The Guyana Government has come in for high praise from its Spanish-speaking neighbour, which has expressed gratitude to Guyana for its support and treatment of migrants from Venezuela.
This was related by Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana, Carlos Amador Perez Silva, during a high-level meeting with Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Hugh Todd, in Georgetown last week.
According to a statement from the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Perez Silva took the opportunity during the engagement to thank Guyana for its commitment to international humanitarian law and human rights law in its treatment of the migrants from Venezuela.
“[The Venezuelan diplomat] stated that Caracas is aware of the tens of thousands of migrants from Venezuela fleeing economic hardship, which he classified as economic migrants, and noted the additional cost to the Government of Guyana [in supporting the Venezuelan citizens],” the missive from Takuba Lodge in Georgetown added.
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd met with Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana, Carlos Amador Perez Silva, in Georgetown on Thursday
In response, Minister Todd alluded to Guyana’s national policy initiative facilitated through the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee on Migrants from Venezuela, which provides humanitarian assistance and social support to the migrants.
Currently, there are approximately 25,000 Venezuelans, including returning Guyanese, living in Guyana after fleeing the economic hardship in the Spanish-speaking nation under the Nicolás Maduro administration.
The Guyana Government has been providing support to these groups, especially the most vulnerable persons, in key areas such as healthcare, education, employment, sanitation, shelter, food and clothing as part of effort to integrate them into the Guyanese society.
Only recently, a group of Warrau people from Venezuela travelled from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) to Georgetown seeking help from the Government.
The group showed up at State House where President Irfaan Ali through his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Earl Edghill, assisted them by providing hampers, meals and transportation to return to Essequibo.
The migrants being tended to by Government officials last week
With support from the Amerindian Affairs Ministry, the Warraus were eventually transported to Parika using a bus from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). Whilst at Parika, they were fed and housed for the night before being provided with breakfast the following day and then transported to Essequibo to return to their homes.
The visit of these Warrau people to Georgetown had been widely publicised and Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has called out the Alliance For Change (AFC) using them to gain political mileage.
AFC had claimed that the group of people were invited to Georgetown by President Ali and were abandoned by the Government.
However, according to the Vice President, the minority opposition party sought to politicise the issue and cover up its tracks. Referring to the AFC Leader Nigel Hughes’ move to “dump” the group at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Jagdeo said this is typical of the AFC.
“Typical of the AFC, because it doesn’t come from their heart; typical of the AFC. He [Hughes] took the Warraus and dropped them off at a Ministry. He deposited them and disappeared, sped off. That is the love that they had. They lost their love from the night before in a short period. In eight hours, they lost all their love for the Warraus and they disappeared once again…,” the VP stated.
Jagdeo added, “once he realised that there was nothing to be gained politically from it, he just dumped them again, like how they did their supporters in the 2015 to 2020 period. This time, the Warraus was the unsuspecting victims.”
It was reported that approximately 25 to 30 Warrau migrants, including children, were left outside of the Amerindian Affairs Ministry two Fridays ago.
The group was taken under the wings of the Ministry, which provided them with food, hampers, Christmas toys and money.
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