OUTBURSTS by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday demanding that the United States should keep its hands out of the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy have not dissuaded the United Kingdom’s Envoy to Guyana, Gregg Quinn.Quinn, the British High Commissioner to Guyana, reiterated yesterday that the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy was resolved since 1899. Speaking with reporters at the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) at Thomas Lands, Quinn said, “Our position on this is clear, the 1899 Arbitral Award settled the issue and we have not changed that position since 1899.”
The British Envoy stressed that Guyana’s former colonisers will stand firmly behind the country with respect to the border controversy. He believes however that the border controversy needs to be resolved by the governments of Guyana and Venezuela.
On Monday, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Perry Holloway, made similar comments and called on both countries to respect the 1899 ruling.

“I think what you need to think about at this stage…we are still at the stage where it is for Venezuela and Guyana to try and sort out the issue on the controversy. We have demonstrated our support for what the UN is doing and the visit of the UN Mission. At this precise moment, we need to leave it to the two countries that are specifically involved in the process to try and sort it out,” said the British Envoy.
Asked whether the UK would be willing to support Guyana in its bid to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Quinn said, “We are not there yet. I understand that it is the Guyanese desire to address the ICJ and I do agree that this has been going on for a long period of time and it would be good to get a resolution and now it is for the Government of Guyana and the Government of Venezuela to decide the best way of going about that resolution.”
Notwithstanding that UK’s belief that the matter should be settled once and for all by the two countries, the British Envoy said “it doesn’t change our fundamental view or our fundamental position that 1899 settled the border, it is as simple as that.”

Responding to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s outbursts recently, following newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Perry Holloway’s statement to the press that the matter was resolved in 1899 and the U.S. stands firmly behind Guyana, Quinn said he was met with similar sentiments by the Venezuelan Government in May.
“As I have said, I am firmly of the view that it is perfectly legitimate for me and my Government to state that the position was settled in 1899; it is perfectly legitimate for us to say that because that is what we believe the situation was. How the Venezuelans react to that is of course up to Venezuela,” he told the media.
Holloway on Monday called on the parties to continue to respect the 1899 Arbitral Award and boundary “unless or until a competent legal body decides otherwise or both parties agree on something else.”
On Tuesday, President Maduro demanded that the U.S. not interfere into the border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela. “United States, take your hands off of the Guyana Essequibo,” Maduro was quoted as saying on the Venezuelan Telesur English News Network, noting that the U.S. should not get involved “in matters that exclusively belong to the parties involved.”

“It is clear that the provision of the U.S. government to be linked as an interested party in a matter that does not compete either legally or politically, reflects a calculated strategy that aims to validate, by way of summons, the rights for ExxonMobil extractive activities,” the Venezuelan government said.

Presidents David Granger and Nicolas Maduro agreed to allow the United Nations to mediate on the border controversy. This agreement followed heightened military activities at the Guyana-Venezuela border and in Guyana’s Cuyuni River.

Guyana, through its President, has said repeatedly that it prefers to resolve the controversy through the ICJ.

Venezuela’s illegitimate claims to Guyana’s Essequibo Region and maritime space follows the discovery of significant oil deposits by U.S. ExxonMobil.

By Ariana Gordon