GUYANA | Rickford Burke calls on the Ali government to enlighten the people about the Venezuela Threat.

MONTEGO BAY,  October 25, 2023 - President of the New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), has called on  the government of Guyana to embarked on a campaign to heighten public awareness on the Guyana/Venezuela crisis, and to advise Guyanese citizens of the dangerous maneuvers Venezuela has been making.

In a statement, Burke said  “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.”  

Burke observed that “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, he declared.

Burke slammed  the PPP administration with appearing to be  paralyzed and incapable of grasping the gravity of the situation and provocations by Venezuela,  which appears to be positioning it to launch an occupation of part or all of Essequibo.”  

He said “to date, the Government of Guyana has failed to hold a sitting of Parliament to deliberate on this matter,  which he said was a clear signal of its disrespect of the People of Guyana and its weak grasp of the essentials of national governance.”

Burke described as  reprehensible, what he said was the “government’s effort to  accept thousands of Venezuelans who are being sent to Guyana, with the express hope that they can use them to vote them into office in the next elections.”  

He lamented that “this level of craven shortsightedness 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.”   

“The Total Defence Strategy first conceived during the 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,” Burke observed.

The CGID president wants President Irfaan Ali  to ensure that Parliament is convened urgently to bring this matter to the legislative representatives of the people of Guyana and have a more proactive approach to this serious threat to Guytana’s territorial integrity with immediate effect.