PNC/R decries Guyana's link to int'l drug rings
Guyana Chronicle
November 28, 2003
FOLLOWING the JFK drug bust hitting the headlines of the world media, the reputation of Guyana, is even further defiled.
That's the opinion of the People's National Congress /Reform (PNC/R).
According to the party, "The name of our country has once again been defiled, as Guyana is being cast as a major transshipment and production centre in the international narcotics trade."
At its weekly news briefing yesterday, the PNC/R said the matter has long reached crisis proportions and further stated, "Who can doubt that on a regular basis, planes and ships that leave these shores carry more than their authorized list of cargo."
Noting that Guyana is now the target of intense scrutiny by the drug enforcement agencies in Europe and North America, PNC/R stated that the government seems to be treating the matter very causally - as if they are unaware that the narcotics trade could ruin the country's social fabric and damage our international relations.
The party went further to say that the PNC/R has also taken note of reports that suggest that high officials are facilitating this state of affairs and called on the government to demonstrate its clean hands and its seriousness by addressing the matter urgently and fiercely.
"Any action less than this will only serve to strengthen the impression that elements in the government have formed unholy alliances with drug lords," the PNC/R asserted.
The PNC/R's drug link remarks conjured up memories of an article in a 1988 edition of National Geographic describing Guyana as part of a "cocaine empire."
A graph published in National Geographic along with the article speaks for itself.