Opposition in dark about shooting of GDF soldiers on Guyana-Venezuela border- AFC

Last Updated on Saturday, 22 February 2025, 15:43 by Writer

AFC Leader Nigel Hughes and a number of party supporters

The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Friday said government has left the opposition in the dark about the shooting of six Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldiers by persons who were in a boat on the Venezuelan side of the Cuyuni River.

AFC Leader, Nigel Hughes expressed concern that neither the bipartisan parliamentary committee on Foreign Relations nor the inter-ministerial task border force on border matters had met to discuss the “very, very disturbing” incident.

Mr Hughes said as far as he was aware Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton was not informed by the government about the incident that occurred last Monday.

“These are matters of grave national importance on which there is no difference between the political parties, both in and out of Parliament, in terms of the protection of our sovereignty,” he said. He also said the GDF should have briefed the parliamentarians about the shootout which “appeared to be a threat to our sovereignty even though it was disguised as a singular incident.”

Fearing that there could be “some form of retaliatory action” to the killing of one or two of the Venezuelan assailants, the AFC Leader called on government to beef up security in Guyanese communities on the border.

The soldiers were travelling in a boat on a resupply mission from their main base at Eteringbang to the Makapa Outpost when they came under heavy gunfire. They reportedly returned fire, injuring a number of their attackers.

Opposition Shadow Foreign Minister, Amanza Walton-Desir has repeatedly called for the convening of the Foreign Relations Committee to update the opposition and map strategies to address Venezuela’s aggression against Guyana in pushing its claim to the Essequibo Region.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders ended their 48th regular summit in Barbados on Friday, saying that they condemned the shooting incident. A statement of their condemnation has not yet been issued.