No elections in Essequibo

May 26, 2025 News

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… Guyanese shun Maduro’s sham polls 

Kaieteur News- Guyana’s borders with Venezuela remained intact on Sunday, even as that country’s President, Nicolas Maduro, urged his citizens to illegally elect a Governor for Guyana’s Essequibo territory.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took reporters and other media workers on a tour to four Region One communities close to the Venezuelan border to observe whether any election was taking place in Guyana. There was no evidence of polling.

Maduro had decided to illegally name Essequibo as a Venezuelan state in this year’s election.

Reporters visited Baramita, Matthews Ridge, Arakaka, Mabaruma and even Imbotero, an area located in the Barima River and a few hundred meters away from a Venezuelan army base setup a few hundred meters away on Venezuela’s side of the Region One border.

Venezuelans remained in Venezuelan territory, and it was business as usual at Mabaruma and for Guyanese living along the Barima River.

Indigenous Guyanese were seen paddling their boats in the river unbothered as they carried out their daily routine.

It was the same at Mabaruma, a quiet Sunday. Reporters even got a chance to take photos and videos of Guyana’s boundary markers in the Barima River as curious Venezuelan soldiers looked on from their side of the border.

Imbotero was the last stop for the reporters on Sunday afternoon before returning to Georgetown.

Their first stops were at Matthews Ridge and Baramita. Due to bad weather and persistent rain, one group of reporters went to Baramita while Kaieteur News and another group stopped at Matthews Ridge and Arakaka.

Like Imbotero, it was a quiet Sunday at Arakaka. Residents were, however, on alert for anything unusual, and some showed their support for Guyana’s territorial integrity by flying the Golden Arrowhead with pride.

One small shop was decorated with the Golden Arrowhead and had another hoisted on a flag pole.

Speaking with reporters, an Arakaka village councillor, Rudolph Clarkston, told reporters that nothing concerning the Maduro sham elections is happening at Arakaka.

Nevertheless, he said his community is a bit concerned that Venezuela could easily invade Guyanese territory, and is calling for stronger security measures.

“Nothing really going on in Arakaka here, but we think we should get lil more security here in Arakaka because the Barima River runs straight here, it’s a more easy access to this area,” Clarkston explained before adding that some assistance with firearms could help.

Meanwhile, a respected village leader, NDC Chairman, businessman and Justice of Peace, John Phillips, warned against the spread of Venezuelan propaganda by Guyanese.

“There is a lot of Guyanese, locals that tend to pass on false information and that is very bad because it tends to corrupt the community”, Phillips said while adding, “We saw one with an excavator (being blown up) that is not even in Guyana, some boat with some soldiers up and down but we don’t know about that”.

He assured, however, “But people nah a worry, we live all our lives quietly and they nah a worry”.

He urged fellow Guyanese to seek information on the Venezuela/Guyana border controversy only from official sources, including government websites, and to desist from spreading misinformation.

“Don’t do that because you only antagonizing the community, getting them all hyper that something is happening, and then it’s not true,” Phillips warned.

At Matthews Ridge, residents, including a Venezuelan national, were dressed in white t-shirts with a logo of the Guyana map and the words “Essequibo is Guyana’s”.

One businessman, Gregory Vincent, owner of GV Construction Inc., and his staff used the t-shirts as their official uniform for work on Sunday.

Asked why they chose to do so, Vincent told reporters, “Well, both myself and my employees are proud Guyanese. And we know that Essequibo belongs to Guyana. We will not give up Essequibo.”

He said that Mathews Ridge, at the moment, does not even have Venezuelan immigrants living in the community, except for one young lady who is employed at the Pakera Hospital.

“… I think by now she should be a Guyanese citizen,” Vincent said.

Asked about his thoughts on Venezuela purporting to hold elections in the Essequibo, Vincent responded, “We haven’t seen any group of people, you might hear a few propaganda  and misinformation, but we at Matthews Ridge don’t listen to them”

He continued, “ We listen to information from the President and from the Government and from the realest source of factual and truthful information.”

“We don’t follow propaganda and we haven’t seen no part of major invasion from Venezuela and we will not give up Essequibo,” Vincent iterated before adding, “We as citizens, we are gonna fight with the government to protect Essequibo”.

Reporters from the other group who conducted interviews of their own related that residents of Baramita and Port Kaituma shared similar views and showed strong support for Guyana’s territorial integrity, completely shunning Maduro’s sham elections.

Even some of the Venezuelan immigrant community in Port Kaituma supported Guyana’s right to defend its Essequibo from Venezuela.

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• Baramita, Essequibo, Government, Port Kaituma, Venezuela

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