Chastanet Says Venezuela Is A ‘Failed State,’ Wrong In Guyana Border Controversy

Opposition leader Allen Chastanet, asserting that Venezuela is a ‘failed state,’ has criticised the Saint Lucia government’s failure to speak out against President Nicolas Maduro amid the border controversy with Guyana. Venezuela claims Guyana’s resource-rich Essequibo region, comprising more than two-thirds of the country’s territory. Although the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has yet to make a final ruling on the issue, and urged maintaining the status quo, Venezuela held a referendum recently in which voters supported annexing the disputed territory. “Venezuela is wrong,” Allen Chastanet told reporters on the margins of a sitting of the House of Assembly on Tuesday. “There’s an ongoing court case. You cannot all of a sudden unilaterally decide that you are going to take over a piece of land while you are still in court,” the former Prime Minister declared. “This government wants to say, ‘Maduro is my friend’?” Chastanet said. “I would have thought when the government of Saint Lucia went down to Venezuela a couple of weeks ago, they actually would have gone by boat and brought food with them to help out the people in Venezuela,” the United Workers Party (UWP) leader stated. “Venezuela is a disaster when it comes to...