Border controversy: Ralph Gonsalves engages President Ali, now meeting Maduro in Venezuela

Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who previously facilitated a peace deal between Guyana and Venezuela, is now in Venezuela for talks with President Nicolas Maduro.

In a release, St. Vincent’s Agency for Public Information, said Gonsalves spoke with President Irfaan Ali on Monday, urging “calm and restraint and for both parties to return to diplomacy.”

President Ali has said he will not engage in bilateral talks with Maduro on the border controversy as Maduro does not stick to his word and has violated the peace deal with Guyana signed in December 2023 in Argyle, St Vincent.

Guyana had engaged in talks with Venezuela for decades and when those talks failed, the United Nations Secretary General referred the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for final settlement.

Guyana has sought the court’s protection after Maduro three weeks ago sent a gunboat into Guyana’s exclusive economic zone where a consortium of oil companies, led by ExxonMobil, has been producing oil for the past six years and is continuing to search for more reserves.

It was the latest act of aggression by Venezuela which started on the eve of this country’s independence from Britain in May 1966. At that time, Venezuela rejected the arbitral award of 1899 which settled the countries’ border as it now stands. As a result of Venezuela’s claim, the parties agreed to a mechanism in Geneva, Switzerland to settle the controversy. Venezuela hangs on that agreement, claiming dialogue is the way to settle controversy, but denying the portion of the agreement that allows the United Nations Secretary General to choose a means to settle the controversy if there is no agreement between the two countries.

In response to escalating tensions, Guyana has filed a request for provisional measures at the ICJ following Venezuela’s announcement to hold elections on May 25, just one day before Guyana’s 59th Independence celebrations. The elections aim to appoint a governor and other officials for the Essequibo region, a move widely viewed as a direct challenge to Guyana’s territorial claims.

At the ICJ, where a substantive case for the border controversy is unfolding, Guyana hopes for a final, binding ruling that reaffirms the 1899 Arbitral Award and makes it clear that the Essequibo region is its own.