Venezuelan visit?
Editorial
Stabroek News
February 1, 2004
The week before last a report appeared in the Miami Herald, which said that President Chavez was scheduled to visit this country on January 30-31, to discuss Venezuela's claim to Guyana's land. It cited as the source for this, Minister of Foreign Affairs Rudy Insanally; however, the Minister told this newspaper that although those dates had been mooted, they had not been confirmed. President Chavez did not come, of course, although since actual dates are under discussion perhaps it is not too unrealistic to suppose that he might still do so in the not-so-distant future.
President Chavez, has been preoccupied with domestic matters ever since the failed coup in April 2002, and everything has appeared to have been relatively quiescent on our western frontier since that time - or at least, since the PdVSA strike which began at the end of that year. When boundary matters have obtruded into the political preoccupations of the neighbouring government, they have related to Colombia, rather than to Guyana.
And there have been real tensions on the Colombian-Venezuelan frontier, sections of which are penetrated on a regular basis by Colombian left-wing guerillas, right-wing paramilitaries and criminal elements from both nations. The US has accused President Chavez of giving active assistance to the Colombian guerillas, although this has been strenuously denied by Miraflores. The least that can be said is that there are parts of Venezuela's border with her western neighbour where the writ of Caracas does not run.
It has been announced in the Venezuelan press that President Chavez is to meet President Uribe of Colombia at the end of February to discuss their border problems, so perhaps the neighbouring head of state is in a frontier mode. Where this country is concerned, he may have various motives for being open to discussions now - presuming, of course, that he really does want to come here - given his active role in continental politics, and his stand-off with Washington.
President Chavez, however, has a history with the border controversy which should not be ignored. In the first place, in his early days he showed a certain impatience with the multilateral process, being quoted just before he became President as saying that it might be necessary "to look for other mechanisms [to solve the border controversy]... especially negotiations on a government to government basis." Negotiations between the Colombians and Venezuelans are undertaken on a bilateral basis, but it would be sheer folly for Guyana to buckle to the neighbouring head of state's sense of urgency, and come out from under the shade of the multilateral umbrella.
It should be remembered too, that prior to his preoccupation with domestic difficulties, he had maintained a consistently aggressive stance in relation to our frontier. Early on he had referred to Venezuela's need for "a terriotrial revindication of the wide section of Guyana," and one of his first forays into hemispheric summitry saw him engaged in public advocacy of Venezuela's meretricious claim to Essequibo. This was at the meeting of South American heads of government which had been called by President Cardoso in August 2000. It must be said that on that occasion we went prepared, and President Jagdeo held his own briefing outlining Guyana's case.
During Mr Chavez' presidency there has been more than one incursion into Guyana's air-space by military aircraft, including an incident which occurred on December 24, 1999. Following the inevitable protest, the Venezuelan authorities disingenuously informed their Guyanese counterparts that it was just "the customary New Year salute to the garrisons posted at the frontiers of the Republic."
In another case that same year, the explanation proferred was that the planes were engaged in anti-narcotics exercises.
There were also territorial intrusions, as well as economic aggression, when three oil companies granted exploration licences off the Essequibo coast by Guyana, were pressured by Venezuela into relinquishing them. In the meantime, Venezuela has granted international oil companies licences for three blocks, and invited bids on two others, to explore for hydrocarbons in the Orino-co delta region. Fears have been expressed that one of those blocks - block 5 - might impinge on Guyana's maritime space. Whether this is so or not, has never been clarified by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although we did report that they were in discussions with Caracas about it.
Finally, it must also not be forgotten that Venezuela's new constitution introduced under President Chavez incorporates the dubious Article 10, which by implication could repudiate the 1899 Award. While as far as the international domain is concerned, this article has no practical consequence, it is still not something about which Guyana should feel comfortable.
Hopefully, we can presume that the Government of Guyana has not moved from the traditional position that the 1899 Award was a full, perfect and final settlement, and that in the case of Essequibo, joint development with Venezuela is a definite no-no. One hopes too, as said above, that the administration will not be tempted or harried into bilateral negotiations concerning this particular boundary.
As President Chavez has demonstrated over his years in office, he is a man who likes to act quickly. If he does come here, therefore, he might not give State House much notice. Despite the fact that our government has domestic problems of its own at the moment, one can only wish that it ensures that adequate preparation is done in anticipation of his visit, so that our head of state is more than adequately briefed on what remains a complex matter.