Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has taken issue with businessman Nazar “Shell” Mohamed’s response to concerns raised about his alleged visit to the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown, saying the elder Mohamed deliberately avoided giving a direct answer.
The Vice President’s comments came in response to a letter published over the weekend in Stabroek News, in which Nazar Mohamed, father of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) presidential hopeful Azruddin Mohamed, addressed the matter.
According to Dr. Jagdeo, instead of confirming or denying whether he had visited the embassy, Mohamed chose to deflect by describing the issue as a political smear campaign against his son.
“Rather than answer the yes-or-no question of whether he went to the Venezuelan Embassy, Nazar Mohamed sidestepped it completely,” Jagdeo told reporters. “He even told Stabroek News, ‘I’m not going to answer that.’ That is not a denial. It is not a confirmation. It is simply avoiding the question.”
The Vice President stressed that the matter is not about politics but about national security, especially given the warnings that have come from the United States. He pointed out that the concerns flagged by Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd were not because “an ordinary citizen” went to the embassy, but because of the record of the individuals involved.
Only last week, Dr. Jagdeo highlighted what he described as troubling links between U.S.-sanctioned businessmen and the Venezuelan Embassy. He maintained that such ties could put Guyana’s sovereignty and international partnerships at risk.
The U.S. has been vocal on the matter in recent months. Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar said her office remains “deeply concerned about efforts to undermine democracy in Guyana,” stressing that sanctioned individuals “must not be allowed to jeopardise this vital relationship.”
Her colleague, Congressman Carlos Gimenez, went further, accusing the Maduro regime of backing Azruddin Mohamed, who he described as a “pro-Maduro puppet candidate” for Guyana’s presidency. Gimenez underscored that the WIN candidate remains under sanctions by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Dr. Jagdeo reiterated that the PPP/C Government will continue to treat such developments as a matter of grave concern, adding that the administration will not ignore actions that could weaken Guyana’s democracy or its international credibility.
