Visa review - political hand, where I stand

Sep 23, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

(Kaieteur News) – The Mohameds have come out with eyes blazing. It’s all they have in their arsenal. But it’s good enough for the job before them. They see, they fear, a political hand in the sudden “visa review” by the U.S. State Department of that stamp held by Guyana’s Justice Gino Persaud. The Mohameds are entitled to their convictions, and based on their own experiences with political hatchets endured, they may be onto something. Right now, I’m standing my ground. Curious and mysterious is where I stand on this out-of-the-blue “visa review” development. Space is given to the local political hands to come out and say count us out. Allowance is also made for the Americans to share some official speak about ‘routine’ or ‘of no special significance.’ Just what was on the timetable, part of the dept of state’s official calendar.

A question is worth the try. Are the Mohameds fishing? Try a second: are they on sound ground? I offer no help. But I restate some facts from the recent past. The U.S. Government worked on the Guyana Govt to kickout a Cuban medical brigade, plus some other stragglers. Also, the U.S. Government got the Guyana Government to sign-on to a deal that is still largely secret relative to third country nationals that go by the name of deportees. The same U.S. Government that was so bent out of shape with Cubans being present in Guyana, and commanded the Guyana Govt to expel them, then turns right around, and dispatches a handful of Cubans to Guyana. Apparently, there are different grades of Cubans. Like eggs: some to be tossed out, others to be boiled alive. Has this not what has been happening in the U.S. Government-Guyana Govt machinations that see Cubans on a plane and back to their versions of Guantanamo? Then another small set on a plane to this hellhole that a U.S. president used a more colorful word to describe Third World countries.