Guyana yesterday continued to push back against efforts by Venezuela for direct talks over their border controversy amid an escalation from Caracas which has signalled plans for a referendum on the matter.
In a statement yesterday, Guyana said that it “rejects all that is said, implied and proposed by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in its Communique of 27 September 2023. It wishes particularly to re-iterate the Statement of its Permanent Representative to the United Nations made on 26 September 2023 – by which it stands”.
In relation to the final paragraph of its Communique in which Caracas “ratifies its willingness to participate in a high-level meeting ….to continue the negotiations provided for in that legal instrument”- presumably, the Geneva Agreement 1966 – the Government of Guyana said it is confounded.
“It appears that Venezuela has forgotten that by 2018 it had utilised over two decades of ‘good offices’ to no effect, due largely to its own filibuster tactics, before the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, following on the efforts of his two predecessors, wrote to the Governments of both Venezuela and Guyana on 30 January 2018 as follows:
I have fulfilled the responsibility that has fallen on me within the framework set by my predecessor and, significant progress not having been made toward arriving at a full agreement for the solution of the controversy, I have chosen the International Court of Justice as the means that is now to be used for its solution.
“The Government of Vene-zuela hardly needs reminding that pursuant to the Secretary General’s decision, Guyana brought current proceedings before the Court on 29 March 2018, nor that the Court on two occasions has affirmed its jurisdiction in rejection of Venezuela’s efforts to frustrate the judicial proceedings. Vene-zuela must now proceed and face, as must Guyana, the Judgement of the Court. Instead, as Venezuela’s Communique makes clear, it wishes to `continue the negotiations’ – avoiding a judgment of the world’s most authoritative Court”, the statement said.
It added that the Government of Guyana will not “facilitate this escape from a just and lawful settlement of the border (controversy) under the Geneva Agreement 1966 – as it believes Venezuela sees its proposed ‘high-level meeting’ facilitating. It will not engage in any such avoidance of the just and peaceful settlement which the International Court of Justice is in the process of providing”.
Furthermore, Guyana adverted Venezuela’s attention to the ‘Statement by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on the Guyana-Venezuela Border Controversy’ issued on 22 September 2023 in the context of present exchanges which stated, inter alia:
CARICOM expresses the hope that Venezuela will engage fully in the process before the International Court of Justice, which has determined that it has the jurisdiction in the case brought before it. The Court’s final decision will ensure a resolution that is peaceful, equitable and in accordance with international law.
Finally, in the overall context of the Venezuelan Communique, Guyana reminded all involved that the CARICOM Statement ended as follows:
The Caribbean Community reiterates its full and unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, including the right to peacefully develop the resources of its territory.
The ratcheting up of tensions by the Maduro administration and plans for the referendum on Essequibo have seen Guyana mobilise support from CARICOM, the OAS, the Commonwealth and the United States.
In addition to already dispatching formal correspondence that it objects to the spurious claims of Essequibo and to a referendum announced, the Government of Guyana on Saturday September 23rd summoned Venezuela’s Ambassador to Guyana, Carlos Amador Pérez Silva to a meeting and voiced its position that Caracas’ action contradicts the Geneva Agreement.
“The Acting Foreign Minister met with the Ambassador of Venezuela yesterday to raise our concerns about his country’s announced referendum. They also apprised, highly, the ICJ process where we are at right now and that is consistent with the 1966 Geneva Agreement and that is what Guyana is committed to,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugh Todd told Stabroek News when contacted.
“The process is linked to the Geneva Agreement which we are conforming to and we are encouraging Venezuela to participate,” he added.
