Azruddin Mohamed denies frequenting Venezuelan embassy, accuses PPP of risking Guyana’s sovereignty

Last Updated on Wednesday, 13 August 2025, 18:31 by Writer

Even as Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo Tuesday night maintained that there was “evidence” that the leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Azruddin Mohamed, was seen visiting the Venezuelan embassy often, the billionaire politician challenged the country’s leading politician and the Venezuelan Embassy to prove their assertions.

“Produce the Evidence! I Have Never Visited the Venezuelan Embassy! I, Azruddin Mohamed, categorically reject and denounce the baseless, malicious, and politically motivated lies being peddled against me. I never visited the Venezuelan Embassy, nor have I applied for a visa to travel to Venezuela,” Mr Mohamed said in a statement.

Addressing an election campaign meeting at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, Mr Jagdeo said despite denials by two U.S. members of Congress that there was a link between Mr Mohamed and the Nicolás Maduro-led dictatorship, proof has surfaced that the WIN leader was seen at the embassy on more than one occasion.

“Now, there is evidence of him actually going to the Venezuelan Embassy,” Mr Jagdeo said. He cast doubt on Venezuela’s Ambassador to Guyana, Carlos Amador Perez Silva’s explanation to foreign affairs minister Hugh Todd.

“It may be much more than application for a visa. It’s a more deep-seated connection. We have to explore that link. They put our country at risk,” said Jagdeo who is also the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) General Secretary.

But the WIN Leader called on the Venezuelan Ambassador to provide evidence that he had ever applied for a Venezuelan visa. “To this end, I challenge the Venezuelan Embassy to produce the proof. Present any record of my entry to the Embassy. Show the Guyanese people a single shred of documentation of me applying for a visa,” he said.

Days after the U.S. Congressional members had Tweeted their concerns about Mr Mohamed being a “puppet candidate” of the Venezuelan President, the President of Guyana Irfaan Ali had said that the U.S. had notified Guyana on June 27 about the need to block gold smuggling that “can help to empower or safeguard undemocratic forces”. Dr Ali had said that Guyana was investing enormous resources to ensure that did not happen.

In a strong denial of the claims by the Guyana government and the Venezuelan Ambassador, the WIN leader accused Foreign Minister Todd of coercing Mr Perez Silva into misleading Guyanese, adding that it “speaks to the lengths this administration is willing to go using his ministers as pawns.”

Mr Mohamed also said that it was the PPPC-led government that was enjoying close relations with the Maduro government, a situation that would jeopardise Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. “It also exposes the fact that the government of Guyana is in cahoots with the government of Venezuela. If backdoor meetings are being had to concoct lies, such deception puts our territorial integrity at risk, and with leaders like this, our sovereignty could be bartered away behind closed doors. All of Guyana must recognize this for what it is, the Ali administration is in bed with the Government of Venezuela and this presents a looming danger to our national sovereignty.”

The WIN leader and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed were in June 2024 sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for alleged evasion of more than US$50 million in taxes payable to the Guyana government on the export of more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold.