‘Venezuelan elections were a failure’ – Jagdeo

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo labelled the May 25 Venezuelan elections for Guyana’s Essequibo region a huge failure, rejecting propaganda emanating from the Spanish-speaking nation.

The elections were for governor and other representatives of the Essequibo region, an area internationally recognised as Guyana’s. The elections were, however, held in Venezuela.

Jagdeo said no Guyanese went across to Venezuela to vote in these elections, and that a video, shared by Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and purporting that Guyanese were crossing the border to vote, was fake. Rodriguez’s video has since been debunked and rejected, as it was merely a video of passengers crossing the Demerara River, with the Stabroek Market in the background.

“Nobody crossed, it’s a rejection. Nobody wants to be part of Venezuela

“… The people of Guyana, they know, instinctively, genetically, that every bit of the 83,000 square miles of our territory belongs to us,” the Guyanese Vice President said at a party press conference on Thursday.

The Vice President also expressed his pride that Guyanese, particularly those living in border communities, stood tall and reaffirmed Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. However, he criticised the local opposition for withholding their support on a recent Parliamentary motion on reaffirming Guyana’s sovereignty over its internationally recognised territory.

Guyana maintains that Essequibo is an integral part of its sovereign territory, a position upheld by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its December 2023 ruling. So it believes that the Venezuelan elections are a violation of the ICJ’s orders and international law.

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