Venezuela to grant citizenship to Guyanese in the Essequibo Region after Sunday’s Referendum

Venezuela has rejected  the position taken by the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, in relation to the pronouncement made by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about a consultative referendum scheduled for this Sunday.

This Sunday’s referendum will ask Venezuelans to  turn the disputed Essequibo region which represents two-thirds of the Guyana land mass into a state or province of Venezuela, and and to confer Bolivarian citizenship to the residents of the area.

In a statement, published on X, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil  said that “The CARICOM Secretariat blatantly lies and intentionally ignores the fact that the International Court of Justice unanimously rejected Guyana’s reckless attempt to limit the political rights of Venezuelans and prevent the holding of the referendum called by the National Assembly of Venezuela(…); that is, the Geneva Agreement of 1966.”

Gil also recalled that Court’s clear call to the government of Guyana to cease the deliberate actions that aggravate the situation of the controversy, among which the involvement of the United States Southern Command and the granting of concessions in a yet to be demarcated maritime area, which has generated a situation that threatens the peace in the region.

The Statement finalises with a call on the CARICOM partner countries to return to good judgement and objectivity; to distance themselves from the preconceived judgments of the oil transnational Exxon Mobil and the United States Southern Command.

According to Gil, on Friday, the International Court of justice in The Hague dismissed the appeals presented by the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to stop the referendum.

In addition Friday saw the culmination of Venezuela’s National territory Campaign “Venezuela Toda” that seeks the union of all the Venezuelan people, and was characterized by the celebration of cultural activities of different manifestations.

Source- teleSUR