Guyana has registered its concern to the Secretary General of UNASUR, Dr Ernesto Samper Pizano, over a press release on the organization’s website that reported the terms of the internal political dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition in which the claim to this country’s Essequibo was restated.
“The Government of Guyana wishes to clarify that the appearance of this press release on the UNASUR website, is not and cannot be an endorsement of this baseless claim by Venezuela over two-thirds of Guyana’s sovereign territory,” Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge said in written correspondence to Pizano, a former Colombian President.
Pointing to and quoting from the press release entitled “National Government and the Democratic Unity Roundtable of Venezuela hold second plenary session within the framework of the national dialogue” that was posted to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR’s) website, the Foreign Affairs Minister made his country’ position known.
“While Guyana fully supports UNASUR’s role in the process of political dialogue in Venezuela, this process cannot be at the expense of undermining or appearing to undermine Guyana’s sovereign rights and territorial integrity, or contrary to the efforts of the Secretary General of the United Nations in bringing this long- standing controversy to a full and final settlement,” Greenidge asserted.
Both Guyana and Venezuela are members of UNASUR.
The release that was published on the UNASUR website on November 12th 2016 reads in part, “In the area of national sovereignty and protection of territorial integrity, WE AGREE our unanimous position in defence of the legitimate and inalienable rights of Venezuela over Guyana Esequiba and in defence of the Geneva Agreement of 1966, the legal instrument in force between the parties which settles this territorial controversy.”
In his letter, Greenidge reiterated that the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela was determined by the 1899 Arbitral Award, constituting a full, final and perfect settlement.
“Venezuela complied fully with that award until 1962, when on the eve of Guyana’s independence, it suddenly repudiated the award without any basis in international law, and has ever since subjected Guyana to threats and pressures that have undermined the development of two thirds of Guyana’s sovereign territory”, he said.
Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister noted that the 1966 Geneva Agreement sets out the procedure for the settlement of the controversy arising from Venezuela’s contention that the 1899 Agreement was “Null and Void”.
“Article IV thereof provides that if the parties cannot resolve the controversy, the Secretary General of the United Nations shall choose the means of settlement. He has been seized of the matter since 1989 through a Good Officer’s process that manifestly failed to resolve the controversy,” the minister penned.
Greenidge explained that since 2015 there have been intensive deliberations on the way forward and as such this country is asking UNASUR to respect and support UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon as he discharges his mandate under the Geneva Agreement thus choosing the next means of settlement.
Over the last forty nine years of the existence of the Geneva Agreement, a number of tools have been utilized to settle the controversy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pointed out in a statement. These include: Four (4) years of a ‘Mixed Commission, a twelve (12) year moratorium and twenty five (25) years of the United Nations Good Offices Process. During the foregoing period the Government of Venezuela offered no credible evidence to support its contention of nullity and invalidity of the 1899 Arbitral Award, the statement said.
Following a meeting last month with incoming Secretary General (SG) of the United Nations, António Guterres, Guyana was told that he was satisfied with the process the incumbent Ban Ki-moon is undertaking pertaining to the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.
“We had an extremely cordial meeting with Mr. Guterres who is satisfied with the process underway in which SG Ban Ki-moon is involved,” Greenidge had told Stabroek News after the meeting last week.
Further, he added, “We are awaiting the decision of Mr. Ban Ki-moon.”
Relations between Georgetown and Caracas have deteriorated over the last 18 months since embattled Venezuelan 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 Exxon Mobil of a significant oil find in Guyana’s waters off the Demerara coast. The Venezuelan decree laid claim to this area.
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.
Subsequently, last September, Granger and Maduro met the UN Secretary-General and agreed to a number of steps. The Secretary-General has promised an assessment of the situation by the end of his tenure, which will be December 31st this year.
The Venezuelan government has stated that it wants Guyana to agree to a renewal of the Good Officer process to settle the controversy. However, noting that the Good Offices Process had failed to resolve the controversy over decades, Guyana has been pressing since last year for a juridical settlement which will be final and binding. This is what SG Ban has to decide on.
