标签： Guyana

On September 22, 2026, top political leaders from across the Western Hemisphere gathered in New York alongside United States President Donald Trump to formally launch the Shield of the Americas initiative, a coordinated cross-border partnership focused on combating transnational narco-terrorism and organized drug trafficking, during a side event coinciding with the annual United Nations General Assembly. During the gathering, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali confirmed that he had held one-on-one talks with President Trump earlier that afternoon, and signed a formal memorandum of understanding to formalize Guyana’s participation in the new coalition. In a public post to his official Facebook page following the meeting, President Irfaan Ali outlined the three core pillars that guide the partnership: building regional economic resilience, strengthening collective security frameworks, and expanding coordinated multilateral action across all member states. Convened by the United States, the summit centered on accelerating collaborative efforts to counter the growing cross-border threat of narco-terrorism that has destabilized communities across the Americas for decades.

The high-level meeting brought together heads of state and senior diplomatic officials from all founding member states, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, whose nation is one of the 14 charter participants. Speaking from the floor of the UN General Assembly that same evening, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar voiced strong public support for the initiative, noting that transnational drug trafficking networks have inflicted widespread harm on both her island nation and the broader Caribbean and Latin American region. She emphasized that Trinidad and Tobago has already ramped up cooperative enforcement work with the United States and other regional partners to dismantle the criminal syndicates that have operated across borders with impunity. Expressing gratitude to President Trump for extending the invitation to join the new coalition, the prime minister added that her government remains confident that the Shield of the Americas partnership will advance shared goals of expanded freedom, improved public safety, and widespread economic prosperity across every corner of the Western Hemisphere.

To date, the coalition counts 14 member nations: the United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago. Regional diplomatic observers note the initiative marks one of the most ambitious coordinated anti-cartel efforts launched in the hemisphere in recent years, bringing together a diverse bloc of nations to align policy, share intelligence, and coordinate enforcement actions against transnational drug networks.

On Monday, September 21, 2026, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, a billionaire Guyanese businessman currently wanted by the United States to face trial for alleged financial crimes alongside his son Azruddin, issued a public statement pushing back against growing public speculation over an alleged improper relationship with High Court Judge Gino Persaud, who recently ruled in their favor in a high-stakes civil tax case.

In the carefully worded statement, the elder Mohamed sought to eliminate all ambiguity surrounding the pair’s connection to the judge, emphasizing that he and his son have never met Persaud, either during his prior career as a private attorney or his tenure on the High Court bench. Mohamed stated that Persaud has never engaged in any business dealings with the father-son pair, and the two parties share no personal, professional, or social ties of any kind. The only link between them, Mohamed confirmed, is that legal matters involving his family were assigned to Persaud in his official capacity as a sitting High Court judge.

Persaud, who delivered a ruling favorable to the Mohameds in the multimillion-dollar civil tax evasion case, was recently blocked from boarding a flight bound for Jamaica – where he planned to attend a judicial conference with a transit stop in Florida – after learning his U.S. visa was placed under official review. As of Monday, Persaud has not made any public comment on the visa situation or the broader controversy surrounding the case.

The elder Mohamed drew a direct connection between the judge’s visa troubles and fierce public criticism of Persaud leveled by Guyana’s top government officials following the tax ruling, which centered on luxury vehicles including a Lamborghini and a Ferrari owned by the Mohamed family. President Irfaan Ali, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, and Attorney General Anil Nandlall all publicly condemned the ruling, adding to a longer pattern of public pushback against the judge from senior government figures.

Against this backdrop, which also includes the Guyanese government’s hiring of U.S.-based lobbyists to tie the Mohameds to ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Nazar Mohamed said he has growing doubts that he and his son will receive a fair adjudication of their ongoing legal matters in Guyana’s domestic court system. He argued that the visa issue creates a coercive chilling effect that could intimidate sitting judges from ruling in the pair’s favor out of fear of professional or personal repercussions.

