Nazar Mohamed’s Venezuelan Embassy visit: “What were you doing there?” – Jagdeo says country wants to know

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday intensified questions surrounding Nazar Mohamed’s reported visit to the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown, saying the Guyanese public deserves to know the purpose of the controversial businessman’s meeting, particularly in light of US sanctions and allegations of gold smuggling.

Speaking at his weekly press conference, Jagdeo, who is also the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) General Secretary, argued that while Mohamed’s camp has refused to confirm or deny his presence at the embassy, the Venezuelan Ambassador Carlos Amador Perez Silva himself acknowledged to Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd that Mohamed did in fact visit.
Guyana and Venezuela are currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the high-profile border controversy concerning the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the boundary between the two nations.
Against this backdrop, the General Secretary posed a series of pointed questions, stating that the country deserves answers.
“What were you doing there? What were you doing there? Why would you want to go to Venezuela on a vacation a couple weeks before the elections? Or was it a visa you were applying for? Or were you getting some information? And how often did you go there to the embassy? Were you collecting something, information or otherwise?” Jagdeo asked.
“This is what they’re avoiding. And it’s a huge issue. It’s a national security issue for Guyana. So all they could have done is to have a simple statement. He did not go. I’m still looking forward to them putting out this statement to make me a liar,” he noted.
Jagdeo had previously disclosed that there is a link between businessman and We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party leader Azruddin Mohamed and his family to the Venezuelan Government, stating that there is “video evidence” of the Mohameds entering the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown.
“He knows he went to the Venezuelan embassy. And he knows also that the entire public wants to know what he was doing there. Was he getting information from the Venezuelans to help their campaign? Was he trying to flee Guyana? Was he there for a benign purpose? But how benign could it be? If weeks before the elections you go there, nobody wants to go to Venezuela now. Now, why would you want to go to Venezuela at this stage, especially in light of several US congressmen saying he’s Maduro’s puppet, the Mohameds are Maduro’s puppets, and especially in light of reports that Venezuelan generals were linked to the gold smuggling in Guyana?”

Letter to CARICOM, UN
Jagdeo also addressed a recent letter sent by the Mohameds to CARICOM and the United Nations (UN), in which they sought to challenge the closure of their local bank accounts. He dismissed the move as “public relations” and pointed to correspondence from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that, he said, contradicted the Mohameds’ narrative.
According to Jagdeo, OFAC’s clarification emphasised that not only US entities but also non-nationals could face sanctions for doing business with the Mohameds.
“The clarification in the document actually says that people could be non-nationals and could be sanctioned, too, for dealing with the Mohameds. Not just US companies, but non-nationals. Now, this is an indictment on the Mohameds. They’ve been lying to people all across the country. They’ve been lying to every group of individuals. And so, they then took that statement, and they now wrote the Secretary General – well – of CARICOM and the UN. It’s all PR. Nobody will pay any attention to them. No CARICOM country or the United Nations will tell a local bank how to conduct [their business], or any bank for that matter,” Jagdeo asserted.

Political claims, credibility
Jagdeo further criticised Azruddin Mohamed’s political ambitions, describing his claims of widespread support as delusional. He referenced Mohamed’s claim that a survey of 85,000 people showed he would secure 65 per cent of the national vote.
“In a country of fewer than a million people, such a survey is absurd,” Jagdeo said, adding that Mohamed’s rallies have drawn only a few hundred supporters despite “fetching people from across Berbice.”
He warned that Mohamed’s refusal to accept the election results, coupled with his ongoing legal and financial troubles, posed risks to national stability.
On this point, Jagdeo stressed that the Government and security forces were fully prepared to ensure peaceful elections.
“The President has indicated that the security forces are prepared. Police themselves have said they are ready to address any attempts to disrupt our country and harm our people. We want these elections to be conducted in a peaceful manner so that from September 2, we can go back to work. We have a lot of work for the next five years on changing people’s lives everywhere, in their communities, in their homes, everywhere, changing our country,” he added.