Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s acceptance letter to the meeting on Thursday with President Irfaan Ali envisages the resumption of direct talks with Guyana on the border controversy – a position that Georgetown has already ruled out.
Maduro’s letter of yesterday to St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves also decries the role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the process and also takes aim at US oil company ExxonMobil and the US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). The letter will underline the concerns that Guyana’s interests could be put at risk at this meeting.
He also reiterates Venezuela’s claimed nullity of the 1899 arbitral award settling the boundary with Guyana and refers to the mandate given to him by the Venezuelan people in the referendum of December 3rd. That supposed mandate seeks the annexing of Guyana’s Essequibo.
“The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland acknowledged the territorial dispute back in 1966, when signing the well-known Geneva Agreement, following the evidence produced by Venezuela to substantiate the fact that the Award issued in 1899 by the Arbitral Tribunal of Paris was null and void, the result of a scheme by the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain, under the protection of the Monroe Doctrine.
“Since then, our country has always taken the path of dialogue with Guyana, so as to achieve a practical solution to the territorial dispute, which must be `amicably resolved in a manner acceptable to both parties” as stated in the aforementioned agreement…”, he wrote.
He said he was attending with a mandate from the Venezuelan people emanating from the referendum on December 3rd “setting soundly the next political and diplomatic actions, always within the framework of International Law, to defend our legitimate rights over Guayana Esequiba”.
He then assailed ExxonMobil.
“Dear Ralph, this meeting will be precisely an opportunity for use to clear up the elements that have aggravated the dispute in recent years…I would like to note the arrogant and illegal attitude of the U.S. oil transnational Exxon Mobil, which has been the recipient of concessions in a maritime area yet to be delimited, in flagrant contravention of International”, Maduro wrote.
The content and tone of the letter by Maduro will raise concerns for Georgetown as the President prepares to attend the meeting.
