Populate Essequibo Region with Guyanese, monitor Venezuelan migrants – Walton-Desir

Last Updated on Monday, 27 January 2025, 20:31 by Writer

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, Amanza Walton-Desir on Monday proposed that Guyana takes steps to populate the Essequibo Region through investment incentives and at the same time register all migrants coming from neighbouring Venezuela.

“We must address our minds to increasing government-led investments in the Essequibo, Mr Speaker, to incentivise the settlement of Guyanese in that region, even as we combat the effects of climate change, etc. on our low coastal plain,” she told the National Assembly during debate of the 2025 National Budget.

She also recommended that Guyana deploys its soldiers along the border instead of having them clad in blue T-shirts cleaning drains in Georgetown.

Ms Walt0n-Desir warned against the influx of foreign nationals by the deliberate injection of population into the Essequibo Region, a number of whom might be militarily trained, spies or undercover agents of destabilisation. Through a mandatory migration registration system, the Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister said the movement of migrants should be monitored and their duration of stay tracked. She said refugees and migrants must only be granted temporary status with a “clear and explicit provision” against voting rights. “Guyanese citizenship must remain a privilege and not a pathway to manipulation or long term instability,” she said.

She also criticised government for being unable to pr0vide an accurate number of migrants, especially from Venezuela.

Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn earlier this month, said authorities were keeping a close eye on the movement of migrants across the Guyana-Venezuela border. “Both the Guyana Police Force and Community Policing Groups are involved in security screening, information gathering in relation to these challenges,” he said.