Dear Editor,
Guyana’s President David Granger will meet this evening with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and United Nations Secre-tary General Ban Ki-Moon as efforts continue to find a lasting solution to the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy. Diplomacy must continue to be Guyana’s main weapon in its arsenal and therefore this meeting is welcome news.
However, unless there is agreement to proceed immediately with the judicial process via the Inter-national Court of Justice, then Guyana must make the first condition of any alternative follow-up action to the meeting with Ban Ki-Moon and President Maduro that Venezuela removes all its troops from Guyana’s territory including the half of Ankoko island that it has occupied since 1966.
The presence/occupation of Guy-ana’s territory and maritime space by Venezuela does not represent an enabling environment for the conduct of mutually respectful relations and for the implementation of any action, other than judicial settlement, to settle this controversy which has arisen from the Venezuelan claim that the legally binding, internationally accepted Arbitral Award of 1899 is null and void.
Reminding President Maduro that Guyana is participating in the meeting even when its territorial integrity is being violated is indisputable testimony to its commitment to finding a just and lasting solution to the controversy, must be the background against which President Granger opens his contribution to the dialogue and he should request that the UN Secretary General advise President Maduro to remove all Venezuelan troops and artillery from the area of Guyana it claims, so as to create the mutually respectful environment for the success of the process to find a just solution, thereby ensuring the continued peace and stability of our hemisphere.
Yours faithfully,
Wesley Kirton
