PARAMARIBO – About  67 farmers who haven’t received the compensation which other colleagues did in fact get have decided to go to the police to press charges against the government. They explained that they urgently need their money to stay in business.

The rice farmers had organized a rally to compel the government to address their problems and to get the compensation that was promised to them. As a result of this rally the farmers were promised that the ones who had cultivated up to 50 hectares would receive SRD 3,500 per hectare. The farmers who had cultivated between 50 to 100 hectares would receive SRD 3,000 per hectare while those who had cultivated between 100 to 150 hectares would receive SRD 2,500. It was the president who had promised the farmers that they would be compensated for the losses that they suffered during the previous seasons.

Agriculture, Stockbreeding and Fisheries (LVV) Minister Parmanand Sewdien claimed that all of the farmers had received their compensation. But dozens of farmers claimed that the minister had been misinformed and that he was also sharing the wrong information. The farmers will press charges collectively because they did not receive any fertilizer. They complained that the president does not respond to their letters. One of the rice farmers was entitled to receive 36 bags of fertilizer but he only got a voucher for 11 bags. In the end he did not get a single bag of fertilizer. The rice farmers claim that the bags of fertilizer fell of the truck and never ended up where they were supposed to end up. “We can’t talk to the minister of Agriculture because he is corrupt. There is no transparency regarding the distribution of fertilizer. We want transparency. The minister pretends that he does not know that not all of the farmers received their money. The president indicated that all of the people who had mortgaged their jewels and who had huge debts at the banks would receive help. But nothing has been done. The president never let his actions speak louder than his words. Jewels were auctioned because the farmers could not make their payments,” said the farmers who claim that they were tricked by the president. They expressed disappointed because the president did not respond to any of the letters that they sent to him. “The president must keep his promises.”

GEORGETOWN – As ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) continues to push production to new heights in the Stabroek Block, the company recently reported a ‘record September’ to its shareholders. During the Corporation’s third quarter Earnings Call, the company reported US$8.6B in profits. Notably, ExxonMobil highlighted that 4.6 million oil equivalent barrels per day (moebd) was produced- the highest since 2011. Key among its highlights to shareholders was the production capacity delivered by the three projects in Guyana. Exxon said it had a “Record September in Guyana with 660,000 barrels per day” produced. The oil giant lauded Guyana for supporting its strong earnings over the period. “Strong earnings growth (was) driven by record Guyana and Permian volumes, including $1.2 billion contribution from Pioneer,” the company outlined.

EMGL presently has three projects producing oil in Guyana. It should be noted that each of these developments have been pushed to produce above the limits outlined in project documents submitted to Guyanese regulators. The company has been able to increase capacity of the three Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs) through a process called debottlenecking. Exxon previously explained that the company would assess the projects for bottlenecks to improve recovery of the resources. The company would then submit its findings to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ministry of Natural Resources for consideration and approval. Following its independent assessment, the regulator would then issue its blessings for the optimization activities, allowing Exxon to increase production on the vessels. The Government of Guyana in its 2024 Mid-Year Report confirmed that all three projects underwent optimisation and topsides debottlenecking activities in the first half of the year.

Presently, Liza One and Liza Two are producing about 160,000 bpd and 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) respectively. The Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) each specifically outline 120,000 and 220,000 bpd, as the safe operating limit for Liza One and Two, respectively. Similarly, the third oil project- Payara- is also producing approximately 250,000 bpd even though the vessel’s nameplate capacity is 220,000 bpd. The company is however looking to further increase the daily rate of resource recovery at the Liza Two project. During a media conference last month, EMGL’s President, Alistair Routledge told reporters: “We are ongoing discussions review with various agencies including the EPA and with the Ministry of Natural Resource on whether to increase the production on the Unity FPSO above the 252,000.” Routledge said Exxon believes the Liza Unity can be increased to 270,000 bpd. (Kaieteur News)

Photo: Exxon Mobil Corporation CEO, Darren Woods. (Kaieteur News)

PARAMARIBO – Five suspects were arrested last Sunday. Investigators believe that these five men were behind a string of robberies. The Regional Support Team  Paramaribo (RBTP) took these suspects into police custody.

Two of the suspects have already confessed to having committed various crimes. The suspects were in possession of ski masks, masks, bags and tools such as crowbars when they were arrested by the officers of the special police unit. They were handed over to the detectives of Paramaribo and they are currently in jail awaiting trial. The police recently launched a special operation namely Operation Christmas Bread which is aimed at tackling crime.

“The police are closer than you think. Due to Operation Christmas Bread the number of police patrols have been beefed up. Police officers in plainclothes are often on patrol in the various neighbourhoods to maintain law and order,”  Police Commissioner Bryan Isaacs told Times of Suriname. The commissioner explained that the police patrol the neighbourhoods undetected so that people can feel safe.

COLORADO  –  US universities have been emailing international students and staff advising them to return to campus before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, amid concerns over his plans for mass deportations. “All international students are worried right now,” University of Colorado Denver professor Chloe East told the BBC.

Trump, a Republican, has pledged to enact the largest deportation operation in history, and use the US military to help. More than 400,000 undocumented students are enrolled in US higher education, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. Officials in Trump’s incoming administration have suggested they will build vast holding facilities for undocumented immigrants on the deportation list. His incoming border tsar Tom Homan has said violent criminals and national security threats will take priority for removal from the country. But that has not allayed concerns in higher education. “Students are incredibly overwhelmed and stressed out right now as a result of the uncertainty around immigration,” Prof East told the BBC. “A lot of students have concerns about their visas and whether they’ll be allowed to continue their education.” In November, the University of Massachusetts issued a travel advisory to its international students and faculty, encouraging them to “strongly consider” returning to campus from winter break before Trump takes office on 20 January. “Based on previous experience with travel bans that were enacted in the first Trump Administration in 2016, the Office of Global Affairs is making this advisory out of an abundance of caution,” the college said. Trump signed an executive order during his first week in the White House in 2017 banning nationals of several predominantly Muslim nations, as well as North Korea and Venezuela, from visiting the US. During his first presidency he also proposed some limitations on student visas.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wesleyan University have also issued travel advisories, urging students and staff to return to the US before inauguration day. At Yale University, the Office of International Students and Scholars hosted a webinar this month fielding concerns from students about potential immigration policy shifts, the student newspaper reported.  This includes foreign-born students who are protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) policy.

Trump has attempted to end the Obama-era programme, which shielded over half a million migrants who came to the US as children from deportation. Prof East said students from Asia, particularly China, are feeling “uncertainty” about US-China relations under Trump. Aoi Maeda, an international student from Japan studying at Earlham College in Indiana, is among those with concerns about her academic future. “I am planning to graduate in May 2026, but now that the administration is going to be a little bit more dangerous, I’m less hopeful about things going well,” she said. “Trump] claims that he is only interested in keeping illegal immigrants out of the country, but he also kind of tries to move the goal post a lot of times,” Maeda continued. “I feel like us international students with a visa might get affected, and it’ll become easier to deport us.” (BBC/Pexels)