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Post independence, the Guyana government, under the leadership of The Peoples’
National Congress (PNC) and with the critical support of the opposition,
Peoples’ Progressive Party (PPP or 3P) nationalized the aluminum bauxite
Canadian company, DEMBA, the Demerara Bauxite Company. My friends
and I thought the new name should be “WEBAU”,“WE Bauxite Company '',
because it was now OUR bauxite. The government called it GUYBAU or
Guyana Bauxite Company. It was good grade bauxite but sales
surpluses fell because of boycotts by multinational corporations,
as a way to punish the aspirations of the Guyanese people.
Another reason for the drop in sales was due to mismanagement.
The expatriates who ran the Company for decades returned to North America.
The postage stamp speaks to the bravery of nationalization by the people of Guyana.
For a photo of the Bank of Guyana, click here.