Maduro pressing for return to Good Offices Process

October 17, 2015 By GuyanaTimes

President David Granger

Guyana/Venezuela border controversy…

Venezuela’s President NicolÁs Maduro has maintained that the Geneva Agreement be used to settle the border controversy between his country and Guyana, noting that by November, some actions pertaining to the border controversy could be announced as part of a “roadmap.”

After a meeting on Wednesday in the Miraflores Presidential Palace with representatives of the United Nations (UN), Maduro announced that the Geneva Agreement would be observed to determine the sovereignty of the Essequibo territory.

“It is time to settle this matter and set a clear roadmap within the framework of the Geneva Agreement” Maduro said. The Venezuelan Head of State welcomed the UN technical mission, headed by Susana Malcorra, Chef de Cabinet to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Venezuela’s President NicolÁs Maduro

The delegation visited Guyana on Monday before heading to Venezuela to hold talks with officials there. Maduro advocated the Geneva Agreement, which proposes the UN Good Offices Process as a suitable mechanism to find an acceptable solution to this centenary border dispute. However, the UN process had made no progress in decades.

Guyana’s Government has however been advocating the 1899 Arbitration Award granting the territory to the former British colony. Venezuela argues that such award is null and void. In 1966, the UN admitted Venezuela’s claim and agree to mediate in the dispute to find a solution.

Guyana has downplayed the use of the Good Offices Process since little progress had been recorded during the years of its execution by the late Professor Norman Girvan.

The decades old controversy began in the 1800s, when Guyana was a colony of the British. A Tribunal of Arbitration finalised its decision on October 3, 1899, awarding unanimously to the Britain almost 90 per cent of the disputed territory.

Chef de Cabinet to the United Nations Secretary General Susana Malcorra

According to Guyanese Diplomat, Dr Odeen Ishmael, Venezuela had not accepted the 1899 Award as a final settlement of the border dispute and in 1944, “45 years after the Arbitral Award, Severo Mallet-Prevost, one of the four lawyers who had appeared for Venezuela before the Arbitral Tribunal, wrote a memorandum in which, for the first time, he attacked the Award on the alleged grounds that it was the result of a political deal between Great Britain and Russia,” he wrote.

In recent years the two countries have enjoyed mutually beneficial and often amicable relations.

Meanwhile, Susana Malcorra, Chef de Cabinet to the UN Secretary General said she was “satisfied” to see the progress towards a possible solution to the border controversy over the Essequibo territory after visiting Caracas and Georgetown.

The UN voiced on Thursday satisfaction with the “progress” achieved towards a settlement of the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana after the talks held with the parties involved.

A technical delegation of the UN, headed by Malcorra, ended on Wednesday its visit to Caracas and Georgetown. The mission was arranged late in September.

The UN representatives held meetings in Georgetown and Caracas with Presidents David Granger (Guyana) and NicolÁs Maduro (Venezuela), and the relevant Foreign Affairs Ministers and other officials.

Maduro has already embarked on a bribing spree to get CARICOM and Suriname's support for a continuation of the Good Officer process. He travelled to the islands and Suriname, offering them sweet carrots in the form of cheap oil and markets for their rice and nutmeg and cinnamon and banana.

Right now Granger can count on solid support only from Trinidad and Barbados. Even Jamaica is doubtful because it's counting on a promised Hugo Chavez tertiary education institution that Maduro promised to build there.

Maduro is doing the international legwork himself while some awee Guyanese grudge Granger the few trips he makes abroad. In all of those trips, Granger highlighted Venezuela's aggression against Guyana.

Topics

Maduro pressing for return to Good Offices Process

Guyana/Venezuela border controversy…

Venezuela’s President NicolÁs Maduro has maintained that the Geneva Agreement be used to settle the border controversy between his country and Guyana, noting that by November, some actions pertaining to the border controversy could be announced as part of a “roadmap.”

After a meeting on Wednesday in the Miraflores Presidential Palace with representatives of the United Nations (UN), Maduro announced that the Geneva Agreement would be observed to determine the sovereignty of the Essequibo territory.

“It is time to settle this matter and set a clear roadmap within the framework of the Geneva Agreement” Maduro said. The Venezuelan Head of State welcomed the UN technical mission, headed by Susana Malcorra, Chef de Cabinet to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Guyana’s Government has however been advocating the 1899 Arbitration Award granting the territory to the former British colony. Venezuela argues that such award is null and void. In 1966, the UN admitted Venezuela’s claim and agree to mediate in the dispute to find a solution.

Guyana has downplayed the use of the Good Offices Process since little progress had been recorded during the years of its execution by the late Professor Norman Girvan.

The decades old controversy began in the 1800s, when Guyana was a colony of the British. A Tribunal of Arbitration finalised its decision on October 3, 1899, awarding unanimously to the Britain almost 90 per cent of the disputed territory.

In recent years the two countries have enjoyed mutually beneficial and often amicable relations.

Meanwhile, Susana Malcorra, Chef de Cabinet to the UN Secretary General said she was “satisfied” to see the progress towards a possible solution to the border controversy over the Essequibo territory after visiting Caracas and Georgetown.

The UN voiced on Thursday satisfaction with the “progress” achieved towards a settlement of the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana after the talks held with the parties involved.

A technical delegation of the UN, headed by Malcorra, ended on Wednesday its visit to Caracas and Georgetown. The mission was arranged late in September.

The UN representatives held meetings in Georgetown and Caracas with Presidents David Granger (Guyana) and NicolÁs Maduro (Venezuela), and the relevant Foreign Affairs Ministers and other officials.