Jagdeo lambastes AFC for undermining bipartisan support on Guyana/Venezuela border controversy

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has criticised the Alliance for Change (AFC) for actions he believes undermine the robust bipartisan support Guyana has maintained regarding the border controversy with Venezuela.

He referenced the Nigel Hughes-led party’s statement of March 15, where they said among other things “the PPPC as a government has proven time and time again that it has no stomach for a fight with Venezuela.”

During his press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo described the statement as “disgusting” and “ridiculous”.

He lamented that the AFC – by issuing this statement – has broken a longstanding robust bipartisan support to the border controversy. Jagdeo reminded that the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) has always supported Peoples National Congress (PNC) administrations in their approach to dealing with the border controversy.

“They’ve always had our solidarity. Even when elections were rigged in Guyana and they stayed in office for nearly 30 years through rigged elections, one thing we did not break solidarity on was the border issue,” Jagdeo said.

He also pointed out that the AFC’s statement was issued a day after the G7 foreign ministers released a statement of their own – for the first time in history – condemning Venezuela’s actions of sending a naval vessel into Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EZZ).

“First time in our history, we had the G7 foreign ministers – these are the biggest countries in the world – in a joint statement, mention this issue.”

“And the AFC low lives would come out a day after with a very divisive statement trying to cast doubt on our approach globally,” the Vice President expressed.

Jagdeo noted that even the PNC, from its actions so far, knows better than to break national solidarity on such a “sacred issue”.

He reminded that AFC’s Cathy Hughes had also taken a divisive approach on the border controversy when she had falsely claimed that Jagdeo had offered a maritime channel to Venezuela. It was later exposed that these claims were unsubstantiated and dishonest.