Talk:Guyana

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Contents

[edit] JFK Airport

There has been quite a bit edit wars about the JFK incident. At the very least it deserves to be in the miscellaneous section because the incident not only reflects on the growing muslim/jihadist movement in Guyana, but that it extends to prominent former members of the government as well. I have added a NPOV tag to the article. Wlmg 14:42, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Well, can we find sources to document the muslin/jihadist growth? If so, we could add that in under politics maybe even as a separate section and then JFK could be added. I agree that there needs to be a mention of the event especially as it unfolds. JodyB talk 01:36, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] I coulnd't

I couldn't fix the country infobox, so please help Wikipedia with that important stuff

[edit] Opening comments

indeed one of the more resouceful place for Guyana. it is uncomon to find a source with information on Guyana that isn't biased

How was the information that you have read in the past biased? bad


[edit] Demographics and ethnicity

Who wrote this? "The majority of the population are of Asian Indian ancestry (called East Indians) with blacks (Afro-Guyanese) making up about a third of the population." Would'nt a majority mean more like 80% and Nationals...what exactly does "Nationals" mean. Isnt a National a person fron a certain country. so do Indo Guyanese agree that they are from the country of India. And Afro Guyanese came from the country of Africa? And did these people arrive to Guyana in the last 20 or say 30 years?

The section currently reads:

The present population of Guyana is racially and ethnically heterogeneous, composed chiefly of a native Amerindian population together with the descendants of immigrants who came to the country either as slaves or as indentured laborers.

but then goes on to say that:

The largest nationality sub-group is that of East Indians comprising 43.5 percent of the population in 2002. They are followed by persons of African heritage (30.2 percent). The third in rank are those of Mixed Heritage (16.7 percent), while the Amerindians are fourth with 9.2 percent.

So the population isn't "chiefly composed" of Amerindians - they're only 9% of the population, and the fourth largest ethnic group.

As far as the use of 'majority' goes, there is no obviously no majority ethnic group as no group has more than 50% of the population. In these circumstances, the largest ethnic group (East Indians) is technically a plurality, not a majority.Newc0253 10:46, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Any discussion of Demographics should also talk about heavy migration from Guyana to the other countries including the UK, many Caribbean countries, the US and Canada. 69.251.180.197 12:01, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Map

this stuff is tottaly not true go to www.josh.com to find the best info ever on just about everything in the world!! A controversy has erupted over the choice of map for this article. The two candidates are shown here, along with any others that other Wikipedians may choose to enter. Feel free to make any comments. The lower map may also appear in the corresponding Geography article for this country. Kelisi 03:23, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I prefer the lower Kelisi map, --SqueakBox 03:28, Apr 2, 2005 (UTC)

i belive the lower map is two detailed to include alongside article text and i dislike breaking the flow of the text with images. Plugwash 00:47, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

Map of Guyana Image:Guyanamap.gif Image:Guyanamap.gif


There is also a border contreversy with Venezuela. 2/3 of Guyana is claimed to be Venezulian (the reclamation zone known as Guyana Esequibo). I don't have much information on that but you can have a look on venezualian maps http://www.vheadline.com/graf/Venezuela_mapa_politico.gif

and see this website http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ve_gy.html for further information. It might be interesting to mention it.

[edit] Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board

I would like to announce the establishment of the Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board. Anyone with an interest in the Caribbean is welcome to join in. Guettarda 1 July 2005 04:03 (UTC)

[edit] Improvement Drive

South America is currently nominated to be improved on Wikipedia:This week's improvement drive. You can support the article with your vote.--Fenice 12:14, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Guyana-stub & Category:Guyana-related stubs up for deletion vote.

Template:Guyana-stub & Category:Guyana-related_stubs - I had created these at the time because Guyana was the only country along with Suriname not to have a separate stub section in South America. The reason was before all Guyana and Suriname stubs were simply thrown into the large list of Category:South America stubs. My thought are that If these two do get deleted as suggested, everyone creating any article in the future about Guyana should include Category:Guyana at least at the bottom so you wont have to fish one-by-one through the long list for any Guyana articles on Category:South America stubs if they stay in the South America article for too long without work the articles themselves may go up for deletion vote. CaribDigita 02:28, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Photos

I think that this article needs a good many more pictures. Oh, it has maps, but we need actual pictures from inside the country. Scorpionman 23:01, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Anyone here know more about de folklore/story of the Backoo or bakou(sp?)

in the hinterlands?

