Guyanese need no evidence of the perfidy of Venezuela. Before the ink was dry on the Geneva Agreement signed in February 1966 and on the Order in Council granting Independence to Guyana from British colonialism in May 1966, Venezuela invaded Guyana’s half of Ankoko in October 1966 and has since been in illegal occupation of the island. In violation of the Geneva Agreement, Venezuela has shamelessly argued that adherence by Guyana to the Geneva Agreement, is the only way to resolve the border controversy. Guyana’s adherence, it has argued, require it to negotiate directly with Venezuela for a “practical settlement” of the controversy. Whatever the “practical settlement” means it relates only to the task of the Mixed Commission. The Agreement provides that, if within four years, the Mixed Commission does not arrive at a “full agreement for the solution to the controversy” one of the means under Article of the UN Charter shall apply. Article 33 provides for a judicial solution. Guyana engaged in talks with Venezuela for most of the period between 1966 and 2018 when the UN Secretary General referred the controversy to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) because of lack of progress.
