…“Maduro is punishing them… they come to Guyana for a better life — now they proudly fly our flag” – Baramita official
By Vahnu Manikchand
Several frontline indigenous communities at Guyana’s border with neighbouring Venezuela were buzzing with patriotism, peace and calm on Sunday May 25 – a day when the Nicolás Maduro regime had set for so-called elections to appoint a Governor and legislative council for the Essequibo region – a territory that is internationally recognised as Guyana’s. However, there were no such electoral activities held in any of the communities on local land, as Guyana’s borders remained intact. In fact, Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Omar Khan, confirmed this to the Guyana Times on Sunday evening, noting that the bordering communities were largely uneventful throughout the day.
“No reports of any disturbances. All quiet,” the Army Chief indicated in a brief comment to this newspaper.
Calm at Imbotero, where Guyana (L) and Venezuela (R) have military presence across the Barima River
This was witnessed firsthand during a Government-organised trip to Region One (Barima-Waini), one of Guyana’s regions that share a border with the Spanish-speaking nation. The visit was organised not just to allay fears among Guyanese over Venezuela’s threats and its spurious claims to the resource-rich Essequibo, which is two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass, but also to combat misinformation being peddled by Caracas.
This was proven to be necessary after Venezuelan Vice President (VP) Delcy Rodrigues, falsely shared a video, purporting to show persons boarding a boat to travel from Guyana across the Essequibo River into Venezuela to vote in Sunday’s elections. However, that video was in fact taken at the Stabroek Market Wharf in Georgetown, where persons were crossing the Demerara River to the Vreed-en-Hoop Wharf. It was deliberately misrepresented by several Venezuelan Government officials despite the renowned Stabroek Market could be clearly seen in the background of the video.
“Dishonest and desperate”
These actions by the Maduro regime were described by Guyana’s VP Dr Bharrat Jagdeo as a sign of desperation in Caracas.
“It is dishonest and a sign of desperation when the Vice President of Venezuela has to use a fake video to support their false claims that persons are crossing the border to vote in their elections, when in fact it was a boat operating via the Demerara River, taking passengers from Georgetown to Vreed-en-Hoop,” VP Jagdeo told this publication on Sunday evening.
The video taken at the Stabroek Market Wharf in Georgetown that was deliberately mispresented by Venezuelan Government officials
During Sunday’s visit, several private and state media houses were taken to various frontline communities, mostly indigenous areas, within and surrounding the Region One Townships of Port Kaituma, Matthew’s Ridge and Mabaruma.
One of the areas visited was Imbotero, a remote frontline community in Guyana where a Venezuelan army base is just across the Barima River, which separates the two neighbouring South American nations. With a Police Station and GDF ranks stationed at the border location – a roughly 25 minutes boat ride from Mabaruma, residents there went about their routine activities amidst peace and calm throughout the day. Police Commander of Regional Division One, Senior Superintendent Krishna Ramana, explained that there is regular patrolling of that border location both by the police and army.
“The area is safe and calm, and we’ve seen no aggression [on Sunday]. And it will remain this way because we’ve been observant… It is very quiet. The residents are going about their daily lives… no one is in fear… and we’ve not seen strange movement or any strange activity that is happening,” the Police Commander told reporters during Sunday’s visit to Region One.
Another location visited was the indigenous community of Baramita in Region One, which also shares the border with Venezuela.
Not frightened
Residents there also went about their normal routine, heading to church in the morning and then gathering throughout the community to display their defiance of Venezuela’s attempt to drive fear and intimidation among Guyanese.
Deputy Toshao of Baramita, Yonita James, told reporters that the Village Council has been working with residents to assure them of their safety and security.
“We encourage them not to be scared… They [used to] get scared many times and then people go away. They (Venezuela) just frightening us but we are not frightened. We does encourage [villagers] to stay strong because we done know Essequibo is ours,” James contended.
Home to just over 1000 Guyanese, mainly from the Amerindian Carib tribe, Baramita is about three hours from the border with Venezuela. According to the Deputy Toshao, Venezuelans usually travel to their village to buy ration – some have even settled there after fleeing hardships in the neighbouring Spanish-speaking nation.
“I think [the Venezuelans here] want to be citizens of Guyana… We have Venezuelans in we village right now. We went yesterday [erecting flags everywhere] and even their house, we put the flag and we explained to them that they’re in Guyana and this Guyana’s flag, and if they take it down, we gonna charge them or deport them. They didn’t say anything. They keep asking for more flags.”
“Maduro is suffering them”
“Maduro is suffering them and punishing them, make they come over into we country and they living a better life here…They (Venezuelans) proud of the Guyana flag,” the Baramita official stated.
