The Venezuelans can’t have been very happy when they left New York last week; President David Granger stole the show, and commanded as much of the space in the margins of the General Assembly as it is possible for a small nation to do in such a brief space of time. Guyana’s Head of State gave an excellent press conference after his meeting with President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, and delivered an impressive maiden speech at the United Nations which was not too long, and which therefore might have garnered more attention than some of the more prolix presentations from his fellow Heads. In addition, untypically for addresses of this kind, instead of undertaking a tour d’horizon of the issues in relation to the security of small states, the speech essentially concentrated on a central topic, ie, Venezuela’s meretricious claim to our land and sea space, and its obstruction of this country’s development over the decades since independence.
The meeting between the two presidents facilitated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon produced no more than was expected, viz, a return to the status quo ante, with the two states exchanging ambassadors once again. Caracas had already begun withdrawing its troops from near our border and from our waterway the day before the meeting. This was perhaps done out of abundant caution so that Mr Granger could not point fingers at Mr Maduro’s acts of aggression against Guyana even as they were speaking with the Secretary-General.
As we reported on Friday, Caricom foreign ministers also met on the fringes of the General Assembly, and heard from Guyana’s Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge about the most recent developments in relation to Venezuela. While they noted Guyana’s desire for a juridical settlement of the controversy caused by Venezuela’s contention that the 1899 Award is null and void, they expressed no opinion on it, merely confining themselves to the now formulaic support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Guyana.
There was a time when this country’s first line of diplomatic defence against Venezuelan hostility in any form was Caricom, but no more. PetroCaribe, Alba and Venezuelan largesse to our sister Caribbean territories have undermined that traditional support, although as indicated in the instance cited above, they still reiterate their backing for Guyana’s territorial integrity. Of course, President Maduro has invested a great deal of time and effort in the form of personal diplomacy in ensuring that Caricom countries remain onside, so to speak, in addition to sending his Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez along with a Vice-President on the Caribbean grand tour.
On the same day that President Granger was winging his way to New York, President Maduro was visiting Dominica and St Kitts, once again bearing gifts. When a reporter from this newspaper spoke to an official in the first named territory about a document on the PetroCaribe website unrelated to Guyana, she learned that Venezuela had promised to build 300 homes for people in the hurricane-ravaged island and that Guyana was really not in their focus. It is not surprising that Dominican attention should not have been centred on Guyana at such a time, but rather on assistance. However, Caracas does not need to crudely plug its case; its generosity will be remembered, and a reminder would always be forthcoming if Miraflores thought it necessary to jog memories.
Similarly in the case of St Kitts, the reporter was told that Mr Maduro had granted EC$16 million to pay sugar workers who were owed by the government. Again, there was no focus on Guyana, she was informed, but in this instance too there did not need to be.
The two most solid member states of Caricom where the controversy is concerned, have been Barbados and Trinidad in more recent times. In the case of the latter, former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar made a very uncompromising statement in support of this country prior to leaving office, although the new Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley has been less unequivocal in his comments so far. Following President Granger’s disclosure about the deployment of Venezuelan forces along this country’s western border, The Trinidad Guardian reported on September 25 that Dr Rowley told a visiting Venezuelan delegation that he expected the ongoing border controversy would be “resolved in the best interest of all and in accordance with international law.”
Citing a government press release the Guardian said “the Prime Minister conveyed the expectation that … neither side would do anything to escalate the situation.” Considering that the aggression was all on Venezuela’s side, that seems like less than a ringing endorsement for this country’s position.
While it is too early to come to a definitive conclusion about the softening of Port of Spain’s stance where our boundary is concerned, nevertheless, Takuba Lodge should be conscious of the fact that Trinidad & Tobago has now secured a major concession from Venezuela that she had been seeking for some time. In relation to the cross-border Loran-Manatee gas field, the Business Guardian reported that Venezuela has now agreed that natural gas from its side should be liquefied at Port Fortin in Trinidad.
This comes at a time when there had been a fall in natural gas production in the twin island republic, and a shortage at its natural gas liquefaction facilities. A former Minister of Energy told the Business Guardian that it was “critical to the future of Trinidad and Tobago that we bring this Loran/Manatee project to a successful conclusion.”
The Commonwealth ‒ which used to be our second line of diplomatic defence ‒ has also made a statement in support of Guyana on the border controversy as it has done in the past. It might be mentioned in passing, that the UK, a pivotal member of the Commonwealth, was also the nation which went to arbitration in 1899 to establish the boundaries of what was then British Guiana; which argued the case against Venezuela in the UN after the latter unilaterally declared the award null and void in 1962; and which is a party to the Geneva Agreement of 1966 along with Guyana and Venezuela. A clear statement from London in particular in support of Guyana’s case, therefore, would not be inappropriate in the circumstances.
The current situation with Venezuela’s aggression is complicated by the fact that President Desi Bouterse of Suriname is reported by the Paramaribo daily de Ware Tijd as having told the National Assembly that his government would be raising the claim to our New River Triangle again. The claim is, of course, nonsense; however it could prove a nuisance as it was in years gone by. Since two Caricom member states are involved, this is not a matter where the Community as an organization can take a stance.
Whether there is collusion between Venezuela and Suriname in this instance is not known; suffice it to say that the two are hardly strangers to such collaboration, added to which it is worth remembering that our eastern neighbour will be one of the states supplying rice to Venezuela from November. In any event, even if our neighbours have not technically colluded, Caracas will not be unhappy with President Bouterse’s renewed interest in our eastern border. Other exigencies notwithstanding, Guyana will be forced to pour resources into various lines of diplomatic defence.