CaribDigita 21:41, 2 May 2006 (UTC) The backoo was/is a mythical creature oft described as short in stature and owned by various people of means. mostly african-guyanese. These creatures (though people have claimed to have 'seen' them) were 'invisible' to everyone except their 'owners'. They were used by their owners to beat-up on their enemies in order to 'get even' for some transgression. As a child attending St Andrew's Primary School in the 60s in the Cove and John/Nabaclis/Victoria villages on the East Coast of Demerara, Guyana, stories abound about the exploits of backoos who were owned by the Poole family. This family had many banana trees in their yard and it was rumored that the preponderance of these fruit trees was linked to the backoos because the banana was the staple diet of the creature. There were stories told of people who would be walking along Victoria sideline dam, then suddenly cry out for help as their bodies were slammed to the ground from an invisible force. They were being attacked by the backoos, unseen to the naked eye. The contortions into which their bodies were thrown revealed the 'licks' (beating) being delivered by the backoo. No one would come to their aid, since if you tried to help you would receive a severe thrashing of your own from the backoo. You could not tell where the backoo was since he was invisible to the naked eye. You could only see the result of the beating as its victim tried to escape the blows to no avail. The beating went on for five minutes or so, until the backoo departed into the unknown leaving its victim writhing in pain on the ground. Some people felt that it was not a backoo delivering a beating but instead someone caught up in an epileptic fit or an escapee from the Mental Institution or 'mad house' in Canje, Berbice. A report to the police would only result in rafts of loud derisive laughter from the policemen at the Cove and John Police Station Compound. Often times the victim would be told that he needs to be confined to the 'mad house'. You had to be a person of immense wealth in order to 'purchase' a backoo of your own. They certainly did not come cheap and were 'expensive' to maintain. If you did not keep your backoo well fed, he would turn on you and you would become a victim of your own backoo. No one ever knew from whom you could purchase a backoo, since it was a well guarded secret, known only to a few.

Sounds like good content for an article on "Folklore of Guyana". Nick Taylor 15:11, 7 September 2006 (UTC) 00

my mom's from here i'll ask her. -divya

[edit] In the Economy part

Under the Economy Heading, it says the 9.1% unemployment is understated. Can we get real figures in, or was "understated" someones sort of self-righteousness? (I see that a lot, socialists that make bad names for the rest of them by always bashing everything to do with the economy)

[edit] Guyanese people

Is there a famous Guyanese people list?


There are a number of categories used including Category:Guyanese_people and Category:Guyanese_people_by_occupation. Categories are better than lists as lists need constant maintenance. Nick Taylor 15:14, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

my mom's from here i'll ask her. -Divya

[edit] Formal Name

I noticed that the formal name of the country in this article has been changed to Republic of Guyana from the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. When did Guyana changes its name? Did the government pass a law changeing it or is this an error? (Shocktm | Talk | contribs.) 23:34, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I think it's an error - all official sites still refer as "Co-operative Republic". Camillus (talk) 13:20, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] pronunciation

pronounced: guy ANN uh My mom's from here. I know this for a fact.

As in any other country in the world, Guyanese people vary in how they pronounce words, what stresses they put on different syllables etc. I hardly think we can use "my mom's from here i know this for a fact" as a reference... ;) Camillus (talk) 13:20, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

sorry! 23:36, 25 October 2006 (UTC) p.s. dad and like 20 other relatives do to, and my mom's grandfather was exported out of india straight to Guyana. maybe the pronunciation was passed down? im trying way too hard! p.p.s. my friend needs 5 thematic maps on this place. May we please add some?

ok this Neranon has a hard time accepting the fact that his family pronounce the word Guyana wrong ......well i guess that they have lived out of the country for so long that they have forgoten how to pronounce it. I am from Guyana an it does not prounced like that, like how he/she said . it is pronounce guy ann na its an amerindian word Barticastar 20:10, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I think that is what Forest Elf (Neranon/myself) meant. I was a bit naive and confused. Long story short, I said the same thing you did. :) By the way, that comment is over a year old, and I didn't know how to read pronunciation, but is the one shown on the page correct, as Barticastar and I wrote? I just want to know, and I think that is what I meant to write above, but instead I wrote it in a very deranged way. I am VERY sorry! Divya da animal lvr (talk) 22:47, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] human rights

"There are many guns in Guyana" needs a citation. Or remove it since it's not really telling me anything.

On that note, I don't believe that homosexuality being illegal is necessarily a question of 'human rights'.

The latter are currently so controversial that including them as sections of Wiki entries on countries is fair neither to the countries in question, nor to the people attempting to negotiate a wide consensus on what these rights ought to be. If we wanted to be truly inclusive, then why not detail all the injustices and atrocities in all the world in all the Wiki country entries? Thus I could include, under Human Rights section - "There are many guns in Guyana/the US/Somalia, which compromises my Human Right to a secure existence"; or "There are significant obstacles to getting an abortion in Mississippi, which contravenes my Human Right to terminate the life of my unborn child; or "People in the UK can easily carry out an abortion, which is a clear transgression of the Human Rights of the unborn child", etc. etc. Get the problem? Until there is a universally agreed definition of Human Rights, inclusion of such arguments in an encyclopedia is 'political' (i.e. activist) and erroneous.

