A Guyana Defence Force (GDF) rank wounded during an exchange of gunfire along the Cuyuni River has complained that he has received no additional financial assistance and remains uncertain about promises made to help him secure a home.
Lance Corporal Shamar Calder, 23, made the claims during a video interview posted yesterday by Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed. Calder said he was shot in his right thigh while serving along the western border and subsequently underwent surgery to remove a fragment from the leg.
In the video, Calder said that he continues to experience pain and cannot remain standing for long periods. When Mohamed asked him to walk across the room, the soldier moved slowly and appeared to be in pain. He later displayed what he said were the entry wound and the site where surgeons had removed the fragment, which required eight stitches.
Calder, a father of three, said that his injury has also prevented him from doing construction work to supplement his monthly GDF salary.
“I received nothing other than my normal salary,” he said. “That’s how I used to go and do construction, go back up.”
He said that after being discharged from the Georgetown Public Hospital, he spent two days at the Ayanganna Medical Centre for observation. According to Calder, Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Omar Khan visited him there and later allowed him to speak briefly with President Irfaan Ali by telephone.
Calder said that the telephone connection repeatedly failed before the conversation ended. He added that Khan presented him with a Chief of Staff medal and thanked him for his service.
The soldier said that following the visit, a sergeant major requested the acknowledgement letter for a housing application he had submitted in 2024. Calder said his wife subsequently delivered the letter, along with copies of their children’s birth certificates.
He said, however, that his repeated requests for an update had produced only the response that confirmation was being awaited from the housing authorities.
Calder acknowledged that Khan did not explicitly promise him a house but said he understood remarks made during the visit as an indication that one would be provided.
“That’s how I get it,” he said when Mohamed asked whether he believed the Chief of Defence Staff had indicated that he would receive a home.
Calder said the Men on Mission programme had also contacted him about constructing a house but told him that land would first have to be registered in his name. He said he does not own land.
“Yes, I would really like my own home so I could put my family in and be comfortable,” he said. He told Mohamed that he and his family were living at a house belonging to his fiancée’s sister.
Mohamed criticised the government and the leadership of the GDF over their handling of the matter and called on Ali and Khan to meet with the soldier.
“This is not the way to treat our servicemen,” Mohamed said. “He was shot in the line of duty. He was shot protecting Essequibo, protecting our country.”
Mohamed also said that no government official had visited Calder following his release from the medical centre.
Calder further said another soldier wounded in the incident was frustrated because he too had not received additional assistance.
In its May statement, the GDF said that at approximately 12.03 pm, a patrol escorting civilian commuters along the Cuyuni River in Region Seven came under hostile fire from the Venezuelan shore.
The GDF did not identify the injured rank in that statement. It said it remained committed to protecting its personnel and border communities and safeguarding Guyana’s territorial integrity.
There was no immediate public response from the GDF or the government to the claims made by Calder and Mohamed in the video.
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