Venezuela’s Ambassador here, Reina Diaz, has formally asked the Guyana Government for support for Caracas at international fora and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge has said that he will transmit this request.
This was disclosed in a statement yesterday from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
With unrest mounting internally and over 50 people killed during protests and other actions, Venezuela has come under increasing pressure from the international community to hold elections and to conduct real dialogue with opposition forces.
The statement noted that in 2016, Guyana convened a meeting of non-governmental organisations and the private sector here to consider the deteriorating conditions in Venezuela. However, at the time, the Venezuelan Government was not open to receiving any material assistance that was being offered at the time, the statement said.
In this regard, in a bid to determine the seriousness of the recent Venezuelan request for assistance, the statement yesterday said that on Thursday 25 May, Ambassador Diaz was invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where she stated that her country could benefit from Guyana’s support at international fora.
“Foreign Minister Greenidge said he would communicate Venezuela’s request and that he was certain it would be given the level of attention it deserved by the Guyana Government. He observed that Guyana’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Dr Riyad Insanally, was the current Chair of the Caricom group. Guyana was of the view that it was both desirable and appropriate to discuss the crisis at the OAS. Moreover, Minister Greenidge urged dialogue among all stakeholders in Venezuela, including the government and opposition,” the statement added.
Greenidge also revealed that Guyana was one of the members of the Community of Caribbean and Latin American States (CELAC) that met to try to resolve Venezuela’s deteriorating situation as well as the one between its government and opposition.
Guyana had done the same with another regional body, the Union of South American Nations.
Greenidge further stressed that any support from his Government for the people of Venezuela did not indicate automatic agreement with Caracas’s policies and its mode of implementing those. Rather, Guyana could provide more effective help if it dealt fairly with all sides.
“The Government of Guyana has no desire to compound the problems of Venezuela by joining one or other of the protagonists,” he stated.
He added that, “Guyana, as a matter of routine, stands ready to assist or support all Caricom … states and immediate neighbours, where appropriate, when asked.”
