Thirty-six members of the Venezuelan military led by a general on Thursday morning invaded Guyana’s land and airspace, blowing up two Guyanese mining dredges in the Cuyuni River and making overflights in two helicopters. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has since issued a protest about the incursions and summoned Venezuelan Ambassador Dario Morandy at which the Government of Guyana’s grave concerns were communicated.
Ambassador Morandy told the media yesterday that he had met Guyana Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally in the morning when the matter was discussed. However, he said that the Venezuelan military had not violated Guyana’s borders, and that the area from which the dredges had been evicted belonged to his country. “Venezuela was protecting its natural resources and we need to remove all illegal miners from the area,” the Ambassador said. He also said that the military had not used explosives.
Senior army sources have discounted Morandy’s statements, noting that the dredges owned by Anthony Ramlall and Dereck Cabose had been anchored in the Cuyuni River at ‘Iguana Island’, an area which belongs to Guyana.
A team of police and military personnel was expected to fly into the area yesterday afternoon to conduct an investigation. The army source said that soldiers stationed at Eteringbang had been put on high alert and had been carrying out patrols in the area. The source said the GDF base at Eteringbang is some 40 miles from where the dredges were blown up, and about two hours away by boat. The source said that when ranks received news of the incident they responded immediately, but by the time they arrived, the Venezuelan military had already pulled out. “We believe this attack was centrally directed
