Stabroek News has clarified that it erroneously reported that the Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana, Carlos Amador Pérez Silva denied that Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed visited the embassy in Georgetown.
“… in Tuesday’s edition of Stabroek News under the headline `Ambassador denies Mohamed ever visited Venezuelan embassy’, Stabroek News erroneously reported that the ambassador had said that neither of the Mohameds had visited. This is not so as he had only spoken about Azruddin Mohamed. Stabroek News regrets the error and apologizes to the ambassador for any inconvenience caused,” the newspaper said in an article published on Thursday.
Mr. Nazar’s visit to the embassy had been widely publicised, with video footage showing him leaving the embassy. Months ago, Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd summoned Venezuela’s Ambassador to Guyana, Carlos Amador Perez Silva, to explain frequent embassy visits by the Mohameds. It later became known that Nazar, father of the businessman-turned-politician Azruddin Mohamed, was the one who visited the embassy.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in response to the Stabroek News article, the Foreign Affairs Ministry reiterated that the Ambassador clearly confirmed that Mr. Mohamed had indeed visited the Venezuelan Embassy and further offered specific details concerning the documentation presented and the purpose of the engagement.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation notes with concern the recent comments made by the Venezuelan Ambassador in Georgetown, and questions why the Ambassador is being secretive about the visit of Mr. Nazar Mohamed to the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, regarding a visa application,” the statement read.
Azruddin, Nazar, and several of their businesses were sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury last year. Earlier this month, the duo was indicted in the United States on 11 charges.
Azruddin had launched a presidential bid with his We Invest in Nationhood party; that party lost the 20205 elections but got the second-highest number of votes. However, Azruddin has been accused of having ties to the Nicolas Maduro government in Venezuela by US Congressmen, so his father’s engagement at the embassy raised questions.
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