When told that the Venezuelans were likely to seriously press their territorial claim to Guyana, Cheddi Jagan is said to have brushed the possibility aside, claiming that, ‘the Venezuelans are our friends’. Apparently, main sections of Venezuela’s political elite had assured him in 1958 that they would neither renounce nor raise their territorial claim. ‘However, Dr. Jagan’s subsequently argued that when it appeared that the PPP would lead British Guiana to independence, the Romulo Betancourt government, under pressure from the United States, raised the claim.’ It would not be the last time that a PPP led government would fail to properly grasp the extremely tentative nature of “friendship” in international political relations! (Joseph, Cedric l (2008) Anglo-American Diplomacy and the Reopening of the Guyana-Venezuela Boundary Controversy 1961-1966. Trafford, International).
In November 1962, upon the Venezuelans’ assertion that a ‘deal’ had been done which had deprived them of the Essequibo territory, Great Britain said that she was ready to arrange with the governments of Venezuela and the colony of Guiana a tripartite examination of the historical documents (London Times, 14.11.1962). The day before this statement was made, the Venezuelan foreign minister had claimed that ‘the disputed area has never ceased to belong to us’ (Ibid.). The British Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations made it clear that Britain’s offer to examine the records was ‘in no sense an offer to engage in substantive talks about revision of the frontier’. He insisted that if it was possible to open a case that was closed for so many years on the evidence put forward by the Venezuelans, ‘there will be no frontier agreement that cannot be questioned’. He was certain that when the Venezuelans had examined the British papers, they would come to the conclusion that there was no need to reopen the case (Guyanal/Venezuela Relations, -1968- Ministry of External Affairs, Georgetown).
Venezuelan experts visited British archives and British experts visited Caracas. From the British standpoint the experts did not find a shred of evidence in support of the Venezuelan contention. But with independence for Guiana nearing, in 1964, the
