Return of Emmanuel Macron to Guyana more than six years after his last visit. On Monday, March 25, the French president begins a two-day visit to the overseas department, which is facing numerous difficulties – including insecurity and territorial isolation.
The head of state is expected in Cayenne after a first visit that went down in history in October 2017, where he 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, is anchored in the collective memory of the Guyanese who voted 60% for Marine Le Pen (National Rally) against Emmanuel Macron in the 2022 presidential election.
The presidential trip coincides with several anniversaries of which "we are well aware", notably that of the social movement of March 2017, notes the Élysée.
It also comes one year to the day after the death, on March 25, 2023, of a GIGN gendarme, Arnaud Blanc, in an operation against illegal gold panning, and 60 years after the creation of the Guyanese space center, announced by the General de Gaulle on March 21, 1964 in Cayenne.
During these two days of visit, Emmanuel Macron will be “in contact with the population” and “listening to elected officials”, particularly on institutional issues, promises the presidency. As soon as he arrives shortly after 6 a.m. (10 a.m. Paris time), he will have a first exchange with them at the airport, before meeting them in the evening around a Republican dinner.
“Announcements” on the fishing industry
He will also pay tribute to the memory of Arnaud Blanc, visit the Cayenne fish market as well as a farm before going to the Amazon forest, to Camopi, on the border with Brazil.
Fishing and agriculture are among the sectors suffering in this territory of 300,000 inhabitants the size of Portugal and where one in two inhabitants is under 25 years old.
In 2023, crime, fueled by the scourge of illegal gold mining, will reach a record level, with 20.6 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, almost 15 times more than the national average.
Emmanuel Macron wants to encourage the development of local agriculture, in order to reduce Guyana's food dependence (96% of chicken consumed there is imported), with "ambitious objectives" for 2030, according to the Élysée.
He will make “announcements” on the fishing industry and decline a “certain number of very concrete actions” to combine ecology and economic growth, it is explained.
“We refuse to choose between protection of tropical forests and economic development,” insists the presidency, pleading for a “French-style ecology”, with a “simplification and adaptation of standards” deemed too burdensome by local stakeholders.
“Grant us the same status as Corsica”
For their part, local elected officials will put on the table the opening up of the territory: Guyana has only 400 km of national roads and the liquidation of Air Guyane in 2023 has deprived isolated communities of air service.
They also expect progress on the evolution of the status of their territory, inspired by Corsica's march towards autonomy.
The central government must "grant us the same status as Corsica", insists the left-wing president of the Territorial Collectivity of Guyana (CTG), Gabriel Serville, after threatening to boycott the presidential visit, just like the elected separatists.
The Élysée calls, for its part, for “continuation of dialogue”. It is up to elected officials to "define what skills they would like to see adopted by the community", notes the Minister of Overseas Territories, Marie Guévenoux.
The Head of State will leave Guyana for Brazil on Tuesday after a visit to the Kourou space center, which aims, in the face of growing competition, to become the "true spaceport of Europe".
In Brazil, he will ask his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to strengthen cooperation in the fight against illegal gold mining and against illegal immigration, which has found a new route from the Middle East to Europe via this country and Guyana.
With AFP
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