Can President Chavez's statements be ignored?
The recent visits to Venezuela and Guyana of Ambassador Oliver Jackman, the person chosen by the UN Secretary General to exercise his good offices function towards resolving the controversy with Venezuela, has reopened again the question "How serious is the current threat to Guyana's territorial integrity? President Chavez took the occasion of Jackman's visit to renew Venezuela's territorial claim against Guyana and to contest Guyana's right to grant the Beal concession. At the same time he expressed goodwill towards Guyana, a situation which reminds one of certain rites in which the sacrificial animal is bathed and perfumed before its head is cut off! With characteristic naivete our Foreign Minister in expressing dismay over President Chavez's utterance on the Beal deal invoked instead of international law the position of the group of 77, a body characterised by strong rhetoric but little else. The official attitude seems to be that we must avoid conflictual situations at any cost. So what will a reality check yield? The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela promulgated its new constitution last December. This constitution in one of its Articles states that Venezuela will have the same territory as the captaincy general in l8l0, i.e. in colonial times, "with the resulting modifications of treaties and arbitral awards not marred by nullity". The arbitral award being referred to as "marred by nullity" is the Paris Award which includes three fifths of Guyana, the so called Zona Reclamacion. One view is that this constitutional provision should be viewed as no more than a historical ploy. On the other hand the territorial claim is part and parcel of a brand new constitution. Another view, informed by the informal advice of international lawyers, is that the Venezuelan assertion in its new constitution amounts to a form of aggression and should be challenged immediately at the level of the United Nations and in other fora. This is clearly a case where there is need for transparency in the formulation of foreign policy. The Foreign Minister must tell us what is the purpose of this development in Venezuela's new constitution and whether or not there is need to take action. President Chavez's position on the Beal project could have, indeed is probably already having, the most serious negative consequences on the attraction of investment into the resource rich Essequibo region. It is reported that some two decades ago a Yugoslav firm that was exploring for oil in the Takuba basin and had been discovering promising results was frightened off by the Venezuelan government. It has been said that war is too serious a matter to be left to the generals. One might say the same on a territorial claim which threatens the existence of Guyana. This is a matter to which the President must give his urgent attention.
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