Dear Editor,

Recently, I attended the Carabana celebrations in Toronto and eventually ended up at the "last lap" lime where it was estimated that almost 9000 Guyanese congregated. It was great to see a lot of my old friends at this gathering and memories of the good old times in Guyana came alive. As a matter of fact, my three children made the same observation, telling me that they never realized that "at one time, Guyana had so many white folks living there."

Of course, they were referring to the fact that there were considerable numbers of Portuguese Guyanese at the "last lap." And they were making a keen observation because the Guyana of today has basically lost the concept of the land of six races with the great migration of our Portuguese brethren, most of whom still see themselves as Guyanese.

When one interacts at a venue like the "last lap" and meets old friends, many of them Portuguese Guyanese, one realizes the great loss our country has taken over the years. The Portuguese of Guyana contributed greatly to the whole fabric of Guyanese society in more ways than one- in the mercantile system; in the banking system; in the manufacturing system; in financial services; in transportation services; in the agricultural sector and many other important sectors of our economy. Their contributions to our religious life was always a peaceful approach which made the complexity of three major religions existing side by side an easier task; the Portuguese established good relations with our Amerindian brethren from early times and their influences helped to bring betterment to our native original inhabitants. This fact is readily seen in the great support Mr. Peter d'Aguiar got from the Amerindians in his political foray during the 1960s. Last but not least, the Portuguese Guyanese really did make Guyana a place of real racial and religious diversity and it is a crying shame that very few of them are left in Guyana to defend their culture and diversity which Guyana needs desperately at this time of our development.

Imagine that the party of Peter d'Aguiar became the party of Manzoor Nadir, a party defunct of the great echoes of "axe the tax" and "highways to happiness" - both slogans and concepts which still apply to our future stability. We need to axe the prohibitive taxes which Manzoor Nadir and his communist bosses(Gang of 8 in Freedom House) want to burden the Guyanese public with like the customs duties which stifle our business sector and the consumer. We need to virtually build new highways to happiness- highways of foreign investment and trade; highways to our borders like the Del Conte project of the 1960s which President Cheddi pushed for; highways to our Caribbean neighbours to strengthen Caricom; highways to our dreams for a better Guyana.

Yes, it was really fantastic to see and meet my Portuguese brethren in Toronto (and other Guyanese who came from everywhere) and old memories came alive. But in my mind I kept saying. what if... what if. What if the Guyanese Portuguese had not emigrated in such numbers to Canada and had stayed in our country to continue the process which their great grandfathers and grandmothers had started with their great sacrifices in migrating to British Guiana to start a new life under conditions which were not in their favour. But they stayed and bore the inequitities inherent under colonialism and worked hard and sacrificed for their children just like the other religions and races of Guyana. And now most of them live and work and sacrifice for their children in Canada and elsewhere but to the eternal loss to our beloved God-given country.

There is no question in my mind that had the Portuguese people stayed in our country, Guyana would have been a much better place- better in diversity; better in standard of life; better in the work ethic and the ethos of private enterprise; better in terms of the political fratricide between these two race-based parties. The Portuguese race in Guyana was deeply anti-communist and for good reasons and they would have been steadfast in their opposition to the die hard communists who constitute the Gang of 8 and who Manzoor Nadir has joined after selling out all the principles of the United Force, which most Portuguese Guyanese supported, and which was their democratic right.

To build a new and prosperous Guyana and we can, no doubt about it, we have to find ways to bring our Portuguese brethren back in the fold of our development. They are no different to other Guyanese living abroad who long to connect back to their beloved country of birth. We have to involve and link their success and prosperity in Canada and elsewhere to the future prosperity of Guyana itself by getting them to imput their knowledge and knowhow to our ultimate success by inticing them to play a significant role in investment, trade and new management skills they have acquired abroad. A lot of my friends told me at the "last lap" that they are almost retired and would love to play a role in the development of Guyana and I believe them; a lot of my Portuguese friends told me that they still love the beautiful climate of Guyana and instead of retiring to Florida or elsewhere, they would love to return (with their skills) to live in Guyana if things were to get better. We have to develop ways and means to attract all our people who live abroad to input their wealth, skills, experience and knowledge to our future development by reaching out to them in a meaningful way, in an honest way, in a serious way.

The future of our dear country is bound to all Guyanese, no matter where they live as long as they see a serious attempt by a united political framework of goodwill and welcome to all Guyanese living abroad to come home and invest time and money.

When one goes to such occasions as the "last lap", one has to marvel at the diversity of our people and imagine what if.................................

Yours faithfully,

Cheddi(Joey)Jagan(Jr.)