(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves yesterday emphasised that both Venezuela and Guyana are engaged in “non-threatening activities” and that both countries continue to be interested in dialogue and the maintenance of peace.
“I am satisfied that both sides are interested in dialogue and peace. And I have not seen therefore the Argyle Declaration as being ruptured in any way,” he told the Express in response to questions on whether the spirit or letter of the “Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela” had been violated by the actions or statements from the leaders of Guyana and Venezuela.
The Declaration had been arrived at on December 14 following talks between Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and Guyana President Irfaan Ali in St Vincent and the Grenadines in the presence of Caricom and CELAC leaders. Gonsalves is chairman of CELAC.
The arrival of the British Military Ship, HMS Trent, on the coasts near Guyana has been criticised by Venezuela, which described it as “an act of hostile provocation and a violation of the recent Argyle Declaration”.
However, Gonsalves, who has played and continues to play the role of “facilitator and interlocutor” on the insistence of both parties, said he had been in touch with both President Maduro and President Ali on several things, including the issue of the presence of HMS Trent is one of those things.
“I have communicated to the Venezuelan President that what President Ali has said, and that even before the HMS Trent was to go into Guyana water, that this is a routine visit, non-threatening and that this vessel is one that has been involved with search and rescue and matters involved with drug trafficking and interdicting drug traffickers and those engaged in trafficking human bodies and that this vessel does not have any particular capacity for any offensive military activity.
“Of course the Venezuelans view it as provocative and that combined with exercises with the (US) Southern Command, they say… may amount to a threat. The comments that I have seen from the Venezuelan authorities have not been belligerent. But they have also indicated to me to convey to President Ali that they would engage in certain defensive exercises. So both of them have used me as a conduit to say to each other that these are non-threatening activities,” Gonsalves stated.
“If the Venezuelans engage in any activity, they themselves have said that that would be only of a defensive posture, nothing aggressive. So both sides are seeking to keep the temperature down and they are doing so in language which is not combative, or militaristic or aggressive, which is good news,” he said.
Drama seekers
Gonsalves said he had read many media reports, some of which seem to be “more interested in igniting tensions and wanting drama”, with commentary which uses the (Earl) Lovelace formulation of there being some kind of “dragon dance”.
But, Gonsalves said each side (Venezuela and Guyana) had been making the point that they are engaging in non-threatening activities. “It would be helpful if neither side would engage in any activity which may appear or may lend to the interpretation of provocation or threat. You notice that I myself am not expressing a view as an interlocutor. I am not an arbiter. I am just interested in having peace and dialogue…in being used as a conduit to help keep the peace, and in ensuring that each side continues to have me communicate to the other, to say that this activity is not threatening and is not belligerent,” he said.
“So that as far as I am concerned, both sides have insisted that they are interested in dialogue and the maintenance of peace. We must remember in all of this that each leader has his own domestic situation and domestic concerns and even now you would see that the temperature has been reduced immensely from what it was prior to the Argyle Declaration, even with this to-ing and fro-ing about this or that military exercise,” Gonsalves stated.
So what is happening is not a signal of any kind of trouble? the Express asked. “No, no. Not the way that either side has represented it to me and which I have communicated to each side, and both sides are appreciative of the communication prior to anything which is taking place. So the lines of communication are open. And I am satisfied that both sides are interested in dialogue and peace and I have not therefore seen the Argyle Declaration as being ruptured in any way,” Gonsalves responded.