I am therefore changing the heading of this entry to 'Homosexuality'. It should no way be removed, because it's a damned useful bit of info for the open-minded traveller...

Peace & Love to all Humanity (except the bits I don't like)

Of course the illegality of homosexuality is a question of human rights if it means that you can be jailed for how you think and feel. More usually it is homosexual acts, rather than homosexuality per se, that are illegal. Even then it is arguably a human rights issue if the law criminalises consenting acts between adults in private; as article eight of the european convention on human rights put it: "everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life". 87.114.35.28 (talk) 15:16, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] maternal mortality

"Maternal mortality rates in Guyana are also relatively high, being estimate at 124.6 for 1998. Comparable figures for other Caribbean countries are 50 for Barbados, 75 for Trinidad and 100 for Jamaica." 124.6, what, out of 1000? Mlm42 13:03, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed WikiProject

In my ongoing efforts to try to include every country on the planet included in the scope of a WikiProject, I have proposed a new project on South America at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#South America whose scope would include Guyana. Any interested parties are more than welcome to add their names there, so we can see if there is enough interest to start such a project. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 17:12, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Guyana is not a nation state

Guyana is a multicultural country, not a nation. A nation state is a country in which all the people belong to the same ethnic and linguistic group. Somaliland IS a nation state, whereas, Guyana is not. - (203.211.79.196 03:00, 27 February 2007 (UTC))

Guyana's Holiday's- January 1 New Years

Early January Youman Nabi

February 23 Republic Day

March or April Good Friday and Easter Sunday

May 1 Labor Day

July 1 Caricom Day

First Monday in August Emancipation Day

November Diwali

December 25 Christmas Day

December 26 Boxing Day

[edit] Military expenditures

I requested a citation for the 7 million dollar expenditure figure which seems terribly low. That works out to about $35 per soldier per year. Something isn't right. Can we clarify? JodyB 14:26, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

I've removed the expenditures statement since no citation was forthcoming. This is potentially important information given the instability next door in Venezuela. If someone can come up with a figure let's add it.

[edit] Languages in Guyana

Would individuals pleases stop copying old outdated information, to post on wikipedia.

AND BIZZARLY ALL INFORMATION ON GUYANA HAS THIS!

THERE IS NO LANGUAGE CALLED HINDUSTANI in existence. As far as I know there is a language called Hindi and Urdu. And a few words or phrases that individuals might use is not considered a full language.

Hindi died out a long time ago in Guyana, with only the Hindu religious leaders (pandits) able to read or speak it. Most of the people who spoke Hindi are already dead, if not generations ago. There might possible be a few very old individuals, but even that I doubt.

So once and for all...There is no large population of people in Guyana speaking HINDUSTANI, a language that does not exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani "To the best of my knowledge, term "Hindustani" was introduced in the British period.--Vikramsingh 18:13, 25 August 2006 (UTC)"

                    • OK lets straighten something out; Hindustan is the real name of India. Make people in Guyana are from there. Hinduism is the largest religion there; therefore dominant. The language of Hinduism is Hindi, so it is the language of India (so it could, though shouldn't be, called Indian, meaning the language) . The Majority of Indians are Hindu. This means Many Guyanese are Hindu. IF you could call Hindi Indian instead, you can call it Hindustani. Anyway, Hindustani is another name for Hindi, so there was really no point to just explain the above :) -Divya da Animal Lvr
Actually, Hindustani IS a language. It is a specific dialect of Hindi. I don't have sources at the moment which states this, but ask any student who is studying Indian language and culture, or is a Hindi student. 71.246.98.146 20:50, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
There's a Wikipedia article now Hindustani language. Rumiton (talk) 12:18, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Plus, *******On June 2, 2007, a plan to set off bombs in the JFK airport were foiled, after on man asked an FBI agent about information on ammunition, failing to get information from others. The culprits were men in a terrorist group from the South American (NOT AFICAN!!!!) countries Guyana and Trinidad. One was a former member of the Guyanese Parliament. No news yet on the identity, but many theories are floating around.

dont worry i put it on the JFK Airport page, under History. HTis all just occured.

[edit] Public health

Should the bulk of the section on Public health be moved to a page Public Health in Guyana? --Bejnar 16:45, 4 June 2007 (UTC)


One of the most unfortunate consequences of Guyana's economic decline in the
1970s and 1980s due to the rule of the PNC (People's National
Congress) was that it led to very poor health conditions for a large part of
the population.

