Whoever assumes the leadership mantle in the May 2025 election should look closely at Bouterse’s example, both the good and the bad; there is decidedly something that can be learned from it.
In both Guyana and Suriname, there remains considerable work to be done to spread each nation’s wealth.
Challenged Sovereignty: The Impact of Drugs, Crime, Terrorism, and Cyber Threats in the Caribbean is well-researched, considers the relevant literature, and a great read, livened up with personal anecdotes.
Suriname’s prospects of becoming a petrostate improved considerably in September 2023, when France’s TotalEnergies announced that it is commencing studies for developing a USD 9 billion oil and gas project for the Caribbean country’s offshore fields. This project is expected to revitalize the country’s deeply challenged economy and radically reduce poverty. Yet Suriname, like many of its neighbors in the Caribbean and Latin America, faces climate change challenges and is seeking to transition from a dependence on fossil fuels to renewables.
While gold plays an important role in Suriname’s economy, it has downsides, some of them related to transnational criminal activities, which benefit from relatively porous borders, stretched government resources (related to a lengthy economic crisis) and corruption.
The February 2023 riots reflect the pains of a country going through a profound transition. Suriname is struggling through economic difficulties while still waiting for its oil taps to open meaningfully…
While a relatively isolated society can avoid dealing with corruption, Suriname’s increasingly open economy and globally-connected youth are accordingly less forgiving of the old systems of patronage in government.
Oil wealth must be used as an instrument to push equitable development. It is crucial that the offshore oil industry brings lasting benefits to the future generations of underserved communities.
Yes, the rising sea levels might only affect offshore drilling operations minimally. But the rising waters and other manifestations of climate change disrupt habitation and the normal conduct of political, economic, and social business within those societies, such that having the wealth could be of little consequence for the people there.
Looking ahead, more changes are coming [for the Southern Caribbean], both domestically in terms of dealing with a resource curse and externally in terms of navigating a shifting global order.
