The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, addressing CARICOM's heads of government during the 46th Summit, held in Georgetown, Guyana, on February 26, 2024. Photo: News Room.
The opening ceremony of the 46th Ordinary Summit of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has taken place in Georgetown, capital of Guyana, a meeting that held as one of the central points the historical territorial dispute over the Essequibo.
In the inaugural speech of the event this Monday, February 26, led by the Secretary General of CARICOM, Carla N. Barnett, she stated that the summit would deal with “various border controversies and the passage of dangerous weapons and drugs through our lands and seas.” The political and security crisis in Haiti and the issue of carbon credits would also be among the key points.
The bloc brings together Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. It closed its meeting with the participation of the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who served as a special guest and who called on the organization to reject becoming a zone of influence of the powers and to maintain autonomy amid geopolitical rivalries, pointing out that “it is up to us to maintain the region as a zone of peace.”
Regarding the controversy between Venezuela and Guyana, the outgoing president of CARICOM, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, celebrated the result of the conversation between President Nicolás Maduro and his counterpart from Guyana, Irfaan Ali, the purpose of which was to guarantee regional stability, which was achieved when “we met as a family in December in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to maturely address the tensions between two brothers,” he said.
Relations between Venezuela and Guyana surrounding the dispute over the Essequibo territory began to heat up when the corporate interests of the US oil company ExxonMobil came to the fore, which aspires to appropriate the enormous oil reserves found in waters to be delimited between both countries. Venezuela, using its historical rights and appealing to the Geneva Agreement as the only instrument agreed upon by the parties to resolve the dispute, called for a popular consultation, the result of which expressed the will of all Venezuelans to claim this territory.
However, CARICOM rejected the validity of the referendum and appealed to the fact that “International Law strictly prohibits the government of a State from unilaterally seizing, annexing or incorporating the territory of another State.”
A confesión de parte, relevo de prueba!! El Presidente de Guyana @presidentaligy con total desparpajo reconoce: 1. Que violenta y desconoce abiertamente las obligaciones de Guyana conforme al Acuerdo de Ginebra de 1966/ 2. Que dispone unilateralmente de un mar pendiente por… https://t.co/NwPsWM0Deg
— Delcy Rodríguez (@delcyrodriguezv) February 27, 2024
The Venezuelan government expressed in a statement that Venezuela is protected by its historical rights over the Essequibo region, and argued that the government of Guyana has attempted to arbitrarily control a territory “over which it does not have titles, nor can it show legal sources that support its claims, for which it has been unilaterally disposing of this space and marking an abusive intervention.”
Since the agreements established after the meeting between Presidents Nicolás Maduro and Irfaan Ali in December, which resulted in the signing of the Argyle Agreement, things have fluctuated between Venezuela’s firm stance against the militarization promoted by Guyana, which is aided by England and the United States.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, the Guyanese president said that his country’s borders were defined in 1899 by the Paris Arbitration Award and were accepted by Venezuela. He added that he has warrantied the international investments in waters yet to be delimited with Venezuela. These statements indicate that Guyana will continue to unilaterally have access to waters that have not yet been delimited, which violates international laws, as well as the Argyle Agreement.
“What a confession!” the vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, wrote in response to Ali’s statements through a post on social media this Tuesday, February 27. “The president of Guyana, with total impudence, recognizes: 1. That he violates and openly ignores Guyana’s obligations under the 1966 Geneva Agreement, 2. That he unilaterally has a pending water delimitation but grants concessional guarantees to energy transnationals, breaking international law. Venezuela does not and will not recognize the fraudulent limits of the [1899] dispossession award. And we will never give up defending our rights. Our response will be proportionate to the gross violations of Guyana and its imperial masters!”
After this summit, Irfaan Ali assumes the presidency of CARICOM, and it is not known what nuance the bloc’s decisions will take regarding the Essequibo territorial dispute. For now, he has made it clear that the relationship between Guyana and the imperial interests of the US regarding “regional security” will continue, according to reports from mainstream media. Venezuela, for its part, will continue to adhere to the provisions of international laws, and will seek to vindicate its legitimate rights over the Essequibo.
(Misión Verdad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
