Ali condemns Venezuela blaming Guyanese soldiers for incursion, shooting of Venezuelans; says all CARICOM member States “solidly” backing Guyana

Last Updated on Thursday, 20 February 2025, 14:08 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali on Thursday condemned the Venezuelan’s government for blaming Guyanese soldiers for invading the Essequibo Region and injuring several Venezuelans, even as he remained confident that all sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states are solidly supporting the preservation of Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Venezuelan authorities said the country’s Prosecutor’s Office would be investigating the incident which it claims happened in its Guayana Esequiba, that region that is internationally recognised as part of Guyana’s territory.

“That is ridiculous that they can be so callous in turning this around on Guyana. We have always been responsible, we have always been peaceful in our operation,” he said.

Six Guyanese servicemen were up to Friday hospitalised in a stable and upbeat condition as they continued to receive treatment for gunshot wounds during an exchange of gunfire with Venezuelan gang members on the Cuyuni River Monday afternoon. The soldiers were on a resupply mission from their main base at Eteringbang to an outpost at Makapa.

Speaking to Demerara Waves Online News from Barbados where he is attending the mid-term summit of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Leaders, he said he would be updating CARICOM on the situation and “to seek an additional position from the region in relation to the incident” He said he was awaiting a “full report” from the GDF which was conducting an internal investigation into the incident

Dr Ali dismissed suggestions that several pro-Venezuela Eastern Caribbean states were not backing Guyana. “I don’t know about countries as Venezuelan allies. I have spoken to all the Prime Ministers here. CARICOM position, in a unified and solid way, remains strongly in support of Guyana in support of our territorial integrity, our sovereignty and are in support of the process at the ICJ (International Court of Justice ). Te entire CARICOM leadership is unified in this position so I am not interested in side analysis. I am interested in the official position of CARICOM and the official position of CARICOM is a unified, solid, deep support for us on this issue,” he said.   Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines all enjoy very close ties with the Nicolas Maduro administration and have not raised concerns about alleged voter fraud in that South American nation.

The Guyanese leader said the responsibility of Guyana’s territorial integrity “rests with every single citizen” who must be serious about the matter and “ensure that they are part of the defence mechanism.” “Especially when you hold public offices, you can’t make social media posts as if this is a joke or make social media posts that are irresponsible,” he said.

Dr Ali said his administration was concerned that “our men in uniform in our territory, in our sovereign space” were shot at. He said the Guyana government would document the incident and update all the relevant stakeholders. Guyana’s Foreign Minister, Hugh Todd was Thursday expected to update colleague CARICOM Foreign Ministers, and President Ali was expected to hold similar talks with, among others,  Canada’s Minister of International Affairs, Mélanie Joly.

The ICJ has been asked by Guyana to pronounce on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award that settled the land boundary with Venezuela. Though Venezuela maintains that the ICJ has no jurisdiction in the matter and that the controversy should be settled bilaterally, that Spanish-speaking neighbour has been submitting legal arguments to the Hague-headquartered UN Court.