Posted on 07/30/2007 8:58:32 AM PDT by davidlachnicht
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (GINA): Guyana continues to receive support from its regional colleagues to resolve the border controversy with neighbouring Venezuela even as a decision on the Summit issues is imminent.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Rudy Insanally said that at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government and the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) meetings this issue was raised.
He said, “As in the past, Guyana has received fulsome support for its position in the matter and for the preservation of the sovereign right to have its territory fully.”
There has been a hiatus in the issue, since the death of Oliver Jackman the Good Officer appointed by the United Nations.
The onus is on the two countries to find a way forward since this development requires both countries to be in communication to chart the course for resolution, Insanally said.
The Foreign Minister said that he had engaged in a brief exchange with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro at the Organisation of American States General Assembly in Panama.
Insanally said it was suggested that Minister Maduro might visit Guyana soon to discuss the general state of relations between the neighbouring countries. This, he posited would give both countries a chance to focus on the level of co-operation needed.
A map of British Guiana published in 1840 started a controversy between the two countries. Venezuela protested, claiming the entire area west of the Essequibo River was its territory. Negotiations between Britain and Venezuela over the boundary began, but the two nations could reach no compromise.
Since then negotiations and diplomatic exchanges have been ongoing to induce a favourable resolution.
In 1996, Sir Alistair McIntyre visited Guyana to begin his task as the UN Good Officer, followed by Oliver Jackman in 1999.
In the same year, Guyana had lodged a protest to the UN against Venezuela over the intrusion by Venezuelan aircraft into Guyana’s airspace. Venezuela is Guyana’s westerly neighbour.
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How long after the Chavezites get their new russian toys will they declare guyana a breakaway province stolen by europeans from it’s natural home, venezuala
Good point. The first thing dictators do to consolidate power is to make war on a neighbor, so that they can identify the ‘patriots’ from the ‘traitors’.
Don’t forget about the Oil-for-Socialism program that Chavez has been pushing throughout the Caribbean states. Low priced fuel could be threatened if those states don’t ‘help’ Chavez when he wants it.
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