GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The United States government has signaled its uneasiness at the possibility of a Guyanese businessman, sanctioned by Washington, could emerge as the new head of state in Guyana following the September 1 regional and general election.
US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot and WIN leader, businessman Azruddin Mohamed.“We’re in such a beautiful position. All these US companies want to come to Guyana and Guyana is welcoming and I don’t want, if he were to become a member of the government, that to change so that’s a real concern that I have,” US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, told reporters on the sidelines of the two-day Global Biodiversity Summit that opened here on Wednesday.
The presidential candidate of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party , Azruddin Mohamed, had been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in June 2024 for allegedly evading US$50 million in taxes payable to the Guyana government on more than 10,000 kilograms of gold exports.
Almost immediately, the Bank of Guyana had rescinded the Mohamed’s foreign exchange dealers license and eventually cut other business ties.
On Tuesday, the Demerara Bank Limited (DBL) confirmed that it had closed the bank accounts of several persons who are associated with Mohamed’s party.
Mohamed is one of at least four candidates contesting the position of President during the elections. The others are the incumbent, Irfaan Ali of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Aubrey Norton of the main coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Nigel Hughes of the Alliance for Change (AFC).
The US diplomat told reporters that if someone, who is sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is elected.
“We are concerned, anytime the US Department of Treasury, OFAC- sanctioned individual has the potential to become a member of Government, that is concerning for us, that is problematic in multiple ways, because the way that we as the US government can interact with the government, we have to be very careful, if that person is involved, let us say he is on a certain committee, we would have to ensure that when we work with that committee we don’t work with him specifically.”
The US Ambassador said the greatest concern is that private investment by US companies to Guyana can be slowed down should Mohamed get anywhere close to the seat of Government.
“The other things that concerns me more however, is that when you see an OFAC sanctioned individual become an official within a government, it sends concerns through the private sector in the United States will start rethinking their relationships within the country, we saw it in Afghanistan and other countries, they sometime tend to de-risk or cut ties with the country,” the Ambassador said, adding “they sometimes look to de-risk or to even cut ties with the country”.
Asked what would be her position if Mohamed is elected to the National Assembly, she said, “he would still be a member of government so that will be a concern for us, yes.”
Theriot said Guyana continues to be of strategic interest to her country.
“I think there are multiple factors- -food security is also incredibly important to the United States and I think we all saw how important it was when we dealt with COVID so Guyana’s role in food security, energy security, its strategic partnership with us and its defense of democracy; all those things make Guyana an incredibly important partner for the United States,” she said.
The diplomat said Guyana is “incredibly important” to the US because it is a strong democracy in the Western Hemisphere that has seen a bit of back-sliding.
“The fact that Guyana is such a strong democracy, that’s and ally for us, and we want to do everything that we can to maintain that,” she said, noting that a US legislator had recently introduced a Bill to “increase even further past” the security agreement that Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed with Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd earlier this year.
“He is looking to even increase that security cooperation so, quite the opposite, we’re looking to get closer to Guyana to make you an even closer partner,” she said, adding that Washington is unreservedly committed to the democratic process in Guyana.
“The United States is incredibly supportive of free, fair, credible and transparent elections here in Guyana,” she said, adding that her country is assisting with training of the Guyana Police Force in elections-related security such as “crowd control tactics” by law enforcement trainers from Miam Dade, and the New York Police Department.
The US is also funding the majority of the Organization of American States (OAS) election observation mission, and the Embassy will be fielding its own observation team of about 25 members.
“We’re coordinating all of this with other missions, with the Private Sector Commission. For example, with the American Chamber of Commerce- Guyana, with the NGOs and international organizations that are in town so that we all know what each other is doing and we can make sure that we are providing the support that’s needed,” she said.
She insisted that Washington is not imposing its assistance on Guyana, but rather the US government is responding to Guyana’s requests for assistance.
“We want Guyana to tell us what they need. We don’t want to just give you the things you need so it’s really important to us that we get that feedback from all of the Guyanese organizations that we’re working with,” the diplomat told reporters.
