Forde calls on all peace-loving citizens to denounce Venezuela’s aggression

Nov 09, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – Alluding to fact that the threats made by the Venezuela Government to seize and annex the Essequibo region from Guyana has the potential of not only affecting Guyana but destabilising the region, Shadow Attorney General, Roydale Forde SC said.

He also called on all peace-loving people to denounce Venezuela’s aggression. Addressing law makers at an Extraordinary Sitting of the National Assembly on Monday, Forde echoed the words of Leader of the People’s National Congress former Prime Minister Forbes Burnham when he called on all people intent of safeguarding the peace of Guyana and its hemispheric neighbours to do their part and speak out against the threats.

Quoting an appeal which Burnham stood in the National Assembly and made—55 years ago—on 12th July 1968 to be exact, Forde said that he joins with his colleagues in the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change, (APNU+AFC) and every Guyanese to reaffirm the position. “In our stand for survival, we shall call upon the conscience of all peace-loving people to speak out in our cause and we shall need all our unity as a people so that your voice may be heard in all corners of the world and in 11 the Councils of the world’s institutions for peace.”

APNU’s Shadow Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Roydale Forde, SC

“We have no quarrel with the Venezuelan people but we shall not lack courage or resolve in resisting aggressive demands of a Venezuelan Government that is prepared to defile the traditions of Bolivar and to flout the precepts of hemispheric and world order and security,” Forde said extensively quoting Burnham.

He emphasised therefore that the efforts of the Venezuelan Government to seize Guyana’s territory must be denounced. Further alluding to the words of the former Prime Minster, Forde continued: “I cannot tell with any certainty where this ill-advised course of action on which the Government of Venezuela has embarked will lead us. We must be prepared, however, for further and even more aggressive demonstrations of international lawlessness from the Government of Venezuela. We will need all our courage and strength to withstand these efforts to break our will and despoil our land,”

Referring to the historical facts surrounding the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy, Forde noted Burnham’ profound words are relevant. “We are here, more than a century later, facing a threat of no lesser magnitude, and we cannot pretend this issue is not a clear and present danger to every citizen of this beloved land, home and abroad,” Forde said.

The parliamentarian noted too that he is ever conscious of how much the Guyanese people are counting on their elected representatives to protect them and the beloved land from invaders. As such, he noted that Venezuela’s increasing aggression is not only misplaced but devoid of legitimacy. “Even as we acknowledge these, we cannot ignore, in a world where might could supersede right, small nations such as ours must navigate these murky waters, sensibly,” he said.

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APNU’s Shadow Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Essequibo, Extraordinary Sitting of the National Assembly, Roydale Forde, SC

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