Ahead of the second meeting between Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, scheduled for Brazil, technical teams from both sides are expected to hammer out the framework for the engagement.
“We still have to iron out the modalities and so on, so I foresee a number of meetings before that meeting in Brazil,” President Ali said during a year end interview with the News Room.
Presidents Ali and Maduro met in December in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Following their meeting, there was an 11-point declaration which includes a commitment from both sides to “refrain, whether by words or deeds, from escalating any conflict.”
Both leaders also agreed to meet again in three months in Brazil.
Guyana’s Head of State explained that the technical teams from both countries have to meet to hammer out the framework for the next high-level meeting.
Why the meetings?
Venezuela held a December 3 referendum that many feared would be used to greenlight a potential seizure of two-thirds of Guyana’s territory- the entire Essequibo region- that the Spanish-speaking nation has claimed for decades.
Subsequently, President Maduro issued a redrawn Venezuelan map that includes Guyana’s territory, told investors to leave and planned activities in the Essequibo region.
Guyana has maintained that the territory is its own after an 1899 Arbitral Award determined the boundary between the two countries as is internationally-recognised. Because of Venezuelan aggressions and decades of failed talks, Guyana eventually took the border controversy to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) where the case is ongoing. Guyana hopes for a final, binding judgement that affirms that the Essequibo is its own.
So a meeting was brokered amid rising tensions fuelled by Venezuela’s attempts to undermine Guyana’s sovereignty.
President Ali said Guyana’s commitment to peace in the region and protecting its territorial integrity and sovereignty guided him during that meeting.
“I went to the meeting knowing that I am representing the people of this country, knowing exactly where our position is, knowing we want peace and stability and presenting the case that Guyana is going to continue along the path of the ICJ but at the same time, we are open to dialogue on all consequential matters and also in the pursuit of peace and stability,” he said.
