We unreservedly condemn the seizure of two fishing boats in Guyana’s waters on Thursday by the Venezuelan navy and call for their immediate release.
According to a statement issued by Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 23rd, the two Guyanese registered vessels – the Lady Nayera and the Sea Wolf – operating off the coast of Waini Point within Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), were intercepted by Venezuelan naval vessel Commandante Hugo Chavez GC 24 on January 21, 2021. According to the ministry, the Captains were instructed to chart a course to Port Guiria, Venezuela where the boats and crew have been detained.
The ministry said that to date the Government of Guyana has not been advised by the Government of Venezuela of the detention of its nationals. The ministry added that the Venezuelan vessel was illegally manoeuvring within Guyana’s EEZ and Contiguous Zone when it intercepted, boarded and commandeered the Guyanese fishing vessels. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is currently seeking to ascertain the status and welfare of the crew members.
“Guyana condemns in the strongest possible terms this wanton act of aggression by the Venezuelan armed forces against Guyana and Guyanese citizens. This Venezuelan action amounts to an interference with the sovereign rights of Guyana in its EEZ, contrary to international law. It is noted that this latest hostility follows closely on the heels of a Decree recently issued by President Nicolas Maduro which purports to establish `a new maritime territory of Venezuela called ‘Territory for the development of the Atlantic Façade’’, encompassing Guyana’s territorial waters, EEZ and continental shelf, as well as its land territory west of the Essequibo River”, the ministry said.
Guyana has quite properly strongly repudiated this Venezuelan decree as a flagrant violation of its sovereignty and sovereign rights, and of fundamental rules of international law and this newspaper supports this stance unequivocally.
The decree issued by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 7th this year seeking to unilaterally fix land and maritime boundaries adjacent to Guyana’s Essequibo coast has undoubtedly been triggered by the ruling on December 18th 2020 of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which declared that “it has jurisdiction to entertain the Application filed by the Co-operative Republic of Guyana on 29 March 2018 in so far as it concerns the validity of the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899…”
That decision, in proceedings which have so far been boycotted by Caracas, has clearly instigated Venezuela into reckless adventurism. It has clearly failed to understand that Guyana has moved on from the UN Good Offices process meant to settle the controversy as a result of the absence of progress over years and has now committed itself to a juridical process under the aegis of the ICJ.
The seizure of the fishing boats on Thursday extends a pattern of hostility by the Venezuelan government and its navy. On December 22nd, 2018, Venezuela’s navy intercepted and attempted to land a military helicopter on the Ramform Tethys, a seismic vessel operating on behalf of ExxonMobil in Guyana’s maritime space.
In 2013, the Venezuelan navy seized the Teknik Perdana, a survey vessel which was working in Guyana’s maritime space on behalf of the US oil investor Anadarko and escorted the vessel to Margarita island.
Given the bellicose behaviour of President Maduro and the escalation with the seizure of these two fishing vessels, Guyana should seek an emergency meeting of CARICOM. It must also advise the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres of the latest developments and lodge a complaint with the Organisation of American States.
In his column in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, Mr Ralph Ramkarran, a former facilitator to the United Nations Good Offices Process issued a stark warning that the Guyana Government should pay heed to.
“Guyana has to be prepared for worse. The breakdown of UN sponsored discussions in November 2018, and the impending referral of the controversy to the ICJ by the UN Secretary General, gave rise to the earlier Decrees which incorporated Guyana’s maritime space in the Atlantic as part of Venezuela’s. Now the ruling of the ICJ in favour of Guyana on jurisdiction has caused Venezuela to dramatically extend its jurisdiction over our maritime space in a wild violation of international law. It is clear that the Venezuelan establishment is not yet finished and that an eventual ruling of the ICJ in Guyana’s favour will exacerbate Venezuela’s imperialistic greed and lust for our land, sea space and resources. There is no telling what this will involve.
“The only obstacle to more aggressive activity by Venezuela is international opinion. Venezuela understands that the international community will not countenance its physical seizure of Guyana’s territory which was awarded by an Arbitral Tribunal in 1899 which Venezuela accepted for six decades. No one can predict what nefarious deeds Venezuela is concocting in preparation for a likely ruling by the ICJ against its claim that the 1899 Arbitral Award is null and void. Guyana must therefore intensify its international campaign. Guyana needs to expand its border department several times over in order to expand the work of promoting Guyana’s case to the far reaches of Guyana and the world. The combination of the weakness of Venezuela’s case and adverse international opinion has protected Guyana so far from more severe depredations by Venezuela. As the situation moves to its inevitable denouement, Guyana must protect itself by dramatically intensifying its efforts”, he said.
We endorse Mr Ramkarran’s call for the Guyana Government to step up its international campaign to project the country’s case and to counter Caracas’ rapacious irredentism.
