Chile urges respect for international law, treaties …in comment on Guyana/Venezuela controversy

Chile is urging respect for existing treaties including those related to territory and Santiago is not in favour of third parties’ involvement in issues such as the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy unless this is explicitly requested by both States.

 

“Our position has always been very clear, first respect for international law, existing treaties and when there are disputes, the peaceful resolution of them and we understand issues like that to be strictly bilateral and to be solved by the two countries concerned unless the two countries explicitly request the facilitation, the participation of the mediation of a third actor, be it an international organisation or another body including third countries,” the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Heraldo Muñoz told Stabroek News in an interview at his office in Chile’s capital Santiago on Friday.

He was asked about Santiago’s views on the Guyana/Venezuela territorial controversy. Muñoz, who served as UN Assis-tant Secretary-General and UNDP Director for Latin America and the Caribbean since May 2010 before being appointed to his current post by Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet last year, also spoke on several matters related to Guyana-Chile relations. The Spanish-speaking country is establishing an embassy here, its first since the establishment of formal ties in 1971.

Chile’s Foreign Affairs Heraldo Muñoz (left) being interviewed by Gaulbert Sutherland in Santiago.
Chile’s Foreign Affairs Heraldo Muñoz (left) being interviewed by Gaulbert Sutherland in Santiago.

Tensions between Guyana and Venezuela have flared up over the last few months since the latter issued decree 1787 on May 26th seeking to annex a vast expanse of Guyana’s maritime territory and portions of the zones of other Caricom countries. Under unrelenting criticism from Guyana, including at the recent Caricom Heads of Government summit in Barbados, Venezuela retracted the decree and issued another decree—1859—on July 6. However, it has not satisfied Guyana even though it removed all geographic coordinates.

President David Granger during a speech at the 48th Mercosur Summit in Brasilia two Thursdays ago, also sought to enlist the aid of Mercosur member countries in defence of Guyana’s sovereignty from Venezuela’s renewed territorial claims. Known as the Common Market of the South, Mercosur consists of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela as full members. Guyana and Chile are associate members.

At the Brasilia meeting, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro announc-ed that a special meeting will be held within the framework of the regional body to address the border controversy. “I would like to thank you all for agreeing to call a special meeting of Mercosur in Asunción, Paraguay, at the end of August,” Maduro was quoted as saying during his speech. Although the date of the meeting was not scheduled, Maduro welcomed the initiative from Mercosur and the possibility of fostering peace initiatives in the region, the report from the Venezuelan news website El Universal, said.

Subsequently, Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge was quoted in the Guyana Times as saying “Our colleagues in Latin America claim we have been invited to a meeting in August, but didn’t see it fit to ask us whether we’d be available, whether the time would be convenient, whether we’d be interested and so forth.” He was subsequently reported as saying that the government does not attend meetings on the basis of information from other sources. The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) had also approached Guyana to attend a meeting, or to agree to a meeting with Venezuela.

Muñoz, on Friday, made it clear that his country would not participate in a meeting by any regional grouping unless there is explicit acceptance by both countries for the involvement of the body. “By no means, we would not participate in such a meeting because we understand that matter to be bilateral and there will have to be the explicit acceptance of both countries for an intervention by a third body,” he emphasised.

 

“We understand that that proposed meeting is not going forward but in this case, we reiterate, our position is bilateral issues should be resolved bilaterally and only if the two countries are willing to explicitly request the participation of a third instance can that be possible,” said the Minister. “So we see it with respect and we are concerned and we hope that bilaterally, the two countries can move forward. If not, and if they expressly say so, they should seek some modality of peaceful resolution,” he added.