The new Guyanese offshore patrol vessel GDFS Shahoud. Photo: Guyanese Presidential Office.
The vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, repudiated the warmongering of the president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, who is “threatening the tranquility and peace” of the region.
On Friday, June 14, Rodríguez commented that President Ali is establishing himself as “the Caribbean Zelensky,” referring to the president of Ukraine who serves as a puppet to warmongering US ambitions.
“Venezuela repudiates the warmongering of Irfaan Ali, who wants to become the Caribbean Zelensky by threatening the tranquility and peace of our region to worship his American and ExxonMobil masters,” Rodríguez wrote on social media.
Venezuela repudia el afán guerrerista de @presidentaligy Irfaan Ali, quien se erige como el Zelensky caribeño al amenazar la tranquilidad y La Paz de nuestra Región para venerar a sus amos estadounidenses y de la Exxon Mobil. El Esequibo es de Venezuela, así será por siempre! El… https://t.co/AMjBTqucgg
— Delcy Rodríguez (@delcyrodriguezv) June 14, 2024
“The Essequibo belongs to Venezuela, and it will be like that forever,” she added.
Rodríguez ‘s statement comes after the recent announcement by the Guyanese president increasing his country’s military budget for the purchase of boats and planes with the support of his “partners” abroad. Ali made these comments during a ceremony to receive a newly acquired offshore patrol vessel worth $ 11.5 million, GDFS Shahoud, honoring Guyanese Colonel Michael Shahoud, who was among five Guyana military officers who died in a helicopter crash in December last year.
Venezuela Reiterates Call to Guyana To Return to Negotiations Over Essequibo
The Guyanese government has increased the defense budget by $202 million this year, an increase of $95.8 million from 2023. This figure is the highest since the independence of Guyana in 1966.
On June 11, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that “the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela strongly condemns the illegal oil production license granted by the government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to oil companies in the Stabroek Block with the intention of extracting energy resources in undelimited waters, potentially compromising Venezuelan resources.”
(RedRadioVE) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
