Eight months after she first took up her post in Caracas, Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela Cheryl Miles was finally able to present her credentials to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
According to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry’s website, Miles was one of five ambassadors who presented their credentials to Maduro on Wednesday. The other ambassadors were the representatives of Germany, Egypt, Mexico and Indonesia.
Miles, who took up her post in September last year, was previously received by Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez in February.
At the time of this presentation, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge had told the parliament that the ceremony “fulfils an obligation that President Nicolás Maduro had given in September last year.”
Following a September 28 meeting hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York, both the Guyana and Venezuelan presidents agreed to receive their respective ambassadors.
The relationship between the two countries has been deteriorating since last May, when Maduro issued a decree laying claim to most of Guyana’s territorial waters along the Essequibo Coast. That decree was subsequently withdrawn and replaced with a new one that was still offensive.
In a statement announcing Miles’ accreditation, the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said that it coincided with the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, which aimed to resolve the border controversy between the two countries, and fulfilled a commitment made by President Maduro in September last year. It, however, also reaffirmed its claim to Guyana.
Greenidge, when asked about the manner in which Miles was received and the later statement on her accreditation, said it was “how some governments operate” on occasion. “I am not aware that you can be prudent to refuse,” he added.
He also pointed out that what was important at that time was that Miles is able to perform her designated functions. “She can now operate fully as an ambassador like the Venezuelans have been operating here…,” he said.
The Venezuelan government, however, referred to this week’s El Primer Mandatario Nacional agradeció la disposición y voluntad de los embajadores extraordinarios y plenipotenciarios en pro del trabajo en conjunto con el Gobierno Bolivariano para el fortalecimiento de las relaciones de cooperación y amistad. cLa ceremonia de acreditación de los embajadores cumple con el protocolo gubernamental de certificarlos como representantes oficiales de un Estado. YV.eremony as the protocol which certifies the ambassador as an official representative of Guyana.
