“All Guyanese should be highly alarmed that Venezuela is making all sorts of moves which signal that they’re planning actions that are neither inconsequential nor deserving of the apparent malaise that seems to characterize the laissez-faire and apathetic posture of the Government of Guyana to date. “ So said the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID).
The Venezuelan government has set a referendum on December 3, 2023, to determine if the citizens of Venezuela want their government to reject the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Venezuela’s manufactured border controversy, declare Essequibo a State of Venezuela and grant Venezuelan citizenship to Guyanese living in Essequibo. These are direct acts of provocation by the Venezuelan government.
CGID shared that in the presence of this threat the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government appears paralysed and incapable of grasping the gravity of the situation and provocations by Venezuela, which appears to be positioning to launch an occupation of part or all of Essequibo. “It is evident that the Ally government lacks the basic knowledge and capacity to deal with this matter competently.”
According to the United States-based organisation it is their view the Government of Guyana should have embarked on a campaign on the same level as Venezuela to heighten public education and awareness on this crisis, and to advise Guyanese citizens of the dangerous maneuvers Venezuela has been making.
To date, the Government of Guyana has failed to hold a sitting of Parliament to deliberate on this matter in a clear signal of its disrespect of the People of Guyana and its weak grasp of the essentials of national governance, stated the organisation.
“Most reprehensible of the range of ill-conceived acts of the racist regime include the overt effort to accept thousands of Venezuelans being sent to Guyana, with the express hope that they can use them to vote them into office in the next elections.”
“This level of craven shortsightedness,” GCID stated “lacks the nationalistic elements of the concept of a Total Defence Strategy which incorporates diplomacy, the legal process to represent Guyana’s rights to the disputed territory and finally, engaging the nation in a discourse regarding our national interests regarding Venezuela’s spurious claims.”
Touching on history, Rickord Burke, CGID President, in whose name the statement was issued stated out the “total Defence Strategy first conceived during the [Forde] Burnham Administration worked in the past to scuttle Venezuelan efforts. “What we have seen in the absence of a well thought out and informed strategic approach is that Guyana’s national security has been totally compromised by the regime’s reckless resettlement of thousands of Venezuelans in Guyana and its inability to move nimbly in assessing this most significant threat.”
To this end CGID is calling on President Ali to ensure “Parliament is convened urgently to bring this matter to the legislative representatives of the people of Guyana and to cease its immature naive approach to this serious threat to our territorial integrity with immediate effect.”
