Emmanuel Macron will arrive in Guyana on Monday for a two-day visit. A trip dedicated to security and opening up the territory. During his only visit in October 2017, the head of state said he was not “Santa Claus” in response to a question about the creation of a hospital. This little sentence, released six months after a general strike which paralyzed Guyana, remains anchored in the collective conscience of the Guyanese who voted in 2022 at 60% for Marine Le Pen and her security discourse.
A record year 2023 in terms of crime
“There is a problem of insecurity in Guyana: 90% of young people are armed today and kill themselves over junk. Weapons are not made in Guyana, there is too much laxity at our borders,” asserts Jimmy Orilas, a 29-year-old electrician who says he is waiting for presidential announcements on the matter.
In fact, Guyana experienced a record year in 2023 in terms of crime. With “59 homicides, to which must be added the 250 attempts” according to the public prosecutor Yves Le Clair, that makes 20.6 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants when the national average stands at 1.5 per 100,000. “The number of law enforcement officers is substantial, but insecurity continues to grow. We need a global approach that takes into account education and training,” demands Michel-Ange Jérémie, the president of the Association of Mayors of Guyana.
One in three young people aged 15 to 29 is neither in employment, education nor training
Especially since 50% of the 300,000 Guyanese are under 25 years old: a youth which can be explained by high fertility but which hides the strong emigration affecting the territory. According to an INSEE study published in 2021, 37% of young people aged 21 to 29 leave Guyana to continue their studies or work. At the same time, one in three young people aged 15 to 29 is neither in employment, education nor training, particularly in isolated areas not connected to the road network of the largest French department.
The size of Portugal, Guyana has only 400 km of national roads, limited to the coastal strip. Its opening up has been the priority of many elected officials since the liquidation of Air Guyane in 2023, which provided air service to isolated communities. Civil society, embodied by the Apachi citizen collective, has taken up this issue.
The commitments made during the Opening Conference in November, organized by this collective, underline the need to develop “priority road infrastructure”, a prerequisite for land use planning and economic development. “I hope that the president did not come empty-handed and will make announcements. It is time to stop talking about opening up and put it into action,” underlines Philippe Dekon, the president of Apachi.
What evolution of the status of Guyana?
The subject should be on the menu Monday evening at a dinner by Emmanuel Macron with mayors, parliamentarians and the president of the Territorial Collectivity of Guyana (CTG). The exchange will also be an opportunity to discuss the evolution of the status of Guyana, inspired by Corsica’s march towards autonomy and called for by several elected officials. Guyana has been engaged in this process for two years but, unlike the Corsicans, has not entered into the heart of the negotiations with Paris, to the great dismay of the left-wing president of the CTG, Gabriel Serville.
The subject caused sparks during the visit of the Minister Delegate for Overseas Territories Marie Guévenoux from March 11 to 13. Since then, a request from local elected officials for Emmanuel Macron to speak has been sent to the Élysée. “If the president does not respond on autonomy, his trip will have no impact,” declared pro-independence MP Jean-Victor Castor (GDR) at a press conference.
In Guyana, a French department since 1946, “the relationship with the State is often ambivalent due to the colonial past”, explains former Minister of Justice Christine Taubira to AFP. To which Jean-Victor Castor adds: “For a population to no longer be distrustful, we need clear answers: on opening up the territory, returning land, building infrastructure.”