Caricom Heads of Government (HoGs) believe it is critical for a new United Nations (UN) Good Officer to be appointed as soon as possible to help find a solution to the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.
The HoGs reaffirmed their unequivocal support for safeguarding Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and its right to develop its resources in the entirety of its territory, at their 19th Inter-Sessional Meeting in the Bahamas last weekend. They also noted the recent developments in the relations between the two countries and the efforts being made to resuscitate the UN Good Offices process.
The controversy arose from Venezuela’s contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899 is null and void, and its attempt to claim some five-eights of Guyana’s territory.
Meanwhile, the HoGs were briefed on the Belize-Guatemala border problems and the more recent developments involving Belize, Guatemala and Honduras in maritime delimitation negotiations to find a solution to it.
In this regard they met over a period of 18 months under the auspices of the OAS to identify a possible delimitation of the maritime spaces in the Gulf of Honduras as part of a definitive solution to the Belize-Guatemala Territorial Differendum.
When they did not reach an agreement, Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza formally recommended to both parties on November 19, 2007 for the submission of a Territorial Differendum to the International Court of Justice, which they did; and the resettlement of Guatemalans living at Santa Rose in Belize.
Under the supervision of the OAS, which was tasked with the resettlement, 11 families have now been relocated to their new homes in Finca Esmeralda in the Department of Peten in Guatemala. It is expected that the remaining six families will be relocated by the end of this month.
The relocation project was made possible through financial contributions from the governments of Mexico, United States of America, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Spain.
