More than anything else, the overriding desire of the great mass of Guyanese, is for an end to the incessant threat to law and order and the increasing incidence of killings, maiming and hi-jackings by armed bandits whose victims also include the police.

As it has been for Jamaicans, Guyanese had become accustomed to varying degrees of political violence during the conduct of national elections. But there was no comparison with the scale of criminality that has been plaguing other CARICOM societies, such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and, to a lesser extent, St. Lucia, in recent years.

Not so in today's Guyana where bleeding hearts are for the many ordinary and innocent people, of various ethnic groups, though the majority are of East Indian descent, who are the regular victims of well-armed criminal elements.

A most disturbing, frightening feature of today's Guyana is trying to separate the criminal deeds of armed bandits from politically-motivated criminal violence and robberies.

Worse, the declared threats from the main political opposition, People's National Congress/Reform, to "remove" a legitimate government, freely and fairly elected, and which, for all its own shortcomings, remains committed to democratic governance.

The tragic events of Wednesday, July 3, while CARICOM leaders were engaged in the business of their 23rd Summit, highlighted how very much to the brink the politics of confrontation by the opposition have brought the country.

Accustomed to wielding unrestricted power for 28 years, based on electoral fraud, the PNC is yet to come to terms with the reality that violent protests to force the People's Progressive Party/Civic from government, is not the way forward.

Dialogue yes, not extra-parliamentary tactics, or making of heroes criminal elements killed by the police.

The world has undergone fundamental changes since 1992 when the PNC finally lost the reins of government to the PPP. Forcing a legitimate, democratically elected government out of office by resort to force is not going to be tolerated either by CARICOM or the member countries of the wider Organisation of American States (OAS).

Nor is there any guarantee that the Guyana security forces (army and police) will remain neutral as the country is reduced to a state of lawlessness, knowing that given the extent of political/racial polarisation, the situation will only be worsened should the forces of political destablisation, including criminal collaborators, succeed.

Distinguishing features

However, if the eruption of political turmoil on the opening day of the CARICOM Summit could be discussed in terms of encouraging signals that followed, then two distinguishing features would be:

First, a CARICOM 'Statement on the Guyana Situation" that did not engage in customary political footwork and double-speak. The leaders showed their outrage by making an unequivocal condemnation of the storming of the Office of the President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

They also stressed that they would in no way countenance acts of violence and loss of innocent lives resulting from the criminal acts of protesters seemingly bent on challenging the rule of law and the right to govern, according to democratic norms, by a government that had been elected at regionally and internationally-supervised elections.

This sentiment was to be subsequently echoed in an unprecedented joint statement by the heads of diplomatic missions in Guyana from the USA, United Kingdom and Canada.

But the second encouraging feature that flowed amid the general outpourings of condemnation of the violent invasion of the symbol of authority of the nation-state, Office of the President of the Republic, were the interventions of some well-known moderate and influential loyalists of the (PNC)/Reform, urging the language of reconciliation instead of confrontation.

Perhaps the most significant of such interventions was that of the lawyer Raphael Trotman. His image as a liberal may or may not be helpful in offering himself among potential radical candidates - for instance, chairman Robert Corbin - to succeed the party's 79-year-old leader, ex-President Desmond Hoyte, who has committed himself to make way for a successor before his next birthday in March 2003.

Blame- Sharing

Trotman said the PNC/R must "share some of the blame" for the events that occurred at the Presidential complex. Having knowingly participated in an illegal march from the East Coast into Georgetown, but without being involved in the invasion of the Presidential complex, the party, Trotman argued, "cannot divorce itself from the events..."

Frankly, there is blame to share all around, starting with the Jagdeo administration itself for its many lapses in firmly dealing with political elements who have been openly violating the laws and posing threats to security and democratic governance.

For example, the PNC/R member and former parliamentarian, Phillip Bynoe, who organised the illegal march, having been refused permission by the police, and who is now on a police wanted list for treason, had pitched tents last month in front of the official residence of the Prime Minister along the avenue of Main Street.

This illegality, just a few blocks away from the Police Headquarters, was allowed to continue for weeks until, finally, the police felt they had enough of Bynoe and his fellow protesters and dismantled the tents in the evening of July 3 that will be remembered as `Black Wednesday’.

This was preceded by the bizarre explanation offered by the police for failing to prevent the illegal march reaching the city because - believe it or not - they did not wish the protesters to have an excuse for creating disorder and engage in violence.

Well, the protesters made good use of such a miscalculation, such evident failure of security intelligence, by an over-stretched police force dealing with political elements on record as calling for the "removal" of PPP/Civic government.

What the tragedies of 'Black Wednesday’ emphasise is that there is really no alternative to reconciliation between the PPP/C and the PNC/R. Confrontation has not and will not work.