Unions call on governments to reject Venezuela's claim
HEADS of trade union umbrella bodies from the Caribbean are calling on their respective governments to restate their "unswerving commitment" to rejecting Venezuela's territorial claim against Guyana, in the wake of recent unfriendly military activity near this country's border. A statement from the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) said the call came in a resolution unanimously endorsed by heads of Caribbean umbrella organisations who met in Jamaica from November 3 to 4, 1999 to discuss the challenges of globalisation for the regional labour movement. According to the resolution, Venezuela, has, in recent months, "returned to the practice of sabre-rattling by amassing troops on its border with Guyana, firing shots across the border and over-flying Guyana's territorial airspace." These actions, the resolution stated, were designed to limit the capacity of Guyana for economic growth by attempting to veto legitimate investments sanctioned by Guyana in areas claimed by Venezuela. Speaking on the resolution at the Caribbean Congress of Labour-sponsored Seminar, General Secretary of the TUC, Mr. Lincoln Lewis said that in the wake of Venezuela's recent military activity in the border area, CARICOM governments should remind the authorities in Caracas about their ongoing support for Guyana's territorial integrity. "Caribbean Community governments need to act now to send a firm reminder to the Government of Venezuela that they continue to be opposed to the enforcement of its territorial claim against Guyana through military action. The Chavez administration must be told that CARICOM's diplomatic position of the 1970s and 1980s has not changed," Lewis was quoted as saying. The resolution said that Venezuela's sustained illegal claim to two-thirds of Guyana's territory posed a threat not only to its sovereignty but also to the advancement of its labour interest. It called on Venezuela to cease its acts of hostility against the workers and the people of Guyana and to commit itself to the peaceful resolution of the territorial claim. Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago trade unionist, Mr. Vincent Cabrera, has said that Guyana needed to do more to bring to the attention of the people of the region the nature and details of Venezuela's territorial claim. He felt that Guyana stood a better chance of getting regional support at the level of CARICOM workers if the Caribbean were better briefed on the issue.
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