(EDITORIAL NOTE: This article first appeared in the Oslo Times, an English language daily newspaper in Norway, and was originally written for that publication by Dennis Adonis )
Dec 8, Georgetown (The Oslo Times): - When U.S President Barack Obama signed the 2010 financial regulations bill into law, the primary focus of it was to clean up the bad business on Wall Street, while stretching Washington’s judicial reach to other countries engaged in bad business transactions that passes through U.S banks.
But buried in the 2,300 page document is an obscured section that covers the mineral exploitation profiteering feats in a number of jurisdictions, including Guyana, and everyone in that country that may be directly or indirectly involved in mineral trade with U.S companies or may have gained from questionable mineral trading transactions that passes through U.S banks.
Long accused of being a lawless transit point for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s “Rape diamonds”, and by extension, Africa’s blood diamonds, Guyana has somehow evolved as the Caribbean’s appeasement park for corrupt mineral trade.
Arguably the country’s largest foreign exchange earner, combined trade in precious metals have attracted the interest of almost everyone in Guyana’s investment and social strata, which has since saw senior members of Guyana’s government, the police force, and the business community launching mining operations in Guyana’s treacherous jungle terrain.
In many instances some of these mining operations progressed into sizeable operations in a matter of months, and at scales that often defy investment logics.
For many, Guyana’s gold exploits has transformed their lives from rags to riches with minimal effort.
However, Western Intelligence has since suggested that the majority of mineral trading in Guyana is now controlled by at least two major foreign drug cartels, including Mexico’s Knights Templar cartel who are believed to be financing the mining operations of at least four major gold mining firms with strong connections to the Guyana government.
These firms are generally scouted by the Mexicans who then offers to invest in their respective gold mining operations, which would in turn see the participating mining company receiving cash funding and millions of Guyanese dollars in equipment to effect their operations.
However, outside of their investment profits, the Mexican investors are enlisted as primary underground buyers of the gold which they hoard minus taxes and accountability on the Guyanese black market.
There is widespread believe that a large swath of this hoarded gold are then smuggled to the Lázaro Cárdenas port on Mexico’s Pacific coast, where it is then shipped among iron ore by the cartels for larger profits to China and India.
Alfredo Castillo, the government official in charge of organizing security operations against mineral smuggling in Mexico’s western state of Michoacán where the Knights Templar have held sway, have long agreed that smuggled minerals from countries like Guyana may very well be among the cartel’s many shipments out of Mexico. Mr. Cartello had also attributed to the presence of Chinese workers in Mexico who were working at many front businesses that actually facilitated mineral smuggling.
While Cartello was unable to share any information regarding the Knights Templar’s possible presence in Guyana, Western intelligence agencies are adamant that the Mexicans are fully operational there, even with the knowledge of key officials.
Some Guyanese Members of Parliament have since accused Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Mr. Robert Persaud of conveniently ignoring the issue of mineral smuggling because of his alleged association with two key mining companies, whom they labeled as front companies of Mexico’s powerful Knight Templar cartel.
But Guyana’s politically charged atmosphere often makes it difficult to effectively give credence to accusations made by opposition MP’s against serving ministers of the Government.
However, several efforts to solicit a response from Minister Persaud up to press time proved futile, in despite of an earlier commitment from him to confront the allegations.
Nonetheless an official from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission told this publication that he was unaware of any investigations into the presence of Mexican cartels operating in Guyana’s mining sector, but conceded that Western Intelligence agencies would be reluctant to share any such information with them.
Guyana is a South American country that is culturally aligned to the Caribbean, with a population of more than 700,000 people.
Transparency International has recently listed the multi-ethnic nation as the most corrupt country in the English speaking Caribbean Community.
The Oslo Times
