Dear Editor,

REFERENCE is drawn to a recent letter, “Jagdeo’s falsehoods about WIN’s leader’s visit to the Venezuelan Embassy strikes at the heart of public trust and national security,” authored by Mr Jonathan Subrian.

The letter comprises several sweeping statements aimed at the Vice President and the Government of Guyana, yet -ironically – reads as obfuscation prefaced upon untruth.

Subrian’s missive begins by asserting that the Venezuelan Ambassador “decried VP Bharrat Jagdeo’s pre-2025 election propaganda that was hell bent on painting the unpatriotic picture that the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Party Leader Mr Azruddin Mohamed, is buddies with Maduro/ Venezuela and smacks clearly as an aberration of statesmanship on the VP’s part.”

He continues, moralising: “To hold one of the highest offices in the PPP-led government and openly lie to the Guyanese nation is a desecration of the office and abuse of Guyana’s taxpayers’ dollars.”

This is bizarre, as no record of such a statement from the VP even exists. Subrian’s rhetoric, albeit sanctimonious, is therefore built upon disinformation.

He builds upon this, calling on the citizenry to distrust any further statements from the Government of Guyana regarding the border situation. Disinformation aside, this lofty call for sensitivity on border-related issues rings hollow when contrasted with his public and political association with WIN’s leader, Azruddin Mohamed who, alongside his father, was sanctioned under the far-reaching Magnitsky Act for gold smuggling. Gold, which, according to Reuters, came from Venezuela.

Subrian has been extremely vocal over a fabrication of the Vice President’s comments. On August 14, Jagdeo raised concern over Mr Nazar Mohamed’s visits to the Venezuelan Embassy, a claim upon which he staked his entire political career.

A claim corroborated by widely circulated footage in the media, on August 29, confirms the visits. We are less apprised of Subrian’s views or concerns on this video. Moreover, the WIN campaign, which comprised both Subrian and Dr Mark France, formerly from ANUG, has yet to comment on the video circulating altogether. Why?

Moreover, the entire missive relies upon comments made by the Venezuelan Ambassador to the Stabroek News. SN’s reportage, intended as the pièce de résistance in his attack on Jagdeo, was quickly clarified by the publication to be an error, stating that the ambassador was only asked whether Azruddin visited the Embassy.

This confirms that Subrian’s entire sermon was built upon falsehood.

Further, in the interest of “public trust” -as Subrian eloquently puts – yet to be known is commentary from Subrian, or any of the former ANUG cohort, on the indictments of Azruddin Mohamed by a U.S. Grand Jury – with whom he is politically and publicly associated, and whose reputation he is passionately defending over an “erroneously” reported news story.

In addition, currently unknown is any disclosure from anyone in the WIN camp on said party’s campaign financing. On Nomination Day, Azruddin Mohamed told the press that his campaign would be run using his “life savings,” yet failed to situate said savings within the context of the OFAC sanctions.

In August, the WIN campaign published correspondence within an OFAC compliance hotline where they admitted that the candidates’ bank accounts closures were impacting their ability to campaign. Perhaps Mr Subrian could shed some long overdue light on these gaps.

Finally, it is imperative for Mr Subrian to clarify the capacity within which he writes. Is he writing as a spokesperson for WIN? Or is he writing as General Secretary of ANUG? Mr Subrian’s signature bears the title of “Esquire.”

Yet upon a cursory search, Mr Subrian doesn’t appear to be registered with the Bar in Guyana, New York, nor any other jurisdiction. Neither could one find a single reference to any semblance of legal qualification on the public record. Furthermore, his GECOM voter registration information, in Region Three, lists him as a Photographer.

It is imperative that truth and patriotism form the basis of our contributions, over vacuous platitudes. The Guyanese public deserves nothing less.

Yours faithfully,

Nikhil Sankar.