The much-watched Venezuelan Referendum was plagued by low turnout, which means a hell of a big turndown.

Sunday December 3rd around midnight there was a shooting incident at Supenaam where one person was shot in his jaw. He was rushed to the Suddie Public Hospital and had to be transferred to Georgetown for advanced treatment. He was taken to Supenaam by the ambulance, then was to be taken with the water ambulance to Parika. Upon arrival at Supenaam there were no captain for the water ambulance. The wounded patient waited in pain for almost 30 minutes for the captain to arrive. When he got there he had to then fuel the boat up. Even the driver of the ambulance complained about the unprofessionalism. When they finished settling the patient in the water ambulance they had to break the lock to get the vessel moving. Residents in the area started to behave bad because it is happening often, patients have to come and wait for a lengthy period before the captain arrives. The health system sucks in Region 2 and government has failed to acknowledge even the number of complaints they receive.

I think the region is in dire need of quality health care and that can only occur if capable person are put to do the job.

Yours sincerely,

(Name and address supplied) I repeat for emphasis: a small turnout confirms a big turnup of the nose by neighbouring voters at Venezuelan strongman, Nicolas Maduro. After all of his blubber and bluster, he aint look so big, and so bad, now. But now that he has backed himself into a tight corner.

The Venezuelan Opposition said that the turnout was as low as 11 percent, an incredibly dismal figure. What does this say if Maduro were to call an election, a clean one that gives his political opponents a fair shake? Another question that swirls is this: having heard from his ambassadors did he change course in midstream? Meaning that he now has to regroup and reimage himself. Further, having felt the temperature of the international media and the international community (such as it was), did the realization come that the horse he was riding was

The University of Guyana is being disingenuous in its recent Press Release

Entitled: (Georgetown/Guyana/Turkeyen/12.03.2023/ No Lawsuit Served on UG by Wayne Forde)

The press release said: As at the date of writing this statement (December 3) neither the University nor its lawyers have been served by any Court with any documents relating to a defamation suit from Dr Wayne Forde and therefore the article below is inaccurate and an unsubstantiated Letter- publishing. Such fallacious redherring arguments are embarrassing for the authors and the institution.

The letter published in Stabroek News entitled `UG named as defendant in defamation suit’ does not state that UG was or was not served. The letter stated: The University of Guyana is named as a defendant in legal going to finish last? The Russians and Iranians may have been stoking some embers in Caracas, but the Chinese should have put in a word of caution, considering that it has chestnuts in the fire here and over there. In other words, was Senor Maduro forced to smooth his warped senses in a jiffy, and arrive at the belated conclusion that he had better call off his dogs and warhorses, since the deck was loaded against him? I think sanity prevailed, so it is back to the drawing board of schemes and plots. In all of this, no Guyanese should forget one thing. It is that 11 percent turnout, low turnout, or whatever the turnout was, El Jefe did walk away with an edge in the more Venezuelans voting in the affirmative, viz., Essequibo is theirs. So, small or large, he does have carte blanche, and proceedings that commenced in Guyana’s High Court requesting damages over $7,000,000 (seven million dollars) for defamation (libel) committed by the defendants on June 25, 2023. Attorneys for former UG lecturer, Dr. Wayne Forde named the University of Guyana as the purported author of the maliciously false and libelous statements and the body responsible for disseminating the said statements to Kaieteur News on June 25, 2023, which published an article entitled – Letter about SEBI Part of a Series of Worrisome Behaviours by Dr. Wayne Forde – UG.

The filing of the defamation suit is public record.

The University of Guyana remains a Defendant until the case is closed.

Respectfully submitted, Dr. Wayne Forde