“Judicial independence demands that a judge be able to reach a decision rooted exclusively in applicable law and presented evidence, free from concern over which parties will be angered by the outcome or what consequences may follow that ruling,” Mohamed said. “No judge should be forced to question whether a ruling against the government will put their career, their ability to travel internationally, their reputation, or their personal life at risk.”

Notably, Mohamed was once a prominent public supporter and financial backer of the governing People’s Progressive Party Civic, the current ruling party in Guyana. The Mohameds first drew international legal scrutiny in June 2024, when the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed formal sanctions on the pair over allegations of tax evasion connected to gold exports from Guyana. They now also face an 11-count grand jury indictment in U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of Florida, which charges them with wire fraud, money laundering, and mail fraud tied to their formerly registered gold trading business.

On Friday, 18 September 2026, Guyana’s main opposition bloc A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) publicly called on the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)-led administration to disclose full details surrounding its revised 2026 national economic growth projections, following the release of the Finance Ministry’s mid-year economic assessment.

In a prepared statement delivered by APNU’s parliamentary leader Dr. Terrence Campbell, the opposition emphasized that the significant downward adjustments to non-oil sector growth forecasts included in the updated report require rigorous public scrutiny of the core assumptions that underpinned the government’s original 2026 national budget.

The mid-year report cut the full-year 2026 non-oil sector growth projection from 10.8% to 10.2%, with far steeper reductions across key primary industries. The combined agriculture, forestry and fishing forecast was slashed from 7.6% growth to just 2.9%: other crop production projections fell from 9.8% to 2.1%, while sugar output growth was revised down from 67.9% to 18.1%. Manufacturing growth expectations were trimmed from 12.9% to 10.7%, and bauxite mining growth was cut in half from 19.3% to 10.2%. Dr. Campbell clarified that these adjustments are reduced growth forecasts, not cuts to government spending allocations for the sectors.

Notably, the mid-year report actually raised the overall 2026 gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection from 16.2% to 20.8%, driven by a faster-than-expected expansion in the country’s booming oil sector, which also pushed construction sector growth forecasts up from 25.4% to 27.6%. But Dr. Campbell argued that the government cannot use strong oil-fueled aggregate growth to mask underperformance in critical non-oil segments of the economy.

“Stronger oil-led growth must not obscure weaker expectations for important non-oil activities. Government owes Parliament and citizens an explanation of the missed assumptions, implementation constraints and corrective actions, with clear deadlines,” he stated in his address.

Dr. Campbell, a long-standing Guyanese urban business leader, pointed out that the national economy grew 33.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, but the petroleum, gas and related support services sector accounted for 78.9% of real GDP during the period – up from 74.4% in the first half of 2025. Crude oil alone generated 92.9% of Guyana’s total merchandise export earnings in the first six months of the year. He stressed that the growing concentration of the national economy in oil is a critical structural risk, noting that output and export gains do not automatically translate into higher incomes for households or additional stable revenue for government coffers.

The most alarming trend, he added, is that the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector actually contracted by 0.5% year-on-year in the first half of 2026. Output of other crops fell 6.4% overall, with cole crops (including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale) dropping 19.1%, spices declining 17.7%, beans and cereals falling 5.7%, and vegetables down 4.2%. Even gains in sugar, rice, livestock, forestry and fishing were not enough to offset these declines to pull the combined sector into positive territory. Dr. Campbell framed the contraction as an urgent warning about national food production, not just a minor statistical anomaly.

The opposition leader pushed back on the mid-year report’s attribution of widespread crop losses to prolonged, above-average rainfall, noting the report also warns of upcoming heat stress from El Niño later in 2026. He argued that while adverse weather explains poor output, it does not excuse a lack of proactive preparedness by the government. “Weather is an explanation; it is not a substitute for preparedness. Government must show how its agricultural investments protect farms against both flooding and drought,” he said.