This sounds very biased..

well Bejnar if u think that this very biased well i guess that u have not studied history ....this is very important information when it comes to studing the history of any country....one of the main thing that you study in history is the economic an if there was a decline in the economic then you have to study who cause that decline, an in this case it was the PNC now the PNCR.there is nothing biased about that —Preceding unsigned comment added by Barticastar (talk • contribs) 20:26, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Miscellaneous

Abdul Kadir a former member of the Guyanese parliament, and Guyanese immigrant
Russell Defreitas were arrested on 2 June 2007 for allegedly plotting to blow
up fuel lines for New York City airports.

Were they convicted? If not this does not belong here. --Danadocus 01:19, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Miscellaneous

Is there are particular reason for any of these 'facts' being included ? The first three I can understand as trivia, but most of the others have little to do with Guyana. While it can be argued that the location of the massacre is central to the story of the massacre, the fact that the massacre occurred in Guyana is not an important fact in the history of Guyana. And surely the floods deserve mention before a 'saying' about labba meat. Blakdogg 19:14, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Opening Introduction

I have been bold and re-worked the opening paragraph to better meet the MOS. There is much more to be done but we can move this to GA status. I did not remove anything, just re-arranged into proper subsections. If you disagree I am happy to discuss it here. Thanks! --JodyB yak, yak, yak 02:54, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] pronunciation

In what sense is Guyana "properly pronounced [ɡaɪˈa.na]"? I would think that as English is the official language, the "anglicized" pronunciations would be the proper ones. —JerryFriedman 05:07, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Names of Region

Well it was very funny when I saw that on wikipedia that the names of the various region does not correspond with the number of the region on the map .......I use to live in region number seven an the name of region number seven is cuyuni mazaruni an is located where on the map shows region two.please get a correct map with the correct region numbers.I am glad to see that the Guyana page is improving with all the nice picture, Guyana is a wondeful place it will always be in my heart no matter where in am in the world. Barticastar 19:53, 9 October 2007 (UTC)barticastar

[edit] BARTICA SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE SEE SECTION

well i think that Bartica should be added to the see section because i think that it is just as important like parika, it has more attaction than parika an is by far more beautiful that parika,Bartica is a metropolis in the making i see great development in Bartica,any where u go in the world u hear people want to go to Bartica,right now am i not in the country an there are many people that are telling me ....when i go back to Guyana u have to take me to Bartica....yes thats what they are all saying u dont hear that u have to take me to parika noooooooo Bartica has lots to offer to the better development of Guyana it just need the right type of investment .....when i finish with my studies from abroad thats where i am going back to my beautiful bartica ....i must thank the kind gently man who worte the wonderful article bartica an added to wikipedia ... note: parika must be develop too cause that the main transit point of get to bartica ...... jc Barticastar 14:00, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Suicide Rates

I Wonder if it would be relevant too include information regarding Guyana's high suicide rates under the health section, List of countries by suicide rate . It would be great if someone could find more information regarding the possible reasons for such high rates.

[edit] History

Doesn't mention the suspension of the constitution in 1953? seeThe Suspension of the British Guiana Constitution - 1953 --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 18:27, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Famous Guyanese people

Darren Collison's parents have been added under "Famous Guyanese".

Apart from the fact that it is questionable that Darren Collison is particularly "famous", his parents certainly are not - no disrespect - BUT my main problem with this is that I don't think we should have a "Famous Guyanese" section at all, for a number of reasons:

1) Wikipedia, like any encyclopaedia, is concerned with "notability" not "fame" - these are not necessarily the same thing - more on this later.

2) "Famous people..." is not a common section in any other country article.

3) As User:Nick Taylor pointed out above:

"There are a number of categories used including Category:Guyanese_people and Category:Guyanese_people_by_occupation. Categories are better than lists as lists need constant maintenance."
Other advantages of categories are:
a) people get added when they're judged notable enough for an article - so, although June Collison might get a mention in Guyana at the 1984 Summer Olympics, she's probably not notable enough for an article - see WP:ATHLETE.
b) People get added to specific sub-categories such as Category:Guyanese trade unionists for being notable in that field, they may not be "famous" at all, but it's notability, not "fame" that is the issue.

4) Categories are also the way to go because people are listed alphabetically, so there are no arguments over who should be listed first etc.

For example, Eddy Grant is probably more "famous" outside Guyana than Cheddi Jagan, but there's bound to be arguments if we list Eddy before Cheddi.

So, it's my opinion that we shouldn't have a "Famous Guyanese" section, but that we should add Category:Guyanese people to the "See also" section.

Camillus (talk) 17:02, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

hi —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.13.93.133 (talk) 01:13, 11 April 2008 (UTC)