Guyana-Venezuela Territory Disagreement Threatens Peace in the Region

• Present, Dr. Irfaan Ali has reaffirmed Guyana’s commitment to defending its sovereignty and sovereign rights over its territory, in light of recent objections raised by Venezuela regarding the local oil auction.
• Venezuela issued a statement challenging Guyana’s sovereignty, noting that certain maritime areas are not under Guyana’s sovereign rights, and any actions within these areas violate international law unless agreed upon with Venezuela.
• President Ali responded firmly, stating: “The Government of Guyana reserves the right to pursue economic development activities in any portion of its sovereign territory or any appurtenant maritime territories.”. He said too: “Any unilateral attempt by Venezuela to restrict the exercise by Guyana of its sovereignty and sovereign rights will be wholly inconsistent with the Geneva Agreement and the rule of international law.”
• In April of this year, the World Court ruled that the case Guyana brought before it seeking to affirm the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award settling the boundaries between it and Venezuela was admissible. This meant that the court could move forward with hearing the substantive case on its merits, of whether the 1899 arbitral award settling the boundaries of the two countries is valid and binding.
• The ruling marked the second time that the international court has rejected jurisdictional objections raised by Venezuela.
• Guyana is seeking a final and binding judgement that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the location of the land boundary between then British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and that the Essequibo region belongs to Guyana and not Venezuela.
• Further to this, CARICOM in a recent statement outlined that it views the stated intention of Venezuela to “apply all the necessary measures” to prevent the operations licensed by Guyana in its waters, as a threat of the use of force contrary to international law. They expounded that this also is not in keeping with the long-standing position of the Latin American and Caribbean countries that the Region must remain a Zone of Peace.

(Sources: Guyana Chronicle & Caricom