MINISTER of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge yesterday said Venezuela is harping on its claim to the Essequibo based on suspicion arising from a man who wanted to make a “confession” but who virtually became a “jumbie” before he died.The person the Minister of Foreign Affairs was referring to was Severo Mallet-Prevost, a junior member of the team that argued Venezuela’s case before the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal in Paris.
In 1899, when the Tribunal awarded territory to Venezuela, he referred to it as a victory, but in 1944, as pointed out in a booklet by Allan A Fenty published in 1982, when he was given his country’s highest honour, he wrote a letter making a claim of collusion between Russia and Britain.
In his letter, the Lawyer claimed that Russia and Britain made a deal which made the award unfair, but ordered that his secret claim should not be revealed until six months after his death. At the time of his death, all the other officials closely connected with the Arbitration had died. One of the main arguments of Venezuela’s unjust claim is based on what Mallet-Prevost claimed in his letter.
Speaking at a Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GSMA) media luncheon at the Pegasus Hotel, Minister Greenidge said the story of long deceased Venezuelan Lawyer is an interesting one, as he could not say what he wanted to say when he was alive.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also used the forum to clarify suggestions made by Guyana’s Western neighbour regarding the Geneva Agreement of 1964.
No carte blanche
He noted that the Agreement does not give Venezuela a carte blanche to re-open the border issues with Guyana.
Greenidge explained that the agreement made arrangement to address the claim by Venezuela that the 1889 Tribunal Award was null and void.
It paved the way for the setting up of the Guyana-Venezuelan Mixed Commission to find satisfactory solutions for a practical settlement of the controversy arising from the claim made by Venezuela.
The Commission was given four years to complete its work, but during this time, Greenidge pointed out that Venezuela did not produce an iota of evidence to show that the 1899 Tribunal Award was null and void, as they claimed.
Instead, Venezuela spoke about joint development and wanted to know how much land Guyana would give her, but Guyana refused to be drawn into the ploy by Venezuela to control Essequibo, the territory it is claiming.
Expanded claim
And only recently, following the discovery of oil by Exxon Mobil, a U.S.-based oil and gas company, in the Liza-1 well in the Stabroek Block, approximately 120 miles offshore Guyana, Venezuela has expanded its claim to include Guyana’s Atlantic front.
The new area claimed by Venezuela includes Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and also intrudes on the EEZ of Suriname, French Guiana, Barbados and a chain of other Caribbean Islands.
Venezuela’s latest claim came in the form of decrees by that country’s President Nicolas Maduro.
The first claims the waters, including the area where Exxon is drilling; in addition to the earlier claim of the Essequibo, which is two-thirds of the country’s land. The second, which replaced the first, does not specify any coordinates in relation to boundaries, but makes clear that Venezuela is ready to use military force to defend its new maritime boundary.
Greenidge told diplomats and members of the business community at the luncheon that the claim by Venezuela to this country’s EEZ has no basis in international law, while also pointing out that the 1899 Tribunal Award puts to rest that country’s claim to the Essequibo.
Sudden U-turn
The 1899 Tribunal Award gave Venezuela some 5000 square miles of land, and Minister Greenidge pointed out, the mouth of the Orinoco River. Venezuela, Greenidge said, has for decades regarded the award by the tribunal as a “full, perfect and final settlement”, but as British Guiana was in its final stages of her Independence struggle, the neighbouring country changed its position, claiming that it has evidence that the 1899 Tribunal Award was null and void.
However, Venezuela is yet to produce the evidence it claims it has to support its claim. Minister Greenidge yesterday likened the action by Venezuela as a nation waking up and deciding to lay claim to another’s land. He said Guyana will continue to engage in an aggressive public awareness campaign as it seeks to articulate and make known its position and the facts surrounding the 1899 Tribunal Award. Aside from public awareness, Guyana will not be holding off on investing in the Essequibo side of the border as it moves to ensure that the area is not neglected, Minister Greenidge said. He also told participants at the luncheon that Guyana is looking for a judicial settlement on the claim by Venezuela, pointing out that the United Nations Good Offices process and all other options have been exhausted.

By Tajeram Mohabir