Venezuela ups pressure for out-of-court settlement; Guyana says no
Monday marked the 117th anniversary of the 1899 arbitral award handed down in Paris with neighbouring Venezuela insisting that it prefers going the route of resuming the Good Offices process instead of an international court.
The statement of Venezuela has triggered an immediate response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which said, yesterday, that it has issued a booklet on the history of the award.
According to the ministry, Venezuela on Monday marked the occasion with a “vituperative statement unworthy of a law abiding member of the international community. Its statement is a reaffirmation of Venezuela’s disrespect for the rule of law among nations. It is a frenzied display of ill temper from forces with whom history has caught up revealing the tangled
web of falsehoods on which their specious claims to Guyana’s Essequibo were built.”
The foreign ministry said that Guyana is marking the occasion with the release of a booklet in English and Spanish — “The New Conquistadors/Los Nuevos Conquistadores” – which gives an account of the Tribunal’s Award and Venezuela’s 60 year recognition and respect for it.
Nicolas Maduro
President David Granger
“The booklet commemorates the award of one of the most prestigious judicial tribunals ever assembled under its most eminent Russian chairman.”
According to the statement by the Venezuela Government yesterday, it is using the occasion to protest Guyana’s disregard of international commitments.
According to the El Universal report, after the 117 years of the cutting-off of almost 160,000 square kilometers from the Essequibo region, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry voiced rejection over the “absurd and irrational actions undertaken by the Guyanese government in disregarding international commitments.”
In a communiqué, Venezuela claimed that Guyana has referred to “false protections based on lies and subterfuge” to bring about an aggression situation against the country.
Similarly, Venezuela ratified its commitment with peace in order to find a solution to the border dispute over the Essequibo, adding that Venezuela has requested the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, to resume the process of Good Offices in force, in accordance with the 1966 Geneva Agreement.
The booklet released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Venezuela border controversy.
However, according to Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement in response, this latest salvo by Venezuela “perpetuates the falsities that have marked its predatory campaign and have continued in relation to Guyana’s maritime space. Its greed for territory has added a new dimension of Guyana’s maritime resources.”
Last year, shortly after it became known that Guyana has found oil, Venezuela caused tensions to increase with the publication of map, which showed a large swath of Essequibo and the waters of Guyana belonging to the neigbouring republic. Part of those waters happened to include the area where US-owned Exxon-Mobil found the oil.
Guyana complained to several international bodies and took the matter to the United Nations where it was raised in the General Assembly.
Guyana insisted that it wanted a juridical settlement. Venezuela said it preferred the Good Offices process in which an official, appointed by the United Nation, oversees talks between the two countries.
However, the David Granger administration wants the matter settled once and for all…in an international court.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “The New Conquistadors” booklet offers to all, the world the true account of the events of the border award and illustrates the urgency of the need to bring this “egregious Venezuelan misconduct to an end as the international community grapples for the supremacy of law and order worldwide”.
The ministry said that Guyana continues to uphold and respect the Arbitral Award of 1899.
“It will defend its validity in the world’s highest courts and expose Venezuela’s sordid efforts to besmirch Guyana’s development agenda. The New Conquistadors tells the story of these unworthy actions and the threats they continue to pose to Guyana, the Caribbean and beyond
through their attack on the sanctity of treaties on which human civilization depends.”
Following the rejection of Guyana last year to latest moves of Venezuela, that neighbouring country ended a five-year oil-for-rice trade deal, forcing government to turn to Trinidad and Tobago for its fuel supplies.
Venezuela is currently facing severe internal turmoil following a drop of oil prices on the world market.
It has been experiencing long food lines with basic necessities like toilet paper missing from supermarket shelves.
