Government officials from Guyana have refused to meet with a group of Black state representatives who were in the country to investigate several allegations of racial discrimination against Guyanese citizens of African descent this week, The New York Amsterdam News

The delegation which included senators and state legislature members from southern states such as the Carolinas, Georgia, and Texas requested to meet with President Irfaan Ali and other government officials. But the government had vehemently denied all accusations of racial discrimination against Black citizens.

In a statement issued on Sunday (November 12), the government said it would not be a part of a “fact-finding mission.”

“This one-sided engagement (in Washington) presented the platform for opposition politicians to spew concocted and fabricated narratives about the government of Guyana, including their usual diatribe about racial discrimination and extra-judicial killings, without any fact-checking mechanism and without the government being afforded a hearing or the facility of a response,” the statement read.

“It is obvious that these jaundiced, baseless, and unfounded narratives of these Opposition Politicians, unsupported by any evidence whatsoever, have influenced this delegation,” the statement continued. “The government of Guyana will not be engaging this delegation acting in their private capacities as this is a clear interference in Guyana’s domestic politics with a bias toward the political opposition in Guyana.”

Several groups have accused the Guyana government of excluding a large section of its citizens from senior positions and state contracts, in favor of “a small group of friends, family, and preferred foreigners are the ones with access to major state jobs and awards.”

The government also said that Rickford Burke, who leads the Guyana Caribbean Institute for Democracy (GCID) is wanted by numerous law enforcement agencies in Guyana on several criminal offenses. 

In response, Burke said in a statement that “the delegation intends to use the insights gained from all of the available information to inform and guide its discussions with relevant leaders in Congress and the White House upon their return to the United States” and that it “plans to advocate for positive change and promote inclusivity and equality at both national and international levels.”

The Guyana government's decision not to meet with Black representatives marks a change in attitude by the country towards the U.S.

In September, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries along with Chairman Steven Horsford and other Members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with Ali to discuss “energy and food security, economic prosperity, and the importance of sustainability and environmental stewardship” according to the Congressional Black Caucus.

During the meeting, both governments shared their mutual interests such as reaffirming the strength of the relationship between the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the United States and the need for cooperation and future dialogue.