—regional bloc to make formal statement, Mottley says

AT the close of the 48th Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit on Friday, regional leaders united in their condemnation of the shooting of six Guyanese soldiers on the Cuyuni River earlier in the week.

CARICOM Chairman and Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, while responding to questions on the matter, noted that leaders have condemned the attacks of the Guyanese military by suspected Venezuelan gang members.

“A statement will go out condemning the shootings as well as continuing to express solidarity with Guyana,” Prime Minister Mottley told the press conference.

President Dr. Irfaan Ali, while engaging members of the media on the sidelines of the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo on Tuesday, affirmed that the government is taking the recent incident seriously, and very soon, authorities will be in a position to have more details as to what actually occurred. He said: “…We have to do the evaluation, even if it is armed gangs or any of those organisations that operate on the Venezuela side of the border, this is serious because they fired on ranks in uniform.”

When asked what more could be done to avoid a reoccurrence, he said that following the evaluation, a posture will be discussed that is important for the protection of the men and women in uniform and Guyana’s sovereignty.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Ali, in a post to his official Facebook page, noted that the government is deeply concerned about the well-being of the soldiers who were injured in Monday’s attack on a military patrol.

In this post, he indicated that he had the opportunity to speak with Second Lieutenant Ansel Murray, Sergeants Andre Frazer and Kevon Davis, Corporal Kevin Henry, Lance Corporal Troy Yorrick and Private Ezra Samuel.

Dr. Ali noted that he expressed gratitude for their service at Guyana’s borders and assured them of the nation’s support. Further, at that time, he indicated a helicopter was en route to carry out a medical evacuation.

The Guyana Defence Force, in a release on Monday evening, noted that earlier in the day, a resupply patrol en route from Eteringbang to Makapa came under fire from a group of armed men positioned on the Venezuelan bank of the Cuyuni River.

The patrol responded to the attack and engaged the assailants with return fire. During the exchange, the release noted that several members of the patrol sustained gunshot injuries.