–President Ali affirms; says Guyana will continue to work closely with its partners

GIVEN Venezuela’s aggressive rhetoric and reckless actions, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has affirmed that Guyana will not be taking anything for granted, and will continue to work with its development partners.
The Head-of-State, during a BBC interview, said: “I’m concerned that Venezuela can indeed follow up their rhetoric and the narrative, and act in a reckless manner. And this is concerning because, already we have a dangerous situation in Venezuela where the people are suffering as a result of the type of governance; where the respect for the Rule of Law, where the respect for democracy and all these things are threatened.”

Although not taking Venezuela’s actions for granted, President Ali stressed that Guyana will always take the path of peace.
The President also appealed to Venezuela to abide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s recent ruling on Guyana’s request for provisional measures and to refrain from any action to annex Guyana’s territory.
The decision was handed down by the President of the ICJ Justice Joan E. Donoghue at the Peace Palace in The Hague, in The Netherlands.

The court ordered that, pending the decision of the substantive case, Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action that would modify the situation that currently prevails with the territory, whereby Guyana administers and exercises control over the Essequibo.
“Our response has always been one that respects international law, one that respects the dignity of people and one leads to the continuation of peace within this region, that is why we went to the ICJ for provisional measures in relation to this referendum,” Dr. Ali said, while explaining that the goal was never to stop the Spanish-speaking country’s referendum, since that is an internal issue for them.

He said that Venezuela’s referendum, however, posed five questions to their voters, among which were two which have attracted global condemnation. One of those questions asks whether the citizens agree to annexing Guyana’s Essequibo region and converting it into a Venezuelan state.
Touching on the ruling handed down by the ICJ, the President said that the judgement bars Venezuela from acting on those questions, regardless of the outcome of the referendum.

“The ICJ made it very clear that Venezuela is not to act upon the outcome of these two questions, or upon the outcome of the referendum, and that Venezuela must respect the status quo as it exists today, and that is, Essequibo belongs to Guyana…,” he said.
President Ali said, too, that Venezuela should abide by international law and the 1899 Arbitral Award.

Despite regional and international pleas for the Venezuelan administration to abide by international law, the Spanish-speaking country defied these calls and went full speed ahead with its full referendum, and has been peddling false and aggressive narratives.
“So, as a country, we are not taking this for granted; we are not taking the narrative [coming] out of Venezuela for granted, that is why we’ve been working with our [partners],” Dr. Ali said, while reflecting on the support echoed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth.