Defence

The National Assembly’s bipartisan committee on foreign relations on Wednesday agreed to the framework for a motion on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy to be tabled at a House sitting and to accelerate a public awareness campaign on the issue, representatives from both sides said. Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd said the priority right now was for the 65-seat National Assembly ...

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) notes the decision of the Venezuelan National Assembly to conduct a popular referendum on defending Venezuela’s claim of the Essequibo. CARICOM further notes that two of the questions approved to be posed in the Referendum, if answered in the affirmative, would authorise the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to embark on the annexation of ...

President Irfaan Ali and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton jointly denounced Venezuela’s planned December 3 referendum to make Guyana’s Essequibo County a State. The country’s two top political leaders also dismissed Venezuela’s attempt to give legitimacy to the intended annexation of Guyana’s territory through the 1966 Geneva Agreement, a framework that was inked to find a lasting solution to the controversy. ...

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 ...

Government on Monday expressed concern that Venezuela’s December 3 Referendum will lay the ground work for the annexation of Guyana’s County of Essequibo. In one of the questions approved by Venezuela’s Electoral Council, the referendum seeks the agreement of Venezuelans to establish Essequibo as a State of Venezuela, take care of current and future residents and grant them citizenship and ...

As Venezuela prepare to vote in early December on a question concerning Guyana’s 160,000-square-kilometre (62,000-square-mile) county of Essequibo, at least two International Relations experts are recommending intensified domestic, regional and international engagement. Former House Speaker, Raphael Trotman said the time has come for Guyana to establish a multi-party Border/National Security Committee similar to one that had been co-chaired by Attorney-at-Law ...

As Venezuela deployed 150 soldiers near their border with Guyana, Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd asked the Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana to explain the movement of troops near the border between the two countries that are embroiled in a territorial controversy. The Foreign Affairs Ministry said though the Venezuelan Ambassador, Carlos Amador Pérez Silva claimed that the mobilisation of troops ...

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday night hailed the significant contribution of late high-level government and party loyalist, Dr Roger Luncheon, to the security stability of Guyana at a time when the government could not have relied on the leadership of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). Addressing a ‘Night of Reflections’ on the life ...

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on Monday said Colonel Omar Khan is acting Chief-of-Staff because the substantive Chief of Staff Brigadier Godfrey Bess and the Colonel General Staff, Julius Skeete have been given approval to pursue training overseas. Acting Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Godfrey Bess will return to office next Monday, 3rd July, 2022, at the end of a three-week residency of ...

President Irfaan Ali on Thursday said no foreign military bases would be established in Guyana unless requested and that Guyana would independently decide who are its friends. “Guyana will be no pawn or puppet of any foreign power. No foreign power will establish a presence that we,  we Guyana and the Guyana Defence Force do not request but we’ll exercise ...