'Good Officer' Jackman arrives in Guyana today for talks Guyana Chronicle March 21, 2000 NEWLY-appointed United Nations `Good Officer' in the mediation of the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy, Mr Oliver Jackman, begins a hectic three-day visit here today with a number of meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Fresh from similar talks in neighbouring Venezuela, Mr Jackman's first meeting is at 09:00 hrs with the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), followed by another at 14:00 hrs with the political parties in Parliament and yet another at 16:00 hrs with the Joint Forces. He is also to host a press conference tomorrow at 14:00 hrs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Here at the invitation of Foreign Minister Mr Clement Rohee, Jackman's visit is slated as being in consonance with his mandate of keeping UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, abreast of all matters relating to the border dispute. Just Sunday, Venezuelan President Mr Hugo Chavez was quoted by Reuters as saying on Venezuelan radio that he fully intends to reopen the border issue, on the grounds that Venezuela, after all, has "historical rights" to the area under dispute. The area in question is the entire county of the mineral-rich Essequibo, tagged at some 61,500 square miles, or three-quarters of Guyana. President Chavez's attitude is said to have been triggered by current negotiations here between the Guyana Government and the Texan company, Beal Aerospace, about building a spaceport on a site located within the disputed area. The populist leader had also promised during his electoral campaign to reopen the Venezuela/Guyana border dispute should he get into office. A member of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and former Permanent Representative of his native Barbados to the UN, Jackman replaces Sir Alister McIntyre, who was `Good Officer' from 1991 until he resigned last October. Jackman is a lawyer by profession.