WikiLeaks could aid transparency – Jagdeo

TIMES INT'L

President Bharrat Jagdeo believes that the recent WikiLeaks’ revelations could force the diplomatic community in the developed world to either be more transparent or tighten communication channels.

While addressing officers of the Guyana Defence Force on Tuesday, January 25th, Jagdeo said he was willing to look at whatever information was coming out from WikiLeaks on Guyana. “It will change American diplomacy, and hopefully it will make diplomacy from the developed world more transparent,” he outlined. “It exposes how often our policies are made in the capitals of the developed world.”

He noted that foreign diplomats report on personal information of government officials at cocktail receptions. These reports, he said, are often used to influence policies among the bilateral partners. “Most of us knew this was how it was, but I think it exposes to the general public how frivolous some of these things are, and how fickle and how (opaque) they are,” the president added.

In November 2010, WikiLeaks, an international non-profit organization, began publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain.

The documents sought to give people around the world an unprecedented insight into U.S. government foreign activities. The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February 2010, contain confidential communication between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington D.C. About 15,652 of the cables are classified ‘secret’.

Since WikiLeaks began releasing the documents, not much has been said about Guyana. Two cables dated January 2008 and released last week said that former Brazilian president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, and other senior officials were concerned that Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez would attempt to seize Guyana’s Essequibo by force.

Late September last year, WikiLeaks had also released files showing that Guyana had supported a Colombian candidate for the top post at the Inter-American Development Bank. The candidate, the leaks said, was highly favoured by the George W Bush administration.

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