Guyana awaits Venezuela clarification
GUYANA is awaiting clarification from Venezuela on aspects of its anti-narcotics activity on the border with this country earlier this month. Guyana's Ambassador to Venezuela, Mr. Bayney Karran told the Chronicle that a note this country has sent to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry on the incident, includes about seven points. "We are alleging that aircraft entered our airspace and we are also seeking clarification on this...I think we have to await their explanation in order to judge what effect their actions might have on the countries in the long and short-term," he said in an interview here Wednesday. Karran said that when Foreign Minister, Mr. Clement Rohee spoke with Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Mr. Vicente Rangel on the incident, the information available was that troop strength had been increased in certain areas, and he got assurances that this was because of anti-narcotics activities. Subsequently, further information came to light that a precise number of gunshots were fired on Ankoko Island and there was aircraft movement there. Ankoko belongs to Guyana but was seized by Venezuela. The Guyanese community in Venezuela or people of Guyanese origin in Venezuela are supportive of Guyana generally, Karran said. He said he has been in contact with Rohee since the troop movement but nothing new has transpired since he (Karran) left for Guyana. "We have been able to establish that in fact there was an anti-narcotics operation going on because contacts in the San Felix area - where there is a large Guyanese community - say boats have been stopped and searched for drugs and contraband," he said. According to Karran, the Presidents of the two countries are to meet early next year as part of ongoing bilateral relations. He explained that when the two Foreign Ministers met in New York, before this latest border development, they took a decision to energise bilateral relations by giving an impetus to the sub-committee meetings of the high level bilateral commission. Both countries are trying to see if they can have three to four meetings of that commission before the end of the year, the ambassador said. Karran maintained that whether or not there is an agreement with Venezuela on the movement of troops along the border, they should have informed Guyana first. Rohee told the Chronicle in an interview last week that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was being briefed on developments in the border controversy and this country's diplomats were lobbying Guyana's position overseas. (ROBERT BAZIL)
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