Treason charge for any Guyanese elected by Venezuela as governor of Essequibo; Venezuelan secret agents already expelled

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 March 2025, 21:28 by Writer

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn said Wednesday that any Guyanese elected by Venezuela as Governor of Essequibo who comes to Guyana will be charged with treason, and other elected officials found in the county will also be charged.

“If is a Guyanese who is appointed to be Governor of Essequibo and is placed at Anna Regina, we will charge that person for treason and lock them up; each and every one of them,” he told the opening of the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) Sergeant’s Conference. 

The gubernatorial and legislative council elections are slated for May 25, the eve of Guyana’s 59th independence anniversary. Guyana has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Venezuela not to prepare for, campaign or hold those elections in Essequibo.

Mr Benn announced that Guyana has already expelled an undisclosed number of Venezuelan secret agents, suggesting there might still be more among the large community of Venezuelan migrants. “We know that there are some sleepers here. We put out a few already,” he said. No further details were provided.

The Home Affairs Minister charged members of the GPF to be on standby to respond to any armed incursion into the Essequibo Region. “If they come we have to shoot and scoot and shoot and keep scooting and shooting until help arrives,” he said. We can never give up Essequibo. Guyana will be nothing without Essequibo.”

He praised the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldiers for returning fire to a group of armed Venezuelan men who opened fire on the soldiers as they were sailing with supplies from their main base at Eteringbang to their outpost at Makapa. While six soldiers were injured and have since been discharged from a hospital, Mr Benn noted that a number of the Venezuelan gunmen were killed. “We have to deal with this issue if it comes to shooting again and I am glad somehow that the army men shot back at them because I think two or three of them died based on the information we have,” he said.

Referring to the incursion by a Venezuelan military patrol vessel into the Stabroek Block where they informed ExxonMobil-contracted drillships and floating production storage and offloading vessels that they were illegally in Venezuelan water, Mr Benn remarked that President Irfaan Ali was currently in the United States “having discussions about that incident.”

The US on March 1 warned Venezuela that there would be “consequences” if there is a repeat of that incursion.

The Home Affairs Minister said Venezuelan vessels enjoy right of passage in the Cuyuni River and Guyana’s exclusive economic zone but they could not engage in intimidation.