Guyana, a country of roughly one million people perched on the northeastern corner of South America, is one of the world’s fastest growing economies thanks to a super-charged nation-building project: the accelerated development of gigantic offshore oil fields.

In just six years, one of the continent’s poorest nations has emerged as the world’s newest petrostate. The discovery, though, has enraged Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and revived his government’s claims to Guyanese territory in a century-old boundary dispute.

These issues of nation-building and sovereignty are familiar to Canadians, so I wanted to talk with a wise Guyanese colleague about their moment, as we contemplate ours.

Selwin Asafa George, a 52-year-old entrepreneur, is remarkably thoughtful about what it’s going to

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