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  • 2 years ago

There is ongoing tension and uneasiness in the Guyanese border town of Mabaruma- where police officers spent most of the morning trying to allay any fears on the eve of a referendum in Venezuela on Sunday to lay claim to the oil rich Essequibo Region.
Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist Mark Bassant and Senior cameraman Brandon Benoit travelled to the border this morning and filed this report
Transcript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 One day before the referendum in Venezuela,
00:10 police officers of Mabaruba,
00:11 as well as officers from Georgetown,
00:14 spent this morning giving out these flyers
00:17 to residents here in this community
00:19 to kind of basically make them aware
00:23 of what is the right information
00:26 that is being portrayed in the media
00:30 in comparison to what is being said in Venezuela.
00:34 Officers from the Georgetown Communication Affairs Unit
00:37 and the officers from the Mabaruba police
00:39 tried explaining to those who were not entirely certain
00:42 about the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.
00:45 A senior officer who spoke to TV6 News Off-Camera
00:48 said the propaganda that was being peddled
00:50 on the TV stations that residents in the Mabaruba
00:53 access through DirecTV was not helping their cause
00:56 to calm the nerves of citizens in this area.
00:59 He said it was that rhetoric
01:01 and Maduro's messages on national television
01:04 that was doing more harm than good.
01:06 There was a heightened police presence near the waterfront
01:10 that he denied it had anything to do
01:11 with the border dispute,
01:13 but rather an exercise for the increased
01:15 commercial activities with Christmas approaching.
01:19 Roxanne Smith of Venezuela, now living in Guyana,
01:22 said she was displeased with what was happening.
01:24 - Maduro is saying he's coming,
01:26 he wants to defend this area,
01:28 and he's saying that this is Venezuela's.
01:30 How do you feel about that?
01:31 (speaking in foreign language)
01:35 - Thank you.
01:50 - Over the last few days,
01:51 we heard about activities happening along the border.
01:54 We traversed the Aruka River, which meets Barima River,
01:58 that takes you onward to the border.
02:00 So just before we get to the border in Botero,
02:04 which is about 25 minutes away from here,
02:06 along the Barima River,
02:08 we have to stop here at Marijuana Police Station
02:11 just to notify them that we are going
02:13 into that area near the border.
02:19 This is as close as we can get
02:21 to the Guyana-Venezuela border point here
02:24 after a 40-minute ride on the Barima River by boat.
02:29 It is one of many access points
02:31 into Venezuela and into Guyana.
02:35 It appears relatively calm now
02:36 at that army base there in Venezuela.
02:39 And just a stone's throw away
02:41 is the Umberto Police Station,
02:44 where, Officer said, anything becomes untoward,
02:47 and there is any unusual activity,
02:50 they will contact the Guyanese Defense Force,
02:53 which is stationed just about 15 minutes away
02:55 in the Morajana area along the river.
02:58 Stationed on a small tower
03:00 overlooking the Venezuelan army base
03:02 is an armed Guyanese police officer.
03:05 He's keeping a watchful eye on the activities on the base,
03:08 where approximately 35 soldiers are posted
03:11 with a military boat and an area packed with sandbags.
03:15 For now, Guyana is waiting to exhale
03:17 after tomorrow's referendum in Venezuela
03:21 and hope that Maduro's designs on the Ezequiel region
03:24 will be a fleeting thought that will soon go away.
03:28 Marc Besant, TV6 News.
03:32 ♪♪
03:34 you
03:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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