Venezuela has nothing to fear from activities within Guyana’s waters, President Irfaan Ali said yesterday in an apparent response to Caracas’ concerns about a UK warship that is due to anchor off this country’s coast in the coming hours.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has again escalated tensions by charging yesterday that the imminent arrival of HMS Trent is a transgression of the understandings reached in St Vincent and the Grenadines earlier this month to de-escalate tensions between the two countries over their border controversy.
The Associated Press (AP) yesterday reported that Maduro ordered Vene-zuela’s armed forces to conduct defensive exercises in the Eastern Caribbean after the United Kingdom dispatched the warship toward Guyana’s territorial waters.
In a nationally televised address yesterday, Maduro said that 6,000 Venezuelan troops, including air and naval forces, will conduct joint operations off the nation’s eastern coast — near the border with Guyana, AP said.
In a statement yesterday without referring to the expected arrival of the warship or Maduro’s remarks, President Ali offered assurances.
“Neither Venezuela nor any other State has anything to fear from activities within Guyana’s sovereign territory or waters.
“I have iterated before that we harbour no ambitions or intentions to covet what does not belong to us. We are fully committed to peaceful relations with our neighbours and all countries in our Region. Guyana remains fully steadfast in promoting and advancing peace whilst pursuing national development.
“Guyana has long been engaged in partnerships with regional and international states aimed at enhancing internal security. These partnerships pose a threat to no one and are in no way intended to be aggressive or constitute an offensive act against any State.
“I wish to renew my best wishes to the people of Venezuela, our neighbours”, the President said.
Reuters said that Maduro yesterday declared that the deployment of a British warship to waters off the coast of Guyana breaches the “spirit” of the December 14 Argyle agreement reached between the Guyana and Venezuelan presidents.
Both countries agreed to avoid the use of force and avoid increasing tensions in the controversy over the oil-rich Essequibo territory. During the last few months, Venezuela had moved to annexe Essequibo and had backed that up with troop movements.
The Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Trent is visiting Guyana as part of a series of engagements in the region, the UK’s defense ministry said in a statement earlier this month, without referring to Venezuela or the border controversy.
“It is the breaking of the spirit of dialogue, diplomacy and peace of the agreements,” Maduro said yesterday. He added that the deployment was “practically a military threat from London.”
Maduro has ordered “the activation of a joint defensive action of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces” off the coast of Essequibo, he said in a state televised broadcast, but did not give more information.
Military leaders in Venezuela’s east said during the broadcast that 5,600 uniformed personnel were ready for the operation.
In a statement according to Reuters, Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said the country “reserves all actions, within the framework of the Constitution and International Law, to defend its maritime and territorial integrity.”
AP said that in a nationally televised address yesterday, Maduro said that 6,000 Venezuelan troops, including air and naval forces, will conduct joint operations off the nation’s eastern coast.
Maduro described the impending arrival of British ship HMS Trent to Guyana’s shores as a “threat” to his country.
“We believe in diplomacy, in dialogue and in peace, but no one is going to threaten Venezuela,” Maduro said in a room where he was accompanied by a dozen military
commanders. “This is an unacceptable threat to any sovereign country in Latin America”, AP reported.
HMS Trent is a patrol and rescue ship that was recently used to intercept drug traffickers off the West Coast of Africa. It can accommodate up to 30 sailors and a contingent of 18 marines, and is equipped with 30mm cannons and a landing pad for helicopters and drones, AP said.
The ship had been sent to Barbados in early December to intercept drug traffickers, but its mission was changed on Dec. 24, when it was sent to Guyana. Authorities did not specify when it was expected to arrive off Guyana’s shores.
The United Kingdom’s Defence Ministry said the ship would be conducting joint operations with Guyana’s defence forces.
Guyana and Venezuela declared as follows in the Argyle agreement:
1. Agreed that Guyana and Venezuela, directly or indirectly, will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two States.
2. Agreed that any controversies between the two States will be resolved in accordance with international law, including the Geneva Agreement dated February 17, 1966.
3. Committed to the pursuance of good neighborliness, peaceful coexistence, and the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean.
4. Noted Guyana’s assertion that it is committed to the process and procedures of the International Court of Justice for the resolution of the border controversy. Noted Venezuela’s assertion of its lack of consent and lack of recognition of the International Court of Justice and its jurisdiction in the border controversy
5. Agreed to continue dialogue on any other pending matters of mutual importance to the two countries.
6. Agreed that both States will refrain, whether by words or deeds, from escalating any conflict or disagreement arising from any controversy between them. The two States will cooperate to avoid incidents on the ground conducive to tension between them. In the event of such an incident the two States will immediately communicate with one another, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC), and the President of Brazil to contain, reverse and prevent its recurrence.
7. Agreed to establish immediately a joint commission of the Foreign Ministers and technical persons from the two States to address matters as mutually agreed. An update from this joint commission will be submitted to the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela within three months,
8. Both States agreed that Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves, the Pro-Tempore President of CELAC, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, the incumbent CARICOM Chairman, and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil will remain seized of the matter as Interlocutors and the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres as Observer, with the ongoing concurrence of Presidents Irfaan Ali and Nicolas Maduro. For the avoidance of doubt, Prime Minister Gonsalves’ role will continue even after Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ceases to be the Pro-Tempore President of CELAC, within the framework of the CELAC Troika plus one; and Prime Minister Skerrit’s role will continue as a member of the CARICOM Bureau.
9. Both States agreed to meet again in Brazil, within the next three months, or at another agreed time, to consider any matter with implications for the territory in dispute, including the above-mentioned update of the joint commission.
