The election of Mauricio Macri as President of Argentina will likely herald an interesting phase in relations with Guyana.
Macri’s inauguration earlier this month was attended by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.
Prior to the inauguration, during the waning days of the presidency of Cristina Fernandez, the question of Guyana’s position on Argentina’s longstanding claim to the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic came up in November at Fourth Summit of the Arab and South American Countries (ASPA).
There, Guyana was tested by a request by Argentina for support of its position on the Falklands which Argentina calls Las Malvinas. According to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency on the ASPA meeting, President David Granger said that Guyana was reserving its position in this regard.
The President’s statement came in the backdrop of a switch in position on the Falklands issue that had been made by the PPP/C administration of Donald Ramotar. In June 2013, Ramotar said “I wish also to reiterate Guyana’s support for the government and people of Argentina to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity to all of Argentina, including the Malvinas Islands, [Falklands]”. He was at the time speaking at a reception to observe the anniversary of the Argentine Revolution, held at the Pegasus Hotel.
Ramotar’s announcement was a departure from the longstanding position of previous administrations that Argentina’s use of force in 1982 to seize the Falklands was unacceptable. Guyana’s position on the Falklands was moulded with an eye to its decades-old border controversy with Venezuela and concerns that Caracas could have been emboldened by Argentina’s actions had it been successful. Over decades, this had been the Guyana position before Ramotar unilaterally announced a change without any explanation.
Granger’s statement following the ASPA meeting likely signals that Georgetown will revisit its stance and revert to its position of not supporting the use of force to settle territorial disputes in the case of the Falklands.
Macri’s election also came amid rising tensions between Guyana and Venezuela after Caracas in May issued a maritime decree seeking to usurp large swathes of this country’s Atlantic waters. Amid the tensions, Guyana appealed to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a juridical solution to the border controversy between the two countries. The UN Secretary General has since dispatched several missions to Georgetown and Caracas to define the way forward. The Secretary General’s mission was headed by his Chef de Cabinet, Susana Malcorra.
In an interesting twist, Malcorra, an Argentinean has now been appointed as the foreign minister under Macri’s government. Having served initially as the Secretary General’s principal official trying to find a way forward in the border controversy with Venezuela, Malcorra may now have to front an Argentinean policy which has been in full support of Venezuela’s position in the border controversy with Guyana. Observers say it raises the question of the propriety of her undertaking the Secretary General’s task if there was a possibility of her being appointed as foreign minister in Macri’s administration.
In 2014 Guyana and Argentina agreed to several cooperation programmes. These include one aimed at improving parks and protected areas and another on tourism cooperation.
