As territorial tensions between Guyana and Venezuela continue to simmer, Guyana’s government this week vowed to slap treason charges on any Guyanese who allows Venezuela to appoint or elect him or her as the governor of its oil-rich western region that Venezuela has threatened to annex and administrate.
Minister of National Security Robeson Benn told a junior police conference that Venezuelan authorities would not hesitate to impose capital charges on any locals if they are elected governor of the Essequibo region in elections scheduled for May 25th. Treason is a capital charge here and is punishable by the death penalty.
The announcement came two days after the government deported a boatload of 75 Venezuelans who the ministry said had entered the disputed area illegally.
Venezuela has claimed the area for decades, alleging that it had been cheated out of the region by an 1890s boundaries commission. The announcement also came two weeks after a Venezuelan military vessel had sailed right into the middle of offshore oil fields granted under license by Guyana, telling the crews of assets operated by American oil giant ExxonMobil that they were producing oil illegally.
“If a Guyanese is appointed to be the governor of Essequibo and is placed at Anna Regina (the town’s capital), we will charge that person for treason and lock them up, each and every one of them,” he said without elaborating.
He also said the government is expelling many Venezuelan sleeper agents sent to the country by Venezuelan authorities, saying a search is on for many others.
“We know that there are some sleepers here. We put out a few already,” he said. He also referenced a recent incident on the bordering Cuyuni River when gunmen from the Venezuelan side exchanged gunfire with Guyanese soldiers, injuring six. Benn noted that several of the gangsters were also killed.
“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 added.
