Guyana has been seeking a legally binding solution to the border controversy with Venezuela and while Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton backs this effort, he believes Guyana must fortify its military capabilities.
The case is currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), with Guyana seeking a final, binding ruling reaffirming the 1899 Arbitral Award that settled the countries’ borders and solidifying the decades-long position that the Essequibo region does not belong to Venezuela.
Even so, Norton believes that Guyana must have a defence force that is ready to deal with any aggressions from the Spanish-speaking nation.
“… I don’t think we can take on Venezuela but it is very important that we keep a ready force that instills hope in our people.
“Let us not operate as if we can do nothing outside of diplomacy, we have to take every measure to deal with this issue,” Norton said on Monday during an extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly.
Norton called the Venezuelan government, and at times, the state itself, many things: a bully, an aggressor, and a dangerous and sinister enemy.
He believes Guyana is rightfully defending its territory in accordance with international law but said many times throughout his lengthy address that other measures must be taken to bolster Guyana’s defences.
“… we will have to take measures not only to defend our territorial integrity and sovereignty but also our place in the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
“Clearly, there is a need for a more robust and aggressive foreign policy, vis a vis Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said too.
Norton also pointed out that there have been instances where Venezuelan military personnel violated Guyana’s borders and entered upon Guyanese soil. Should the country’s planned December 3 referendum go ahead, he believes that Venezuela may become even more aggressive.
So Norton joined fellow lawmakers in denouncing that referendum and supporting Guyana’s move to resolve the controversy at the ICJ.
The New Survival Anthem today in the face of this “outdated”. increasingly existential threat being prosecuted and mounted by an aggressor dictatorial state of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is that Guyana must now buy guns instead of butter by diverting its new found wealth from being expended to people -centred economic development and driven, to urgent military hi -tech acquisition and training of its personnel and compromising of its foreign policy by forging rapid military alliances to deter an attacker from embarking on its expansionist foray into what is internationally and almost regionally as well, into acquisition of a huge chunk of the current legitimate territorial jurisdiction and control of Guyana dating back to even before 1899 when it conceded 300,000 square kilometres of its own jurisdiction to the now aggressor nation to conclude what was regarded for 60 long years as a binding, legally sound Treaty opposable to Venezuela to date, in spite of its current level of puerile shenanigans and its sabre-rattling that might is right.
Guyana must not establish a new border military force but expeditiously upgrade and increase its GDF capabilities with a special GDF unit deployed into the Essequibo Region fitted with military infrastructure and sophisticated spying capabilities, supply lines, a volunteer corps and a large civilian occupation of the sensitive and vulnerable areas.
It must also upgrade its Coast Guard infrastructure because it is there that it is most vulnerable to Venezuelan penetration and maritime occupation of its maritime equidistance border and oil facilities in the Stabroek Field.
Norton is talking strong and the Venezuelans will be responsive to his sound bites but he has to explain what he means by this quote:
“… we will have to take measures not only to defend our territorial integrity and sovereignty but also our place in the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
“Clearly, there is a need for a more robust and aggressive foreign policy, vis a vis Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said too.
Latin America and the Caribbean is not the enemy knocking to break down your door. It is Maduro and his imperialist madness to acquire territory when he cannot use what he owns to day to feed his own people to the extent that 8m of them have to eke out a starvation wage in neighboring countries to send remittances back home to relatives in Tucupita, Curapano and Caracas to keep a Venzuelan economy and Venezuela afloat.
A separate Border Force sometimes upstages the GDF and introduces an elite unit that extracts additional unfair resources and perks from the Treasury above those allocated to the GDF. I called for Norton’s positioning and he responded at the Extraordinary Sitting of the National Assembly.
But he must keep up the ante against Maduro’s flight into acquisitive madness and illegal might against a most peace- loving and democratic state of Guyana and choose Brazil if he Maduro wants a fight because Brazil in on Guyana’s side of the fence and defense.