The United States will give Guyana US$2 million in grant aid to buy drones and other unmanned equipment for tracking illegal narcotics flights and unauthorised overflights, officials said this week. The equipment is expected to enter service shortly. The funding is intended to help the Guyana Defence Force monitor airspace in which, according to the American ambassador, drug flights have become more frequent over the past year.
The grant follows a coastal radar system that the US donated to the Guyana Defence Force during the same period. That system allows the military to watch shipping activity off the coast and in the country's major waterways. The new equipment is aimed at flights rather than vessels, and officials described it as the next stage of the same effort.
Nicole Theriot, the US ambassador, told reporters that Washington supports Guyana's territorial integrity. "We stand shoulder to shoulder with Guyana," she said. She added that American companies considering work in the country ask two questions, about political stability and about security, and she presented the surveillance programme as a response to the second. Once the systems are running, she said, officials will know where the drug flights originate and where they are headed. As the programme develops, she said, the aim is to be able to stop them.
Christopher Landau, the Deputy Secretary of State, discussed the issue in depth during a visit to Guyana in early September. He also pressed for greater American investment in a country rich in oil and gas. Washington has voiced concern repeatedly over the past decade about rising Chinese investment in Guyana and in neighbouring Caribbean states. Local officials give a different account. They say Chinese firms are keener to invest abroad and make fewer demands of governments and private companies, which they regard as a practical advantage when negotiating projects.
Ms Theriot said the US also wants to help Guyana strengthen its cyber security. Technology companies are focusing on building large data centres in the country, and she said that one or several such facilities would require protection of that kind. She said American officials are working to increase intelligence sharing with the Guyanese government, a step that depends on compatible systems on both sides.
Several details have not been made public. Officials did not say how many drones will be bought, which models they will be, or which part of the armed forces will operate them. Beyond the word "shortly", no deployment date was given. No official figures were cited for the increase in drug flights, so the ambassador's description of a rise rests on her own assessment for now. Reaction from the Guyanese government and from opposition parties was not reported.
The drones are due to be put into service soon. Ms Theriot said work to expand intelligence sharing is already under way, although she did not set out a timetable for that either.