While the government’s report outlines planned interventions including drainage infrastructure upgrades, shade house development and farmer support programs, APNU is questioning whether these measures are sufficient in scale, timing and long-term maintenance. The opposition has formally called for fully funded, region-specific agricultural recovery plans that address critical gaps: reliable drainage and irrigation systems, expanded water storage capacity, improved agricultural extension services, accessible affordable credit for smallholder farmers, cold storage infrastructure, expanded agro-processing capacity and better market access for domestic producers. Dr. Campbell added that these plans should include public, measurable targets for production growth, farmer income increases and improved food affordability for all Guyanese households.

In a recent address addressing swirling public speculation, senior officials from Guyana’s main opposition-aligned political party, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), have confirmed plans to lease out the northern portion of the large Sophia plot that houses the party’s Congress Place headquarters, while forcefully pushing back against false claims that the historic property is up for sale.

According to insider sources familiar with the plan, the leased parcel will be developed into a commercial hotel, a core component of a broader strategy led by the PNCR’s fully owned business subsidiary, Maikwak Limited, to generate sustainable income from the party’s existing real estate assets. Insiders note that the long-term lease structure is designed to deliver a consistent, predictable revenue stream to support the party’s ongoing operations and activities.

PNCR General Secretary Sherwin Benjamin issued a blunt, categorical denial in response to social media criticism and online rumors that the party was moving to offload its iconic property. “Let me say categorically and vehemently that the People’s National Congress Reform has not sold Congress Place,” Benjamin stated, emphasizing that the party has no intention of selling the headquarters either now or at any point in the future.

Benjamin further clarified that the move aligns with earlier announcements from PNCR leader Aubrey Norton, who previously confirmed the party had activated its business arm Maikwak to manage and monetize party-owned assets. He appealed to long-time party members and supporters to trust that current party leadership is acting with full transparency and in the best interest of the 70-year-old organization, which was founded by the late Guyanese political figure Forbes Burnham.

“I want to say to our members and supporters that you have to have faith in the leadership of this party. We have nothing to hide. We have been dealing with our membership in an upfront manner, and so let us put aside the fears and the apprehension that we are selling Burnham’s party,” Benjamin added.

Addressing questions about why the party’s General Council, its second-highest decision-making body between national party congresses, has not convened since Guyana’s general and regional elections one year prior, Benjamin confirmed the body will hold a formal meeting before the end of 2026. He explained that scheduling challenges and logistical hurdles to gather members from across the country had delayed the meeting, but all decisions already approved by the party’s central executive will be formally presented for debate and ratification at the upcoming General Council session. Benjamin also noted that rank-and-file party members have been kept updated on all major decisions made by executive leadership in the interim.

The PNCR has a long history of leveraging its underutilized real estate holdings to generate income: over the past 35 years, the party has leased out other portions of its Sophia land, a downtown property on Croal Street that previously housed the Vanceram facility, and a Smyth Street plot that once hosted the party’s printery operations.

Benjamin also used the announcement to push back against internal and external criticism of party leader Aubrey Norton, who has faced repeated backlash over allegations he sidelined dissident party members and led the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) alliance — of which PNCR is the leading member — into its worst electoral performance in history. In a forceful rebuke of critics, Benjamin called on loyal party members to end public infighting, noting that undermining the party’s leadership only weakens the organization as a whole.

“Each one of us has a responsibility to this great party to ensure its success, and we’re doing that at the level of our leadership. Beating a leader or beating leadership is beating the party. Let’s stop this nonsense,” he said.

The 2026 general and regional elections marked a major shakeup for Guyana’s opposition landscape. The newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, founded by a billionaire former gold exporter and foreign exchange dealer, displaced APNU as the country’s largest opposition bloc, securing 16 of the 29 total opposition seats in parliament. APNU won just 12 seats, with the remaining one seat going to the small Forward Guyana Movement.