Guyana warns of charges, jailtime for persons supporting Venezuela’s unlawful Essequibo elections

…“we know that there are some sleepers [secret agent] here” – Benn

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn has warned that anyone in the country, especially Guyanese, who are caught supporting Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s unlawful attempt to hold elections in Guyana’s Essequibo region, will be charged.

Venezuela has indicated plans to hold elections on May 25, 2025, to appoint a governor and other leaders for the Essequibo region, which is two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass.
However, Minister Benn sent a strong message to individuals in the country who may be in support of Venezuela’s unlawful plan to annex Guyana’s Essequibo region. In fact, he revealed that Guyanese authorities have already been weeding out suspected agents of the Venezuelan government.
“We don’t want people to come here and be sleepers [secret agents] …We know that there are some sleepers here; we’ve put out a few already,” Benn stated while addressing senior officers at the opening of the Guyana Police Force’s Inspectors’ and Sergeants’ Conference 2025 on Wednesday.
He went onto warned that, “…any person, Guyanese or otherwise – if it’s a Guyanese who is appointed to be governor of Essequibo and placed at Anna Regina, we will charge that person for treason and lock them up, each and every one of them – they’re gonna be charged for treason, and anybody who’s supporting them will also be charged.”
Only last week, Guyana wrote the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to block Venezuela’s attempt to conduct elections in the Essequibo region,
The Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry on Thursday last filed in the Registry of the ICJ, a Request for the indication of provisional measures in the case concerning Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela). Guyana is asking the court to order Venezuela to refrain from any acts within or affecting its sovereign territory, including the Essequibo region.
Guyana informed the World Court that the planned Venezuelan elections would inevitably be preceded by preparatory acts, including acts within Guyana’s Essequibo region, affecting the Guyanese population and Guyana’s sovereignty over its territory.
This is the second time Guyana has sought provisional measures from the World Court, which is currently hearing a case to settle the decades-old border controversy between the two South American neighbours. Guyana initiated the case back in March 2018, asking the ICJ to issue a final and binding ruling that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which determined the international boundary with Venezuela, is legally valid.
But even as this case is pending, Guyana was had approached the ICJ back in December 2023 after Venezuela’s threat to seize and annex the Essequibo region. In response, the court had ordered Venezuela to refrain from any actions to disturb Guyana’s administration and control of that territory pending the conclusion of the case – measure which Guyana is now asking the court to re-enforce.
In its March 6, 2025 filing, Guyana further requested the World Court to convene hearings on its request as soon as possible, to enable such provisional measures as might be indicated by the Court to be issued before serious and irremediable prejudice to Guyana’s rights occurs.

Support of international partners
Meanwhile, the Home Affairs Minister on Wednesday reiterated that the Essequibo along with the waters offshore – the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which Venezuela is also claiming, belongs to Guyana.
“The issue of the issue of Essequibo… [in] the 1899 Arbitral Award was settled a long time ago, and [Venezuela] had no interest in it until they had political problems there and then when we found the oil. And they sent a ship out to the rigs and FPSOs (floating, production, storage and offloading vessel) to intimidate them.
“Our President [Dr Irfaan] Ali is in the USA now and is having discussions in relation to that incursion. We have the support and interest of our international partners – the USA, the UK (United Kingdom), the EU (European Union), India [and] all other countries [in] Africa] … But we can never give up Essequibo…It is ours,” Benn declared.

Earlier this month, there was an incursion of a Venezuelan naval vessel in Guyana’s EEZ, where over 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) have been discovered by United States oil major ExxonMobil, which is currently conducting production and exploration activities in the oil-rich Stabroek Block.
At approximately 07:00h on Saturday, March 1, 2025, a Venezuelan Coast Guard vessel, identified as ABV Guaiquerí PO-11 (IMO 4695542), entered Guyana’s waters and approached a tanker near the Prosperity FPSO that is operating in the Stabroek Block, Offshore Guyana, by ExxonMobil.
The Venezuelan naval vessel communicated threateningly via radio communication that Prosperity was operating in Venezuela’s EEZ, before continuing in a southwestern direction towards other FPSOs in Guyana’s waters, to which it delivered the same message.
Following the Venezuela’s incursion, the Guyana Government has since activated a series of responses, including the deployment of military resources offshore, engaging the international community and it has also sent a formal protest note to Caracas.
Guyana reminded that all the activities which the Government of Guyana has authorised to be undertaken in its EEZ are entirely within the maritime areas appurtenant to the sovereign coastal territory of Guyana, as defined by the Arbitral Award of 1899.
Moreover, just a few weeks prior, six members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) came under attack by Venezuelan men on the border. The February 17, 2025, attack injured the six troops – all with gunshot wounds. Initial reports had indicated that some of the Venezuelan men died, after Guyana’s soldiers returned fire.
According to Benn, “I’m glad somehow that the army men shoot back better at them because I think two or three of them died…”
Lauding the soldiers for their bravery, Benn encouraged other servicemen that “when we’re out there, we have to do our job properly.”