Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton yesterday declared that Venezuela is hell-bent on cheating Guyana of its territory and he called on the government to step up the recapitalizing of the GDF and upgrading of the diplomatic service to roll back Caracas’ designs.
“Guyana must deal with Venezuela as an adversary that is hell-bent on cheating us out of territory that has been legally Guyana’s as a result of the Arbitral Award of 1899 which constitutes a full and perfect settlement of the border between Guyana and Venezuela”, he told a press conference yesterday.
Norton said that the opposition was also calling on the government to bring into effect Article 33 of the Guyana Constitution which states, “It is the duty of every citizen to defend the State.”
Emphasising the importance of diplomacy in maintaining influence inside and outside of the region that proved useful when the country’s territorial integrity was under threat, Norton, who was once an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that policy and strategy seems to be a shadow of what it used to be.
“Our foreign service is not as proactive, vibrant and as forward-looking as it once was. Its efficacy seems to have fallen apart. We need to restore it to prevent Venezuela from further advancing its illegal and partisan designs on our territory. We need a robust and sincere approach to rebuilding our diplomatic capabilities in pursuance of the protection of our territorial integrity and sovereignty.
“The main function of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Guyana from neighbours that seek to bully us. The role of advocating our diplomatic interest appears to have been taken over by another agency which does not and cannot dedicate the time and effort required to achieve effective diplomatic outcomes”, Norton said in a statement at the press conference.
He said that the Parliamentary Opposition wished to suggest that it is insufficient for the President and one or two other public officials to prosecute Guyana’s foreign policy.
“Though foreign policy is his preserve, the stakes are too high and the dangers too great for this nation to rely on the President alone to carry the messages of concern about the threats and dangers that Guyana faces. Our message of goodwill to all must come from many quarters and it is logical to expect this country’s diplomatic service to be at the forefront of such work”, Norton stated.
He added that this is obvious given that Guyana has diplomatic relations with over 150 countries and there is not enough time for the President to engage leaders of those countries on all our diplomatic interests.
“The government needs to invest in strengthening Guyana’s diplomatic service and empowering it to constantly inform the world about our territorial rights, as well as our domestic interests and investment opportunities. The government needs to tap into all the diplomatic skills available to it.
“In the specific case of the existential threat to our territorial integrity posed by Venezuela, we need to see more envoys traversing the world to advance our cause and gain and maintain the support of the international community. The government also needs to put more effort into actively working with key international institutions to advance the security and other interests of Guyana”, Norton asserted.
He re-issued a call for several things to happen including the recapitalising of the GDF to ensure it has the equipment and other resources to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.
He restated the call to curb the further influx of Venezuelan migrants into Essequibo, noting that one of Caracas’s strategies seems to be to populate Essequibo with Venezuelans in pursuance of its spurious claim to Guyana’s territory. Apart from the children of Guyanese who are entitled to become citizens of Guyana, Norton said that there must be a halt of the issuance of birth certificates and national ID cards to Venezuelans.
He charged that the government has either not heeded the opposition’s advice or has moved in a half-hearted manner.
“Under Venezuela’s escalating recklessness, the PPP government can no longer afford to act alone with uncertainty, inadequacy, and hesitancy – there is a need for a national approach to this crisis.
“With the new and dangerous moves by a desperate (Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro) since the referendum, we call on the Guyana government to urgently lobby the international community to reject Venezuela’s lawless establishment of the purported state of `Guayana Esequiba.’ This lobbying effort must be supported by a written aide memoire outlining the ICJ’s rulings and Venezuela’s violation of those rulings, inter alia. The international community must be left in no doubt that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has embarked on an aggressive and destabilizing exercise, which could have far-reaching repercussions across the Latin America and Caribbean region”, Norton added.
