Guyana has protested to Venezuela over Monday’s firing of shots by that country’s army at three mines commission officials on the Cuyuni River.
“The Ministry has dispatched a Note Verbale to the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs conveying the Government of Guyana’s grave concern over this incident and calling on the Venezuelan Government to desist from such provocative and dangerous actions on Guyana’s border,” a press release yesterday from the Ministry stated.
The Note Verbale stressed that “such actions can only lead to the destabilisation of relations.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also informed that the matter will be brought to the attention of the Secretary General of the United Nation, Ban Ki-moon, in his capacity as Good Officer under the Geneva Agreement and members of the UN and its Security Council.
On the incident, the foreign ministry stated that it received a preliminary report from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) informing that on May 30th 2016 at approximately 17:20hrs, a team of three GGMC officers travelling on the Cuyuni River, came under fire from the Venezuelan army. “The officials were returning from a monitoring and inspection exercise at Arau, when the chartered boat came under attack, approximately one mile above the Eteringbang Police Station,” the release said.
Meanwhile, President David Granger yesterday said that the Venezuelan army may have made an error when shots were fired at the GGMC officers. He emphasised that efforts are still being made to gather information on what exactly transpired on Monday.
Granger who at the time was responding to questions from the media shortly after he received the Commission of Inquiry report into the Camp Street Prison riot, said too that the army’s Chief of Staff is in contact with the head of the Venezuelan army.
Asked about government’s response to the incident, he told reporters that while the two army heads are in contact “we have received information that there might have been some error on the part of the Venezuelan National Armed Forces and the matter is now being investigated. We are working towards a resolution of the controversy. We are trying to find out exactly what occurred”.
The president gave all assurances that the “situation is not deteriorating and it is not going to degenerate into any confrontation. There seems to have been an error on the part of the Venezuelan Armed Forces and we are trying to get more information”.
He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is handling the necessary arrangements to contact the Venezuelan government and seek an explanation. “They have been asked to seek an explanation from the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”, he said.
Granger dismissed an observation that the last act of aggression by Venezuela occurred around this same time last year. “It is too soon to tell. What occurred on the 26th May, 2015 was deliberate; the promulgation of the (maritime) decree…I do not see it (this incident) as a continuation. I don’t think the two incidents are linked…right now it is too soon to tell. I would like to await information from the Chief of Staff who is in touch with the Venezuelans”.
Asked if he sees this incident as a sign that there needs to be increased security for GGMC officials in these areas, he did not give a direct answer. Noting that there have been several incidents with the Venezuela Armed Forces over the last 50 years, he said “this is certainly not the worst and as I said it’s too soon to tell, I am trying to get information on the cause of the shooting and both the Ministry of the Presidency which is responsible for the Guyana Defence Force and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are working towards a resolution of this matter”.
He said that the issue was discussed at a security meeting on Tuesday.
Relations between Guyana and Venezuela have deteriorated over the last year since President Nicolas Maduro issued a decree laying claim to most of Guyana’s Atlantic waters.
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. The Venezuelan decree laid claim to this area.
Following the rising tensions, Presidents Granger and Maduro met the Secretary General of the United Nations in September, where a number of steps were agreed. This was after Granger had turned to the world body for intervention.
Granger also embarked on a vigorous campaign 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 finds objectionable.
Caricom has also expressed its support for the role of the United Nations Secretary General and his efforts, in keeping with the provisions of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, to bring the controversy to a definitive and judicious conclusion.
