Guyanese demand CARICOM sever ties with Israel 

Sep 26, 2025 News

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…call for nationwide boycott of Israeli businesses

Kaieteur News – Religious leaders in Guyana united with the Solidarity with Gaza movement on Thursday in calling for the Government of Guyana and the private sector to immediately end their partnerships with Israeli companies. They also urged CARICOM (Caribbean Community) to stand united in cutting all diplomatic ties with Israel, a country accused of committing genocide in Gaza.

The group organised a day of prayer and fasting for the people of Palestine outside CARICOM headquarters at Liliendaal, Georgetown. A number of Guyanese-most of them members of civil society, turned up to show support to end the war that has killed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, including women and children over the last two years. Joining them was former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar and a number of religious leaders represent the various religious backgrounds in Guyana. Present were Reverend Patricia Sheeratan Bisnauth, Shiek Haseeb Yusef and Father Ronald Fernandes.

Together with a Lebanese Guyanese activist with the Solidarity with Gaza Group they held a press conference call on their fellow Guyanese to take a stand for Palestine. The activist told the press that her organisation is part of the Boycott Diverse and Sanction (BDS) a global movement that successfully ended apartheid in South Africa.

She noted if BDS is intensified against Israel it can be very effective in ending the genocide in Gaza and urged Guyana’s Private Sector and its government to end all partnerships it has with Israeli companies. “And I really want to draw attention today three demands that we have from BDS…we have three things that we want to focus on in Guyana,” she said before highlighting the partnerships that two major enterprises in Guyana have with Israeli companies.

She said that currently a major telecommunication and internet service provider in Guyana has teamed up with an Israeli company that develops and manufactures platforms for DSL Fibre and 5G which has ties with an Israeli telecommunications provider that supplies the Israeli Defence Force with communications technologies.

The activist noted too that a beverage company in Guyana has also partnered with another Israeli company in Guyana that has direct ties with the Israeli Government. “And finally, we are calling on the Government of Guyana and the Ministry of Agriculture to immediately end their partnership with Israeli company Talico Incorporated. They are partnering with them to develop a large-scale hydroponic production system in Guyana”, she added.

Meanwhile, Former Ramotar echoed calls for CARICOM to cut diplomatic ties with Israel. “Being silent is being complicit”, he said while adding that he believes that CARICOM can do more advising the organisation to take a page out of Belize’s book, the only country in this region to break ties with is Israel. He called on CARICOM leaders to stand united for the cause.  “We should not allow ourselves to stand divided… (we must) also call for their expulsion from the United Nations, they do not belong there.”  The religious leaders agreed with them that all sectors in society must unite for the cause.

Reverend Sheeratan-Bisnauth representing the Guyana’s Presbyterian church, said: “We see children being starved as a weapon, this is barbaric it is evil…”

In a passionate address to the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Irfaan Ali, reminded world leaders of the dark shadow looming genocide in Palestine.  The Guyanese leader reiterated his country’s condemnation of the attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, and called for the immediate release of all hostages. However, he noted, “Israel’s actions have long shattered any pretense of legitimate self-defense.”

The president continued, “What we are witnessing is not warfare, but mass extermination—a systematic slaughter and displacement of Palestinian men, women, and children. Those who escape the bombs and bullets are condemned to die slowly, starved of food, water, and hope. This is a war crime.”

He underscored that the international community must not remain paralysed while an entire people is annihilated. “Impunity must never triumph over justice,” he declared.  President Ali further noted, “We must take urgent action to halt the genocide, return the hostages and accelerate our efforts towards the Two-State Solution. We urge Qatar, Egypt and the United States to continue their efforts in this regard.”

According to Al Jazeera, since the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023, at least 65,419 Palestinians have been killed and 167,160 wounded, with thousands more believed to be buried beneath the rubble. Israel launched what campaigners say is a war of vengeance after 1,139 people were killed in Israel in a Hamas-led attack in October 2023. About 200 were taken captive by the Palestinian fighters, out of which more than 40 still remain in Gaza.

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• CARICOM, Donald Ramotar, Gaza, Israel, Liliendaal, Palestine, Private Sector

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