Guyana President Emphasises Peace Amid Venezuela Border Controversy

Guyana President Dr. Irfaan Ali declared in a Christmas message to his compatriots that his country remains ‘wedded to the ideal of peace’. “Guyana remains wedded to the ideal of peace, peace within our nation and peace with all our neighbours,” Ali stated. He spoke amid an unresolved border controversy with Venezuela, which claims more than two-thirds of Guyana’s territory in the resource-rich Essequibo region. Owing to the growing tensions, Ali and Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro recently met at the Argyle International Airport in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where they committed to peace in an 11-point joint declaration. While emphasising the need for peace, President Ali spoke of the responsibility to call on everyone involved in war and using conflict, war and force as a means to peace, to halt their actions and ‘give peace a chance’. “Let us stop the slaughter of children and women across the world, the slaughter of children and women in Palestine, and acts of terrorism. We must stop it,” the Guyana President stated. “We must find a way to resolve these conflicts and bring peace to those families because peace around the world depends on each of us as a country, as individuals...