No need to panic about Venezuelan troop movement

Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 October 2023, 8:38 by Denis Chabrol

The Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Khan on Tuesday indicated that there was no need for Guyanese to be worried about the movement of Venezuelan soldiers in areas off the border with Guyana.

“If there is any need to alert on developments outside of the norm, we have a duty to make it known,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

Multiple other sources have also Demerara Waves Online News that the increased presence of Venezuelan soldiers was part of an ongoing operation to root out illegal mining. “Nothing to be alarmed about,” one source, who frequents the Guyana-Venezuela border area, said.

An official decision-maker in Georgetown, who is paying keen attention to developments on the border, said Guyanese illegal gold miners in Venezuela were among those being displaced by the Venezuelan security forces and so it was in their interest to circulate voice n0tes and other messages raising alarm about the military action.

The GDF Chief-of-Staff acknowledged the importance of verifying Social Media messaging. “There are several pieces of information being circulated via social media on the subject topic, and from various sources which must always be verified,” he said.

Brigadier Khan sought to reassure Guyanese that the GDF stands ready to protect Guyana’s borders. “Our borders remain an integral component of our sovereignty, and our Defence Force has the constitutional responsibility to protect same,” he said.

One of the sources said informal communication between Guyanese and Venezuelans on both sides of the border do not indicate that Venezuelan military troop movement in a number of areas has anything to do with the territorial controversy between the two neighbouring South American nations.

Meanwhile, Opposition Shadow Foreign Minister Amanza Walton-Desir has called on Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd to summon an “urgent” meeting of the parliamentary committee on foreign relations to brief that bipartisan body on developments concerning the territorial controversy and the increasing arrival of Venezuelan migrants.

“The critical issues of the border controversy and the escalating Venezuelan migrant crisis demand our immediate attention. These matters have clear implications for our national security, stability, and international relations and it, therefore, is essential that we address these challenges with the diligence and vigilance that this state of affairs warrants,” she said.  She reminded that the then Chair of the Committee had convened such a meeting in which allowed Members to receive important information and reaffirmed the commitment of both sides of the House to the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana.

President Irfaan Ali and Opposition Leader Aubrey about one month ago reassured each other of their unwavering and united support for the preservation of Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, amid Caracas’ threats in response to Georgetown’s auction of 14 offshore oil blocks.

Guyana has shunned President Nicolas Maduro’s public call for talks with his Guyanese counterpart, Irfaan Ali, to settle the controversy over that Spanish-speaking neighbour’s claim to the mineral and forest-rich Essequibo Region and all of the Atlantic waters offshore that region.

Instead, Guyana continues to rely on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) whose decision is yet to be handed down in Georgetown’s case for a finding that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award is the full and final settlement of the land boundary.