Six days after the interception of two Guyanese fishing vessels the Venezuelan government has officially objected to the “handling” of the matter by Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
According to a statement from the Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Relations, Venezuela has sent its own protest note to the Guyana Government via Charge d’ Affaires of the Caracas embassy, Robert McKenzie.
The statement claimed that during a videoconference with Minister Hugh Todd his counterpart Jorge Arreaza provided “evidence and location coordinates which show that the vessels were carrying out illegal fishing activities in jurisdictional waters of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
These coordinates were however not made public.
In contrast Guyana has clearly stated that the vessels were intercepted by Venezuelan naval vessel Commandante Hugo Chavez GC 24, while operating off the coast of Waini Point at a position of N 80 49’ 06”/ w 590 37’ 40” W.
These co-ordinates they remind are “well within Guyana’s territory” and therefore the crew members and vessels are currently illegally detained at Port Guiria, Venezuela.
Venezuela continues to maintain otherwise and the protest note which was given to McKenzie during an hours-long meeting yesterday rejected the Guyanese statement as defamatory.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ratifies its repudiation of the false accusations and misrepresentations made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Guyana, considering that they are not based on good faith, while qualifying as inadmissible the claim of Guyana to denominate said territory as its “Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf”. Venezuela will continue to guard its jurisdictional waters in safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement said.
Attempts to reach Todd for information on the coordinates Arreaza claim-ed to have provided proved futile. Calls to the Minister’s phone were unanswered.
CARICOM member, Belize has meanwhile stepped forward to condemn the actions of Venezuela and call for the immediate release of the Guyanese nationals and their vessels.
A statement from the Belize Press Office reiterates that country’s unequivocal support for Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the process underway before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to finally and peacefully resolve the controversy between the two countries.
According to the statement, the Belizean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Immigration Eamon Courtenay met with the Venezuelan Ambassador to Belize, Gerardo Argote on Sunday for an explanation of the incident.
During that meeting Courtenay took the opportunity to condemn “this latest flagrant violation of Guyana’s sovereignty”
Belize, which has a long-running territorial dispute with Guatemala, has urged Venezuela to respect international law and ensure a peaceful resolution of this incident.
The 12 men who were on board ‘Lady Nayera’ and the Sea Wolf when they were intercepted by the Venezuelan Navy remain in custody pending an investigation into their activities.
Aboard the Lady Nayera are the captain, Richard Ramnarine and his crewa: Ramlakan Kamal, Nick Raghubar, Javin Boston, Michael Domingo and Joel Joseph.
On the Sea Wolf are its captain, Toney Garraway and crewmen, Errol Gardiner, Orland Roberts, Christopher Shaw, Shervin O’ Neil and Randy Henry.
Following an appearance in a Venezuelan court they are to remain in custody for 45 days while the authorities attempt to collect enough evidence to possibly lay charges.
Kumar Lallbachan, owner of “Lady Nayera” told this newspaper last evening that he remains hopeful that the diplomatic efforts from the government will see his vessel and employees retuning swiftly and safely.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly stated the main objective of this country is to get the crews back home safely to their families.
To this end Todd had secured an undertaking from Arreaza to pursue the early release of the seamen.
While Guyana maintains that Monday’s meeting specifically did not address the differing positions on the sovereign jurisdiction of interception, Venezuela has described it as a discussion of the legitimate custody activity of the Bolivarian National Navy, which led to the interception of two Guyanese ships.
The interception of the two vessels comes amid rising tensions between the two countries following an International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on December 18 last year to assert jurisdiction following an application by Guyana for a juridical settlement of the longstanding border controversy with Venezuela.
Venezuela has since asked the ICJ twice for the case management meeting to be deferred and it was shifted from Monday to February 26th. The first deferral was from January 10th to January 25th.
Guyana has said that while it holds firm to the view that Caracas has no sound ground for the deferrals given the meetings are only procedural, it will allow the court to do its job.
Since the ICJ decision, Caracas has engaged in a series of hostile actions including the issuing of a decree purporting to establish control over waters adjacent to Guyana’s Essequibo coast. This decree has been repudiated by Guyana.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs says that this country believes that Venezuela latest act of aggression is to avoid the current case before the ICJ and get Guyana to return to the UN Good Offices Process; an act this country refuses to do.