Opposition Leader says; calls for Guyanese to be vigilant of Bolivarian Republic’s ‘greed’

STANDING on the right side of history and upholding the nation’s territorial sovereignty, Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, has maintained that Guyana will not yield to Venezuela’s “bullyism.”

Norton joined several of his opposition colleagues and government officials in reiterating Guyana’s firm position on the border controversy at an extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly on Monday.

“We cannot concede an inch to Venezuela,” the Opposition Leader told his colleagues, adding: “We must see Venezuela as an adversary that wants our territory. We must remember that Venezuela always comes up with some scheme to get our territory. We have to be ever vigilant.”
Emphasizing the sweat and tears that the country’s ancestors had to shed in order to create the country, Norton said that the results of this rich history and hard-work should not be coveted from its people.

“I concede that creating this country and society has not been easy. The Africans, according to our great historians, later joined by their Indian brothers, moved tons of soil to build our coast land where most of our people live, work and struggle to fashion a place where our people could live and create the environment for meaningful human existence,” he said, emphasising that Guyanese must benefit from the nation’s patrimony.

Norton further posited that Venezuela’s bold claims to Guyana’s territory are not only “sinister” but also “persistent.”
He went on to say: “…The hard work that we as a people had put into the creation of a country and society was going to be taken away from us. That will not happen. Of the two claims to our land, by far the more sinister and persistent would come from our neighbour to the West, Venezuela.”

VENEZUELA’S GREED
The Opposition Leader firmly remarked that Venezuela’s threats should not be taken lightly because the country has its own personal agenda behind their claims.
Norton said: “This is a threat like no other. Venezuela seeks our entire Essequibo region, our richest county.”

Apart from Essequibo’s lush resources such as: Iron ore, gold, diamond and even manganese deposits; the recent discovery of oil has heightened Venezuela’s greed, according to him.
Describing the nation as a “regional bully,” the Opposition Leader pointed out that the 1899 Arbitral Award was the basis of the tri-junction point which fixed the boundaries for Guyana, Venezuela, and Brazil.

In this exercise, Caracas lost territory to Brazil but has never once contested the legitimacy of the Award with Brasilia but is doing so with the smaller state of Guyana.
“…Our Western neighbour is mistaken in the belief that Guyana will succumb to its bullyism and its attempt to take over our land and its riches,” Norton firmly said.
In its most recent attempt to disregard the Rule of Law, the Nicolás Maduro Government plans to put forward a referendum on Guyana’s Essequibo.
However, the Guyana Government has sought the intervention of the World Court. A hearing into this matter is set for next week, while an impending case on the border controversy itself is still ongoing in the Court.

Focusing more on the referendum, Norton said that this is a “naked attempt to annex the Essequibo [county].”
In a time where tensions are higher than ever before and Guyana is facing threats to its territorial sovereignty, the Opposition Leader is calling for a united front.
“I have made the point that we are dealing with a dangerous and sinister enemy in the form of the Venezuelan state, and we will have to take measures not only to defend our territorial integrity and sovereignty, but also our place in the Latin American and Caribbean Region,” Norton said