Counter-Referendum Suggested For Guyana's Border Dispute With Venezuela

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) is calling on Guyana's government to consider a counter-referendum to affirm the country’s territorial integrity, as Venezuela moves to stage a December 3 referendum to gain ownership of the mineral and forest-rich county of Essequibo.

In a statement, the WPA, one of the oldest political parties here, rejected Venezuela’s repeated aggression towards Guyana, describing the current situation as “very serious” urging the authorities here to treat Caracas’s position as a serious matter.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week reserved its judgement to Guyana’s claim that it has evidence that Venezuela intends to gain ownership of the mineral and forest-rich county of Essequibo through a referendum on December 3.

Both Guyana and Venezuela made made presentations to the ICJ during two-days of hearing into the case relating to the 1899 Arbitral Award after Guyana, in its request, had said that the Venezuela government, through its National Electoral Council had published a list of five questions that it intends to put before the people of Venezuela in a “Consultative Referendum” next month.

The WPA said that the government, with support from the National Assembly  should consider calling a counter-referendum in Guyana, “with the clear intention of affirming Guyana’s territorial integrity and our country’s commitment to a just, legal, and peaceful resolution to the issue.

“In addition…the referendum should serve as a medium for popular education and mobilization of the popular mass of Guyanese citizens,” the WPA said, noting that “while the Venezuela leadership is telling the world that it has no intention of invading Guyana, its rhetoric and internal actions leave no doubt that its intention is to hurt our country”.

The WPA said that the fact that Venezuela challenges the very legitimacy of the current case before the ICJ, “exposes a dangerous mindset, which can only lead to permanent aggression on the part of Caracas”

The party said the ongoing Venezuelan aggression must be seen as an existential threat to Guyana’s inalienable rights as a sovereign country.

“This expression of greed by our neighbor has no place in international relations. While we agree that the domestic political situation in Venezuela may be a motivating factor for its recent aggression, we believe that Gyana’s rise as a Petro-State is ultimately the root cause”.

The EWPA, while it commended the government for putting the matter on the front-burner of its foreign policy agenda, said it still believes that the situation demands a much more pro-active national approach that transcends narrow partisan considerations.

It said it is concerned that “there is more than a hint of sloth, complacency, and partisan grandstanding”, in response to Venezuela’s threats and appealed for an enlargement of the political space for joint action in pursuit of an overarching national response to Venezuela.

“Towards that end, WPA urges an overtly national response by the government and other stakeholders to what IS now clearly a permanent problem—one that would not cease to exist even after the ICJ rules in our favour.

“We, therefore, call on the government to treat the matter with the requisite seriousness that it deserves by setting up a Venezuela Border Task Force with the expressed task of fashioning and implementing a carefully thought-out overall approach to this problem. Such a task force should include members of the National Assembly from both sides of the political divide, representatives of the Executive Branch and professionals and experts with the necessary skill set in the relevant areas”, the WPA said.