y reitera ante la comunidad internacional, que se reserva expresamente sus derechos de soberanía territorial sobre la zona que se encuentra en la margen izquierda del precitado río; en consecuencia, el territorio de la Guayana Esequiba sobre el cual Venezuela se reserva expresamente sus derechos soberanos, limita al Este con el nuevo Estado de Guyana, a través de la línea del río Esequibo, tomando éste desde su nacimiento hasta su desembocadura en el Océano Atlántico...”
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/editorial/07/14/the-security-of-the-guyana-brazil-border/
The security of the Guyana-Brazil border
By Stabroek staff July 14, 2009 in Editorial
The influx of illegal Brazilian miners into Guyana’s hinterland, their involvement in the mining industry, its impact on the environment and the incidence of trans-border crimes have been security concerns for the last two decades.
The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association recently called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to address the question of foreigners working illegally in the hinterland. One association official claimed that some unlicensed dredges are operated by the Brazilians. Another claimed that Brazilians do not contribute significantly to the economy and much of the gold they produce does not reach the local market. These infractions affect state revenue but there have been some security problems as well.
It is known also that many of the handguns used by crooks to commit armed robberies are of Brazilian manufacture and were brought into the country illegally. It is suspected also, that narcotics have been trafficked across the border. It is recalled that a Trans-Guyana commercial aircraft was hijacked at gunpoint in the Rupununi and the pilot was forced to fly to Brazil back in November 2001.
The Brazilian government seems to think that these are Guyana government problems. Their huge country has a vast 17,000 km-long frontier with ten countries and it has become quite blasé about border issues. In an interview with this newspaper, outgoing Brazilian Ambassador Arthur Meyer was cool about the prospect of an influx of Brazilians into Guyana. He thought that the Brazilian community in Guyana was “quite small” adding, for good measure, that “In the same way there are Brazilians living in Guyana there are many Guyanese citizens living in Brazil and especially in the regions closer to the border.”
Guyana government policy seems to be ambivalent. When he was Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Mr Robeson Benn asserted that “Brazilian miners have brought energy, investment and technology to the small-scale mining sector” and emphasised that their presence in the mining industry benefited the communities surrounding mining areas, as well as the Guyanese government as a whole, through contributions to the state exchequer by means of taxes and duties.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance’s Guyana Revenue Authority did embark on a large-scale ‘regularisation campaign’ aimed at arresting illegal Brazilian residents in 2001. This initiative soon petered out, things are back to ‘normal,’ Guyana’s 1,100 km border remains as porous as ever and aliens can come and go as they please. While some rich Brazilian miners travel by aeroplane and enter the country legitimately, others travel by land and river through informal border crossings, strike up dodgy deals with local men of straw which involve the payment of a percentage of profits and try to avoid contact with law-enforcement and revenue authorities.
When Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited Guyana in February 2005, the Guyana-Brazil Joint Communiqué “recognised the importance of strengthening cooperation to promote security on the borders and decided to convene during the first semester of 2005, the meetings scheduled under the appropriate bilateral mechanisms in the areas of Drug Interdiction, Police cooperation and Customs.”
Windy diplomatic communiqués often remain unimplemented and, at best, are blunt tools to stanch illegal immigration, gun-running and narco-trafficking. The Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region is a zone of proven vulnerability and the Guyana government must overhaul its strategy there. Policy-makers need to think about putting more police officers and customs, immigration, mines, port health and revenue officials on the ground to ensure the security of the Guyana-Brazil border.
1. Dandy Andy says:
July 14, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Not long ago, some folks were asking how come Brazilians are migrating to Guyana while Guyanese were migrating to the Caribbean, but the truth is, the Brazilians, though illegal in Guyana – on the border and in cities and town – are making money right in Guyana on the border as miners and then they travel to the cities and towns to spend their money.
The government needs to collaborate with the private sector to come up with a plan to induce Guyanese to consider the mining methods of the Brazilians and have Guyanese move south instead of north.
Reply
2. Dandy Andy says:
July 14, 2009 at 1:23 pm
The only caveat to my foregoing post is that, with a bridge to Brazil, Guyanese might end up going further south and forget about heading north. We can’t afford to lose more Guyanese to the north or south, cause we need human resources to redevelop Guyana.
Reply
Related Articles
Rohee to meet Brazilians on immigration documents - The Minister of Home Affairs, in continuing his efforts to have foreign nationals residing in Guyana
Miners concerned about illegal Brazilians - -raise questions about low carbon strategy The influx of illegal Brazilian miners in parts of the Hi
Thousands of Guyanese living in Venezuela’s border areas - Hundreds of Guyanese live in Caracas and in the other cities but the majority - tens of thousands -
US$500,000 in goods moving from Lethem to Brazil monthly – Rupununi Chamber - Absence of Bon Fim Customs service, deteriorating road
Nota del editor del blog: Al referenciarse a la República Cooperativa de Guyana se deben de tener en cuenta los 159.500Km2, de territorios ubicados al oeste del río Esequibo conocidos con el nombre de Guayana Esequiba o Zona en Reclamación sujetos al Acuerdo de Ginebra del 17 de febrero de 1966.
Territorios estos sobre los cuales el gobierno Venezolano en representación de la Nación venezolana se reservo sus derechos sobre los territorios de la Guayana Esequiba en su nota del 26 de mayo de 1966 al reconocerse al nuevo Estado de Guyana .
“...por lo tanto, Venezuela reconoce como territorio del nuevo Estado, el que se sitúa al este de la margen derecha del río Esequibo y reitera ante la comunidad internacional, que se reserva expresamente sus derechos de soberanía territorial sobre la zona que se encuentra en la margen izquierda del precitado río; en consecuencia, el territorio de la Guayana Esequiba sobre el cual Venezuela se reserva expresamente sus derechos soberanos, limita al Este con el nuevo Estado de Guyana, a través de la línea del río Esequibo, tomando éste desde su nacimiento hasta su desembocadura en el Océano Atlántico...”
Como hemos señalado en otras oportunidades actualmente en la Guayana Esequiba se encuentran unos ocho mil mineros brasileños (Garimpeiros), explotando oro en forma irracional depredando el ambiente
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