President David Granger yesterday focused his United Nations General Assembly address on the controversy over Vene-zuela’s spurious claim to Essequibo, charging that Caracas was trying to deny Guyana its birthright and calling on the UN to fulfil its pledge of collective security for small states.
“Venezuela has retarded Guyana’s development by threats that are intended to force a small state to yield its birthright,” a poised Granger declared as he delivered his first address as President of Guyana to the UN General Assembly.
“Venezuela’s expansionist ambitions cannot be allowed to unsettle the principle of inviolability of borders, undermine the tenets of international law and unravel borders which have been undisturbed for decades,” he added, tracing the decades of attempts by Caracas to
