Venezuelan envoy lauds Guyana for supporting migrants

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.

During a recent engagement with Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Hugh Todd, in Georgetown, Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana, Carlos Amador Perez Silva, took the opportunity to thank Guyana for its commitment to international humanitarian law and human rights law in its treatment of the migrants from Venezuela.

According to a statement from the Foreign Ministry, “[The Ambassador] stated that Caracas is aware of the tens of thousands of migrants from Venezuela fleeing economic hardship, which he classified as economic migrants, and acknowledged the additional cost to the Guyana Government to support these people.”

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 living in Guyana.

Only recently, a group of Warrau people from Venezuela travelled from Region Two 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 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 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 publicized and Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has called out the Alliance For Change (AFC) for using them to gain political mileage.