According to James, there are approximately 100 Venezuelans living in Baramita. On Sunday, the Village Council official indicated that there were no reports of any of these migrants travelling back to Venezuela to vote in Maduro’s elections.
“Most of these Venezuelans here right now want try to get their Guyanese ID (identification) cards. They want to become a Guyanese but it’s difficult for them,” she related.
The Deputy Toshao also told reporters that leading up to Sunday, no one from Venezuela came into their village to campaign for those elections.
“Let me make in known clearly that Essequibo belongs to Guyana and we all should feel safe and secure in Baramita,” James declared.
While confident of the Government’s, including the military, efforts to protect citizens there, the Baramita official expressed her desire to see an increase in the number of army personnel in the border village.
Domain awareness
However, National Security Advisor, Captain Gerry Gouveia, explained that there is domain awareness all along Guyana’s borders with Venezuela and boots on the ground is reflective of the level of threat being faced.
“Military deployment and police deployment is directly proportional to the threat we feel and if there are imminent issues. Fortunately, at this time, the strengthening of our military on the ground here is indicative of the assessment of the threat by the military high command.”
In the same breath however, Captain Gouveia declared there is capability to reinforce the area quickly, if such a need arises.
“We have soldiers at Port Kaituma and Mabaruma, and we constantly have patrols. Even though you see these [soldiers] here, we have patrols at the borders and patrols through the jungle all the time. This is a big jungle area so this is not about having large volumes of troops, this is about having domain awareness of what is happening around us.”
Captain Gouveia was part of the team that travelled to the frontline community, where he interacted with residents and reassured them that all 83,000 square miles of Guyana are safe.
The National Security Advisor subsequently told reporters that there were no unusual reports from the ground in the region.
“The place is very very quiet, very calm. I think the residents in this area are also alert based on what Venezuela was saying but we’ve had no unusual reports or anything to be concerned about. [This visit] was basically to reassure the citizens and to ask them for their support. But we didn’t have to do that because all of them are very very gung-ho about the territorial integrity of Guyana.”
Captain Gouveia was at the time speaking to the reporters at the Baramita Multipurpose Building, where scores of patriotically dressed residents had gathered. Among them were several Venezuelan citizens who are now residing in the community.
“Make me get vex and cry”
One young man, Christopher Alfonso, told reporters that he moved to Baramita about two years ago in search of betterment after fleeing hardship in his homeland. Despite being taught otherwise for his entire life in Venezuela, he recognised that Essequibo is not Spanish territory.
A Venezuelan migrant who has settled in Guyana’s Pakera Village near Matthews Ridge speaking with reporters on Sunday
“This is your culture, your people… This is not Venezuelan people [in Essequibo]. We, Spanish people, come from Venezuela for better life. This is not we country, we know it’s not we country but we come [here] for better life, for work,” the 28-year-old Venezuelan national told reporters.
Another Venezuelan national, who has been living in Pakera Village near Matthews Ridge for several years now with her husband and even gave birth to her four-year-old child here, declared that Essequibo belongs to Guyana. The woman was very emotional while speaking with reporters and recalling the difficulties she faced in Venezuela. She completely rejected Maduro’s claims to Guyana’s Essequibo territory.
“I don’t want the President Maduro come here and destroy this country at all. This is something that make me get vex and cry because I don’t want this man come here and destroy [Guyana] like what he do my beautiful country,” the woman said tearfully.
“The man aint make no sense to come and fight for land here [or] for the oil because it’s the only thing he want come and fight for …the money, the gold. How much gold Venezuela didn’t get? Venezuela get nuff gold, diamond, nuff money, nuff nature, nuff thing, and we done with all of that and he want come destroy here now.”
Meanwhile, another indigenous community that borders Venezuela, Arakaka – about 12 miles away from Port Kaituma, was also calm on Sunday.
Chairman of the Arakaka District Council, John Phillips, made it clear that there have been no attempts by Venezuelan officials to hold elections in that village.
“We don’t have no problems as far the elections are concerned. Everything is quiet… All the residents feel secure because no one trouble anybody here. We’re just going about our daily work and everything,” he related.
Arakaka is home to about 67 residents. According to Phillips, there are a few Venezuelans who have settled there but they got along well with the locals.
In addition to two-thirds of Guyana’s resource-rich landmass, Venezuela is also laying claim to Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) where nearly 11 billion barrels of oil have been discovered. Venezuela’s spurious claims to Guyana’s territory, including its elections, have been widely condemned by the international community.
The decades-old border controversy between the two countries are currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which Guyana has asked for a final and binding settlement of the 1899 Arbitral Award which demarcates the boundaries between the two neighbours. Earlier this month, the World Court barred Venezuela from conducting any elections in Guyana’s Essequibo region.
