BREAKING: Guyana sharply rejects US requests for return of Carter Centre observers, reposes confidence in CARICOM team

Last Updated on Friday, 15 May 2020, 17:42 by Denis Chabrol

The Guyana government on Friday sharply rejected the United States’ request for the return of Carter Center observers and a consultant from the International Republican Institute, citing travel restrictions due to  the COVID-19 virus and Guyana’s  equal confidence in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team of scrutineers.

‘I take this opportunity to inform you and to iterate that the Caribbean Community remains the most legitimate interlocutors in the Guyana situation and that Guyana is equally confident in the legitimacy, credibility and competence of the CARICOM team to perform its task,” Foreign Affairs Minister Karen Cummings told American Ambassador, Sarah-Ann Lynch.

The Government of Guyana also asked the United States to  respect its legitimate decisions it has taken with respect to the role of the Caribbean Community in the recount of the ballots cast in the general and regional elections and the emergency measures it has implemented to protect its citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United States Ambassador’s request was made by diplomatic note on May 14, 2020.

Lynch had assured Guyanese authorities that the Carter Centre and IRI teams would abide by all COVID-19 rules, a suggestion that they had planned to  obtain tests to prove that they are free of the deadly virus.

The United States, Britain and Canada had publicly called on the Guyana government to grant approval for the return of the Carter Center to internationally certify the recount and the results if the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections.