San Juan, Mar 12 (EFE). – Guyana’s Interior Minister Robeson Benn warned Wednesday that any Guyanese or resident of the country who supports the elections planned by Venezuela in the disputed region of Essequibo will be charged with treason.
“We know that there are some sleepers here, we put out a few already, we know that Maduro is saying that as of the 23rd of May, he will hold elections in Venezuela and he will appoint a governor and other officials of Guayana Esequiba,” the Home Affairs Minister warned.
“I am saying today any person Guyanese or otherwise if it’s a Guyanese, who is appointed to be governor of Essequibo and be placed at Anna Regina, we will charge that person for treason and lock them up,” he added.
Minister Benn pointed out that there is still a relaxed policy for those with family ties across the border but support for Venezuela’s electoral plans will have consequences.
To bolster his argument, he said that the denial of entry into Guyana to 75 Venezuelan migrants this week shows the tightening of background checks.
Benn recalled that the recent incursion of a Venezuelan naval vessel into Guyanese waters and the shooting of six Guyanese soldiers near the border contributed to heightened tensions.
Last week, Guyana appealed to the International Court of Justice for an order to prevent the Venezuelan government from going ahead with planned elections in Essequibo.
Two days ago, Venezuela’s Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, announced that in addition to a governor, Venezuela will elect eight legislators and their respective deputies from the Essequibo in the May elections.
The dispute between the two countries intensified after Venezuela approved a unilateral referendum in December 2023 to annex the region, which Guyana has controlled since 1966 and whose dispute is in the hands of the International Court of Justice.
At the beginning of February, Venezuela described the Essequibo as an area of strategic importance and insisted on the election of local authorities.
For Guyana, the elections violate the Argyle Agreement signed on Dec. 14, 2023, which commits both nations to refrain from escalating any conflict or disagreement arising from the territorial dispute.
The border dispute over the Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and has been claimed by Venezuela, began with the Paris Arbitration Award of 1899, which granted sovereignty over the area to what was then British Guiana.
Decades later, Venezuela declared the award null and void and signed the Geneva Agreement of 1966 with the United Kingdom, which established a commission to resolve the historic dispute, but it never materialized.
Guyana is committed to resolving the territorial dispute through the process initiated at the International Court of Justice citing the 1899 agreement, but Venezuela does not recognize the International court authority on the matter. EFE
mv/mcd