Amid rising tensions fuelled by Venezuela’s attempts to undermine Guyana’s sovereignty, Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali will meet his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The News Room was reliably informed that the meeting will be held on Thursday December 14, 2023, at 10:00 hrs and will be hosted by Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Heads of State of CARICOM, a United Nations Under-Secretary General and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
In a letter sent to Presidents Ali and Maduro by Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, and seen by the News Room, he wrote, “Given the recent events and circumstances attendant upon the border controversy, the leaderships of CELAC and CARICOM have assessed, in the interest of all concerned, including our Caribbean and Latin American civilisations, the urgent need to de-escalate the conflict and institute an appropriate dialogue, face-to-face, between the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela.”
Guyana’s Head of State has consistently made it clear that the border controversy is squarely before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which will give a final and binding ruling on the matter and it is not up for discussion.
On Saturday, the Head of State reiterated that view on the social media platform X.
“We are committed to peace in this region. The ICJ will determine, finally, the controversy in the Guyana/Venezuela borders.
“We are uncompromising on this and the respect for international law. We have made it clear; we are unopposed to conversations and meetings as responsible people and country.”
Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the Office of the President on Saturday in Georgetown, it was noted that President Ali was contacted by leaders representing CELAC, Brazil and several bilateral partners, encouraging dialogue with Maduro.
And on Friday, during the emergency meeting of the Heads of Government of CARICOM, President Ali was urged “to explore the possibility of a meeting with President Maduro in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
“President Ali reiterated that Guyana’s land boundary is not up for discussion, as it is currently before the ICJ and when adjudicated will be fully respected by Guyana. The President on numerous occasions has made it explicitly clear that the case before the ICJ will not be an issue for bilateral discussions.
“President Ali will continue to engage our bilateral partners on defence cooperation pacts, as well as the on-going range of political, social and economic arrangements,” the statement noted.
However, on Saturday, President Ali was approached by Dr Gonsalves on a meeting with President Maduro.
“President Ali has since agreed to have this meeting.
“Guyana is clear that the advancement of our development agenda will not be compromised. Our development partners and investors can be assured that there will be no changes nor alterations to existing arrangements,” the government’s statement emphasized.
It added, “Guyana has always been committed to international peace and security and promotion of good neighbourly relations,” noting that the country “will not deviate from and will strictly adhere to the ICJ process in the resolution of the border controversy, and to ensuring that the region remains Zone of Peace.”
Many countries view Venezuela’s recent actions, including a sham referendum and redrawing its map to include Guyana’s Essequibo region, as a threat to the peace and stability of the region.
There have been numerous calls for the region to remain a zone of peace, and for Venezuela to meaningfully participate in the case before the ICJ.
At the ICJ, Guyana hopes for a final, binding settlement of the controversy, reaffirming the 1899 Arbitral Award that established the boundary as it is known internationally.
In 1899, the borders of Guyana (then British Guiana) and Venezuela were settled, with Venezuela inheriting 13,000 square kilometres of what was then British Guiana territory – an area bigger than Jamaica or Lebanon.
Venezuela participated in that tribunal and accepted the boundary award for about six decades until 1966 when British Guiana was about to become an independent state, Guyana. Venezuela then challenged the award, raising concerns about the 1899 award.
So, the 1966 Geneva Agreement was created, establishing a framework to resolve the controversy. This is a political agreement, not a legal one like the 1899 Award. And for decades after this agreement, Guyana and Venezuela were locked in bilateral talks and a UN-backed engagement known as the Good Offices process.
In mid-February 2017, the new UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Dag Halvor Nylander of Norway as his Personal Representative on the Border Controversy, in a final effort at dialogue to settle the matter. That failed and on January 31, 2018, the UN Secretary-General referred the matter to the ICJ and Guyana filed its case.
In 2020, the ICJ found that it has the jurisdiction to hear the border case and earlier this year, it threw out Venezuela’s preliminary objections that, among other things, the United Kingdom must also be part of the case.
(Reporting by Fareeza Haniff and Vishani Ragobeer)
I suggest that President Ali and Delegation should participate in this St Vincent meeting on condition that before the scheduled date Maduro should reverse and undo all of his recent provisional acts shown below that amount to illegal annexation of the Essequibo in direct conflict and violation of the conservatory order issued by the ICJ to the Bolivarian Republic to cease and desist from undertaking any action that can modify the existing status quo in the Essequibo where the Court recognised that Guyana had established a plausible case relating to its 124 years of the exercise of sovereignty over the Essequibo.
The Delegation must be carefully selected to include Minister Todd, Ag Nandlall, Foreign Secretary Persaud and Co Agent Greenidge.
The Delegation must emphasise that the matter is a legal issue and must be determined by the ICJ taking into account the principles of relevant international and case law . Venezuela’s infringement of the UN Charter must be underlined.
The whole Consultative Referendum on which Maduro is acting upon must be shown to be a sham that is totally inconsistent with international law as well as other instances where Venezuela is acting outside of the law including the 1966 Geneva Agreement.
The Guyana Delegation must request the provisional agenda to make sure that it agrees with the items.
I cannot over-emphasise the need to prepare a comprehensive brief and allocation of responsibilities for speaking on the various dimensions of the problem including Venezuela’s litany of lies and untruths.
It must be emphasised that a conciliation/mediation meeting cannot be successful whilst Maduro has claimed the Essequibo and done the following:
“…The speculation about the intentions of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro to illegally take Guyana’s Essequibo region is at an end. He has named a governor for the two-thirds portion of Guyana’s territory, he is inviting the energy multinationals to bid for rights in the rich reserve of Essequibo, given those which have had rights through the government in Georgetown three months to clear out, and instructed his national energy company, PDVSA, to bid to explore in Essequibo.
To achieve and secure those intentions, President Maduro has appointed a governor for the Essequibo Integral Defence Zone with the military capacity to enforce decisions taken in Caracas. To leave no doubt in the mind of anyone and or institution, the “military is accountable to the civilian authorities,” which is President Maduro.
President Maduro has had a new map of the Bolivarian Republic drawn up, inclusive of the Essequibo, and is ready to grant Venezuelan identification cards to Guyanese citizens living in the region.
The basis of President Maduro’s decisions and justification for them is in the referendum of this week, which is reported to have obtained a 98 per cent vote for taking what generations of Venezuelans believe to be theirs – Guyana’s Essequibo.
n flagrant scorn and blatant disrespect for the ICJ’s ruling, Venezuela’s President Maduro has: unveiled a revised map of his country to include Guyana’s Essequibo region; formed a new body responsible for issuing licenses for oil, gas and mineral exploration in the Essequibo region; proposed environmentally protected zones…”
He must give an indication to undo what he has done illegally during the proposed mediation exercise.
Guyana must convey very force fully it cannot enter into substantive negotiations with Venezuela while the matter is under the jurisdiction of the ICJ and that Venezuela participated in those three sessions that led to the 1 December Order of the ICJ and now cannot infringe and violate the ruling of the Court in very specious grounds or none at all.