LEADERS for both the Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) are calling on the Brazilian Ambassador to Guyana to declare that the Government of Brazil has no preference for any local political party. This call came as members of the AFC staged a protest in front of the Brazilian Embassy on South Road, even as Brazilian Ambassador Luiz Gilberto Seixas de Andrade met with APNU presidential candidate David Granger and other members of his party.
Executive members of both parties continue to express concern about Roraima Governor Jose de Anchieta Junior speaking at a campaign rally of the incumbent People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) on Sunday, despite pronouncements made by PPP/C campaign manager Robert Persaud that the governor was not in Lethem to campaign for that party.
In a statement issued on Monday, Persaud emphatically denied that the Roraima governor was campaigning for the PPP/C at that party’s grand public meeting in Lethem, Region 9.
“Prior to the public meeting, the governor had official talks with President Jagdeo, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues, and Region 9 officials on improving relations and cross-border trade. The meeting was held on Sunday, as it was convenient for President Jagdeo’s schedule,” Persaud stated.
He also pointed out that the governor merely used the platform to bring greetings from the neighbouring state to the residents of Region 9, recognising that the border communities of Boa Vista and Lethem have very close people-to-people contact, and a level of interdependence and exchange.
Speaking to members of the press yesterday, during the protest, AFC presidential candidate Khemraj Ramjattan maintained that Mr. Junior’s presence at the rally constituted a violation of Guyana’s “sovereign affairs”.
Meanwhile, AFC member Moses Nagamootoo, who was also present at the protest action, claimed that the governor’s decision to take the platform last Sunday was “unfair” to other political parties contesting the 2011 elections.
In the midst of the protest, APNU executive members emerged from within the Brazilian Embassy to address the members of the media assembled there.
As to the nature of their discussions with the Brazilian Ambassador, Granger explained that APNU is seeking “corrective” action in the form of a “statement to the world”, since, according to him,   Brazil is considered the power in this hemisphere, and anything that country does will have international repercussions.
A short while after the meeting with APNU and AFC members, the Brazilian Embassy issued a statement on the visit of Roraima Governor Jose de Anchieta Junior to Lethem on Sunday.
The statement reiterated the Brazilian Government’s traditional position of non-intervention in the affairs of sovereign states, and Brazil’s belief in the principle of self-determination. It also stressed Brazil’s total neutrality and impartiality in the development of the electoral process in Guyana.