A Partnership for National Unity today warned the government of the prospect of a renewed economic blockade by Venezuela against Guyana.
In a statement today, APNU pointed to the October 10, 2013 seizing of an oil survey vessel in Guyana’s waters by the Venezuelan Navy and said it was redolent of previous bouts of Venezuelan confrontation.
APNU recited the periods of Venezuelan aggression since the 1960s and called on Caracas to obey Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations – for the “Pacific Settlement of Disputes” – and to desist from deploying armed force in its relations with Guyana.
APNU also called on the PPP/C administration to adopt, immediately, a bi-partisan approach to all border and territorial matters.
The APNU press release follows:
A Partnership for National Unity warns the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration of the peril of a renewed Venezuelan economic blockade of the development of the Essequibo.
APNU considers the 10th October maritime aggression as consistent with past Venezuelan confrontational conduct. The frigate of the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela – PC 23 Yekuana – entered Guyana’s exclusive economic zone on Thursday 10th October and, under the threat of force, prevented the unarmed vessel – Teknik Perdana – from conducting seismic surveys.
The Yekuana incident was an unlawful and unwarranted use of armed force in violation of the Charter of the United Nations. Its objective was to impede Essequibo’s economic development. There is abundant evidence to this effect:
* The Essequibo ‘annexation’: The Venezuelan government, under President Raúl Leoni Otero (1964-69), placed an advertisement in the Times newspaper of London on 15th June 1968 to the effect that the Essequibo belonged to Venezuela and that it would not recognize economic concessions granted there by the Guyana Government. President Leoni then issued Decreto No. 1.152 of 9th July 1968 purporting to annex a nine-mile wide belt of seaspace along Guyana’s entire Essequibo coast and requiring various agencies including the Defence Ministry to impose Venezuelan sovereignty over it. President Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodriguez (1969-74) blocked Guyana’s attempt to permit petroleum exploration rights in the Essequibo by DEMITEX, a German company.
* The Mazaruni obstruction: President Luis Herrera Campins (1979-83) obstructed the development of the Upper Mazaruni Hydro-power Project. He issued a communiqué in April 1981 stating that, because of “Venezuela’s claim on the Essequibo territory,” it “asserted the rejection of Venezuela to the hydro-electric project of the upper Mazaruni.” Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, José Alberto Zambrano Velasco, wrote a letter giving the President of the World Bank an ultimatum to refrain from financing the Upper Mazaruni Hydro-Electric Project.
* The Atlantic access: President Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodriguez (1974-79 and 1989-93) paid a visit to Guyana in 1978 during which he indicated Venezuela’s willingness to help finance the hydro-electric power project in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region. Perez, however, expressed Venezuela’s geopolitical interest in gaining a Salida al Atlantico – access to the Atlantic – from the Orinoco delta by offering to reduce the territorial claim to about 31,000 km2 in return for the Essequibo coast. President Pérez then signed the Treaty between the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Republic of Venezuela on the Delimitation of Marine and Sub-Marine Areas on 18th April 1990 with Prime Minister Arthur Robinson. Both states sought to project their own economic interests without resorting to a more appropriate multilateral mechanism by consulting Barbados, Grenada and Guyana which the determination of maritime boundaries warranted. Venezuela sought a strategic Salida al Atlántico and Trinidad and Tobago sought access to new areas of potential hydrocarbon resources.
* The Barima-Waini intimidation: Venezuela’s President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias (1998-2013) issued a July 2000 declaration intimidating foreign companies from investing in Essequibo’s development. He prevented the Beal Aerospace Corporation from establishing a satellite station in the Barima-Waini Region. He also opposed the issuance of petroleum exploration licences to US companies off the Essequibo coast. Minister of External Affairs José Vicente Rangel declared that Venezuela would grant oil concessions in the Essequibo.
Venezuela, despite its apparent economic generosity, has never altered its maritime strategy or its policy towards Guyana’s Essequibo. Its quest for access to the Atlantic Ocean is critical to understanding last October’s Yekuana incident.
APNU calls on the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to obey Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations – for the “Pacific Settlement of Disputes” – and to desist from resorting to armed force in its relations with the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
APNU calls on the PPP/C administration to adopt, immediately, a bi-partisan approach to all border and territorial issues; to establish a permanent Border and National Security Commission.
APNU further calls on Guyana’s diplomats to remain awake and alert so as not to sleepwalk into another economic blockade. Guyanese must not be mesmerized by the mirage of Venezuelan magnanimity.
