Venezuela planning to offer E’bo residents ID cards
July 11, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under News, Source
As part of its “recovery” strategy for Essequibo, Venezuela said that it will start a process of issuing almost 200,000 identity cards to Guyanese living in that country.
The disclosure was made by retired Army Col. Pompey Torrealba Rivero, advisor on the subject of President Nicolas Maduro.
According to an El Universal report, the government of Venezuela will begin in the coming days a diplomatic strategy to recover Essequibo, in which that neighbouring country is claiming a big part.
Torrealba called Maduro’s address Monday to his National Assembly on the Essequibo claims “a historic event”, because “never before in the claims process, a Head of State had addressed the legislature to expose the country Essequibo topic”.
Venezuela is contending that it was robbed of the Venezuela territory 115 years ago. It is claiming150, 000 km² of Guyana’s land-space and a significant part of the Atlantic Ocean.
Torrealba is in charge of coordinating the Office for the Rescue of the Essequibo.
“In every government we have been demanding, but we have not been able to organize a process for the recovery of the geographical space of Venezuela.”
As head of the special unit, the official is quoted as saying that he presented a series of recommendations to the Government with the first steps taken when President Maduro addressed the National Assembly last Monday and where he announced a series of measures in line with international diplomacy.
Torrealba said that on instructions of the Head of State, the Essequibo issue will be discussed in the universities and schools and well as with engagement with the media of Venezuela.
Torrealba further proposed to “initiate a process of issuing identity cards to the 200,000 people estimated to live in the territory of Essequibo, plus an information campaign to make it clear to the people of Guyana that this territory belongs to Venezuela.”
On Thursday, Maduro told the state television, Telesur, that the country will be contacting the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon to defend the rights of the Essequibo.
Through his Twitter account, Maduro said a special edition began circulating on “The Truth of Guyana Essequibo” to inform the Venezuelan people about the dispossession of 159,500 square kilometers by England.
