Venezuela has expressed regrets about the incursion into Guyana’s territory on November 15, 2007 and assured that the incident had no political motive on the part of the Venezuelan government.
In a release issued yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that on Tuesday, December 11, 2007, the Guyana government received a six-member delegation from Venezuela led by the Vice Minister of External Relations, Rodolfo Sanz.
The main purpose of the visit was to address the issue relating to the incident which occurred in the Cuyuni River on November 15, 2007 where two dredges belonging to Guyanese nationals were reportedly destroyed by Venezuelan military personnel.
In relation to the incident in the Cuyuni River, the release said that Sanz “expressed sincere regrets and assured that the incident had no political motive on the part of the Venezuelan Government.”
It added that to avoid similar occurrences in the future the two sides agreed to create bilateral mechanisms to address the issue of mutual concern.
The release said that a formal response to the diplomatic note sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guyana on November 16, 2007 was also handed over by the Vice Minister to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rudy Insanally. On Tuesday, when contacted, Insanally had told Stabroek News that the response from the Venezuelan government had been good and that the government was in the process of digesting it. He did not divulge more information except to say that he would be speaking with the press later on.
When asked whether Caracas had repeated that the incident had occurred in Venezuela as the Venezuelan ambassador to Guyana, Dario Morandy had insisted, Insanally had said, “There was no assertion” from the delegation that the incidents – which also included two Venezuelan civilian helicopters entering Guyana’s airspace – had occurred in Venezuelan territory.
There was no mention in the press release about compensation for the owners of the destroyed dredges.
Venezuela’s response came one month after the incident took place and after it had been condemned by a wide cross-section of Guyana, including the opposition political parties. The Commonwealth had also noted the incursion.
During the visit Sanz paid a courtesy call on President Bharrat Jagdeo and held a meeting with Insanally.
The release said that the discussions were conducted in a friendly and cooperative atmosphere and the opportunity was taken to review Guyana/Venezuela bilateral relations with a view to identifying measures to strengthen the existing cooperation programme.
