President, Opposition Leader agree on info about Venezuelan migrants, greater public education

Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 October 2023, 16:54 by Denis Chabrol

OUTSIDE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT: Left to right: Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Amanza Walton-Desir, Leader of the Alliance For Change Khemraj Ramjattan, APNU+AFC parliamentarian Geeta Chandan-Edmond, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, Ambassador Ronald Austin and APNU+AFC parliamentarian Tabitha Sarabo-Halley.

President Irfaan Ali and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on Tuesday held talks about the escalating tension between Guyana and Venezuela ahead of a December 3 referendum that seeks to annex the county of Essequibo in clear violation of international law.

Amid concerns that one of the referendum questions seeks Venezuelans’ approval f0r the establishment of Essequibo as another State of Venezuela, taking care of current and future inhabitants and granting them citizenship and identification cards, Mr Norton said the opposition’s concerns about the movement of migrants, a number of whom might be spies, would be addressed at the bipartisan parliamentary committee on foreign relations. “We raised the issue of Venezuelan migrants and there is an agreement that we will be provided with the information and that we will engage on this issue through the parliamentary sectoral committee on foreign relations,” he said.

Retired Rear Admiral Dr Gary Best,  former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, was the first to have flagged possible annexation of Guyanese territory by Venezuelans.

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, Amanza Walton-Desir said the sectoral committee would set the agenda for expected joint interaction. “Tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) meeting  ought to be a very robust one. We will see coming out of it some concrete bipartisan actions as it relates to this issue with Venezuela,” she said.

The Opposition Leader said Parliament would also meet on Venezuela’s recent actions and indicated that there would be a unanimous resolution. ‘Everything we want to do in a united fashion,” he added.  “The meeting was a successful meeting. We’ve been able to outline all our positions. We are unified on a number of issues including rejecting this whole idea of a referendum; that it is pernicious, it is dangerous and we it should not go forward. It’s very aggressive in nature and militarises an issue that should be for diplomatic resolution,” Mr Norton told reporters after a more than 90-minute meeting with the President.

Mr Norton said the Guyanese leader agreed with the need to ramp up public education about Guyana’s Essequibo County, and activate the bipartisan parliamentary commission on foreign relations with a meeting slated for Wednesday. “We stressed the need for public education. We pointed out that even when there is public education, it is not continuous and we argued that going forward there should be continuous public education and the President agreed. He said he had begun to work on it and we’re happy,” he said.

The Opposition Leader declined to provide details of the common ground that he and the President reached on the territorial controversy, but instead said they would rely on a joint statement that would be issued later Tuesday after two senior officers and lawyers examine it. Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan added that the statement “has to be consistent with what the lawyers in the matter must appreciate because we do not want to make a joint statement and it has legal implications and we are then chastised by our lawyers that are arguing our case at the ICJ,” he said.

Mr Norton accused Venezuela of attempting to shift Guyana’s case away from the International Court Justice (ICJ) and so “we have to ensure it stays with the ICJ.”  He criticised Venezuela for claiming that it was abiding by the Geneva Agreement and noted that the ICJ process is a as a result of Geneva Agreement after trying in vain for years to have mediation. He said the government and the opposition would be meeting at “various levels.”

The Guyana government on Monday denounced Venezuela’s referendum questions in particular the one that calls for a vote on creating Essequibo as a State and providing official identification and citizenship documents to people living in that Guyanese county. “This amounts to nothing less than the annexation of Guyana’s territory, in blatant violation of the most fundamental rules of the UN Charter, the OAS Charter and general international law. Such a seizure of Guyana’s territory would constitute the international crime of aggression,” the Guyana government said.

The Opposition Leader, AFC Leader and Shadow Foreign Minister were accompanied by opposition parliamentarians Geeta Chandan-Edmond and Tabitha Sarabo-Halley as well as retired Ambassador Ronald Austin.

Up to late Tuesday afternoon, President Irfaan Ali’s usually active Facebook page made no reference of the meeting with the Opposition Leader and his delegation.