Guyana’s main opposition parties are urging the Irfaan Ali administration to control the number of Venezuelans living in Guyana as they fear there will soon be so many of that they could penetrate the corridors of power and lead to a soft invasion of the country.
Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton and Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) held a joint press conference this week urging both the government and the nation to wake up to the growing numbers of Venezuelan refugees even as tensions continue to rise over Venezuela’s unwavering territorial claim to a large part of Guyana and its objections to Guyana giving out offshore blocks for oil and gas production and export.
Norton, 66, is also the leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) which together with the AFC had run the country between 2015-20 before losing the general elections to the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP). He and Ramjattan both want authorities to act before it is too late.
“We remain alarmed over the continued influx into Guyana of refugees from Venezuela and the PPP government’s inept and treacherous response to the situation,” said Norton, reading the joint statement. “Should the Venezuelans become a majority in any sizeable area of our territory, Guyana could face the threat of possible annexation of these areas by Venezuela, similar to the fate of Crimea, which was seized by Russia in March 2014 on the grounds that the majority of the population there is made up of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers,” Norton said.
Estimates of the number of Venezuelans in Guyana range from 40,000-100,000 with dozens adding to the mix by crossing the numerous river points in Guyana’s northwestern regions daily. Several civil society activists including former Prime Minister Hamilton Green have sounded the alarm, warning that the Nicolas Maduro government may not have to ever carry through with military threats to take the western, mineral-rich Essequibo Region by force as the numbers could amount to an invasion by occupation and without a single shot being fired.
Concerns about the government going out of its way to accommodate Venezuelans in Guyana for future electoral and voting purposes are also on the rise in the wake of Spanish marking signs appearing on state vehicles including police patrols cars and SUVs. Green sees this as a kind of surrender to Venezuela.
“Is this a sort of subtle surrender to Venezuela? We note the anxiety by this government to accommodate all Venezuelans. There is no evidence that we have the capability to identify if any of these so-called immigrants have been posted by the Venezuelan authorities to undermine and subvert. Maybe they have succeeded which may have explained the statement made to me on Monday night that there will be more Spanish speaking posters and billboards. We seem to ignore the wisdom that all of us must abide with when we travel to other countries. That is, when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” Green said in a letter to media houses.
The alarm bells being raised by the opposition come in the wake of a build-up of Venezuelan activity in border areas with Guyana and Venezuela’s recent objections to Guyana putting out bids for addition oil offshore blocks. Caracas said Guyana had acted illegally in doing so. To get the rid of Venezuela and its decades-old claims to land and marine areas, Guyana has taken the case to the World Court and is awaiting a verdict, confident that it will win according to President Ali.
