Border Confrontation Cools for Now

Agreeing to ‘cool things down’, Guyana President Irfaan Ali and President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro signed a declaration on December 14, 2023 affirming that:

“Guyana and Venezuela, directly or indirectly, will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two State.”

“Any controversies between the two States will be resolved in accordance with international law, including the Geneva Agreement dated February 17, 1966.”

With the intention of easing tensions around contested border lines between the two South American countries, the discussions took place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines facilitated by its Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsales, along with Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, with other CARICOM leaders observing.

COMBUSTIBLE

This, after years of bitterness from both sides as Venezuela claims ownership of the disputed 61,600 sq ft Esequibo region that has been legally inside Guyana’s borders since the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award.

But, even with this somewhat tense agreement, it’s not over just yet. The near combustible rhetoric that threatened to boil over in recent times still hangs in the air as both countries still hold on to its claim to the rights of this valuable territory.

For a broader perspective on the issue, Caribbean Today reached out to Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, Caribbean policy expert and Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Fellow with the Caribbean Policy Consortium.

“This issue dates to the colonial period. Guyana became part of the British colonial possession sphere when they were able to succeed the Dutch who had major occupancy of what is now Guyana. But what the British and the Dutch failed to do in 1814 was to clearly demarcate the boundary between Guyana, British Guyana, Venezuela,” explained Guyanese-born Griffith.

The Caribbean policy expert further explained that to address these now troubling border questions, in the 1940s Britain hired a German explorer, Robert Schomburgk, to survey the eastern and western boundaries of the colony between British Guyana and Venezuela. The explorer would subsequently declare lines of demarcation in what would become known as the Schomburgk Line, which was accepted by the British but rejected by the Venezuelans.

Venezuela would seek help from America, headed by President James Monroe at the time, who warned Britain (and all European powers), even threatening war, over its efforts at re-colonizing the Americas — famously called The Monroe Doctrine.

To avoid conflict, Britain and Venezuela agreed to arbitration in the presence of a neutral party, and these parties would agree on what territories belonged to each. These experts

met in Paris, explained Griffith, and subsequently the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award was reached.

“But it turns out that Britain was awarded more than Venezuela. However, Venezuela signed the agreement, they accepted agreement” said Griffith, adding “They sent teams to do physical on-the-ground demarcation and there was common agreement that these are the boundaries.”

RESOURCE RICH

A specialist on Caribbean security, drugs and crime, and the author of several books on Caribbean security and political economy, Griffith noted that the massive Esequibo territory is resource rich. Could this be a motivating factor for ownership?

“In 2015 when the massive oil deposits in Guyana were first discovered saw a kind of accentuation with Venezuela with what I call its intimidation playbook. Venezuela had been pushing this issue long before 2015, It’s just that they raised the level of the pursuit. And it makes it important to remind your readers about a few factors about this territory called Esequibo. There is offshore and onshore oil. There is gold. There is manganese. There are diamonds. There is uranium,” Griffith confirmed.

And importantly, Griffith emphasized, “Hundreds of thousands of indigenous people live in the Esequibo region. So, if you take that territory away from Guyana you're taking away identity, people, resources, land. You’re taking away the basis for a nation existing.”

Although many in Guyana are nervous about any possibility of physical conflict, Guyanese citizens at home and abroad stand behind their government’s stance. And in fact, the 8 Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) that are a part of the Regional Security System created in 1982 operate under one defense treaty. Thus, an attack on one would immediately trigger a response from the other members.

REFERENDUM

Clearly ignoring the International Court of Justice’s petition that the Esequibo region has not been declared part of Venezuelan territory, in early December 2023 the country’s President, Maduro, held a referendum where its citizens voted to declare Esequibo a state of Venezuela with plans to give citizenship to those living in the region. But, many see this as a political maneuver.

“The reality is that the Esequibo issue has long been a political football in Venezuelan politics, even before Maduro. Maduro’s predecessor, Jugo Chavez used it as a political football, but he also played it down for many years in the context of his own domestic politics. But the combination of the recognition of this powerful new Petro-wealth and Maduro’s own intent to stay in power, he is now using that political football,” noted Griffith.

So what can Guyana do? They can certainly reach out to partners diplomatically and militarily. Importantly, support will come from some of those partners because they have their own interests to protect. One of those partners is Brazil that has a border with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador, Griffith explained. So, changing the border between Guyana and Venezuela would open a Pandora’s box of border disputes for Brazil. For the same 1899 Arbitral Award was the basis for determining the boundaries between Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana.

“Guyana cannot itself repel Venezuela. They have been depending upon partners such as CARICOM, the Commonwealth, The Organisation of American States, to keep Venezuela at bay,” said Griffith.

Now, with the agreement to avoid escalating tensions that could lead to military conflict, Presidents Ali and Maduro will meet again within the next three months, in Brazil, to try and come closer to resolving this territorial dispute