Guyana’s nominee as Ambassador to Venezuela, Cheryl Miles is still to be officially recognised by Caracas despite a UN-brokered agreement in September last year following months of border-inspired tensions between the two countries.
In the wake of the September agreement between Guyana and Venezuela under the auspices of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Miles had travelled to Caracas in the expectation of being received at the Miraflores Palace but months have elapsed without any movement.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge told Stabroek News on Thursday that while Miles has been accepted in Venezuela, the government there is yet to grant her agrément and there has been no word as to why that delay has occurred.
“She is there but she has not yet been received, they have not taken her papers…she can’t conduct the business on behalf of government,” Greenidge said on Miles’ status.
Under the September 27th agreement in New York, the two countries agreed to receive their respective ambassadors. “The two Presidents expressed willingness to continue to engage in dialogue, and announced during the meeting that they would receive their respective ambassadors in order to ensure a return to fully fledged diplomatic representation in both capitals in the nearest future,” a United Nations press release had stated.
The meeting between the two countries, held during the last United Nations General Assembly, came after tensions rose when Venezuela issued a maritime decree in May last year claiming nearly all of Guyana’s Atlantic waters. This sparked a vigorous campaign led by President David Granger to internationalise the issue and up the pressure on Caracas to withdraw the decree. Caracas later withdrew the decree and issued a new one which Guyana still found objectionable.
The Venezuelan decree had followed closely on the heels of an announcement by US company ExxonMobil of a significant oil find in Guyana’s waters off the Demerara coast. The Venezuelan decree laid claim to this area.
Amid the tensions, Venezuela’s top diplomat in Guyana, Reina Margarita Arratia Díaz, was recalled by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in July last year for consultations and returned to Guyana shortly after the agreement at the UN. At the time of the recall, Maduro had announced a review of relations with Guyana.
Greenidge said that in the meantime Miles will continue to stay on in Caracas while the government here awaits Venezuela’s upholding of their part of the agreement.
Eight months on, the APNU+AFC administration has not yet had any of its nominees accepted and this has raised eyebrows particularly given the need for high-level representation in major western capitals and elsewhere.
Greenidge attributed this delay to the tighter screening that has been put in place in keeping with new anti-terrorism legislation globally.
“It is not abnormal for them to take their time, especially since you have this problem with the terrorists”, Greenidge told Stabroek News when questioned on the delay of diplomatic appointments overseas.
Greenidge explained that because of the immunity given to diplomats the various countries want to ensure that before clearance is given they meet the necessary diplomatic eligibility requirements.
“Whatever is happening it is happening slowly (the processing). This happens, this happens. The governments want to check out people they check out all kind of things. Who your connections are your financial connections because you know an ambassador has privileges,” he said.
“He can do things and you have to have absolute trust in him. While you may have it, the other country also needs to satisfy themselves that it is somebody safe,” he added.
Businessman Hamley Case has been nominated to be Guyana’s new High Commissioner to the UK while attorney and former Deputy Speaker Clarissa Riehl has been proposed as new High Commissioner to Canada.
Sources had told Stabroek News that Bayney Karran will remain in his post as Ambassador to the United States while former PNC government official Halim Majeed has been nominated as Ambassador to Cuba and economist, Dr Kenrick Hunte was put forward to serve in the mission to South Africa. Retired Brigadier of the Guyana Defence Force Jullian ‘Bruce’ Lovell is tipped to be the ambassador to Brazil.
