advises against irresponsible postings about Guyana-Venezuela border controversy

ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C. has appealed to citizens to only listen to and read the official channels of communication regarding the ongoing Venezuela-Guyana border controversy.

The Attorney-General made those remarks during his weekly show, Issues in the News, during which he noted that there are a lot of irresponsible, false and hysterical postings on social media that constitute fear-mongering.

“We caution against such publications, they do nobody any good; they certainly don’t have a positive impact on the psyche of Guyanese, and they can lead not only to unnecessary apprehension, tension and stress, but can also lead to provocative acts, which can be inimical to our national interest at this point in time,” he said.
To this end, Nandlall related that the government continues to appeal to people to not do those things and not pay heed to those publications.
Against this backdrop, he said that the Government of Guyana will continue to intensify its public engagements on the question of the border controversy.
Thus far, several important institutions such as the University of Guyana, and others across the region, have been organising engagements to discuss this important issue.
The University of Guyana is set to hold its second symposium, while another university from the Caribbean is scheduled to host one soon as well.
Later this week, the Attorney-General is set to participate in one such engagement at The Bishop’s High School, where he and Guyana’s agent in the ongoing border controversy case at the International Court of Justice, Carl Greenidge, will be panellists.

Guyana is currently awaiting a notification from the International Court of Justice regarding when it will deliver the ruling on Guyana’s application for provisional measures that would prevent any action by Venezuela to annex Guyana’s Essequibo.

Nandlall said that the President of the court announced that the decision would be handed down shortly.
“We are entitled to the belief that a decision would be forthcoming before December 3, as that is the date on which the impugned referendum is scheduled to take place in Venezuela, and our application to the court relates directly to the occurrence of that event,” he said.
However, he reiterated that the government will continue over the next few days and beyond, to engage in public interactions of different types in an effort to bring greater awareness to this matter.