THE GUYANA Government will continue to call for a peaceful and speedy solution to the Guyana-Venezuela Border Controversy. President David Granger made this statement when he addressed the People’s National Congress Reform’s (PNCR) 19th Biennial Delegates Congress over the weekend.Returned as Leader of the PNCR, President Granger said the party had always advocated for peaceful settlement of international controversies. “Guyana’s pursuit of peace had led to the signing, together with Britain and Venezuela, of the Geneva Agreement in February 1966, three months before gaining Independence,” he recalled.

That Agreement, the President explained, required Guyana and Venezuela, in the event of disagreement in attempting to resolve the controversy between themselves, to refer the matter to the United Nations Secretary General.

Assessing the situation, President Granger said that after 25 years, the ‘Good Offices Process’ had been exhausted. He noted that in fulfillment of the Geneva Agreement, it was therefore necessary to seek another peaceful option.

“It was in search of a peaceful solution that I led Guyana’s team to meet the UN Secretary General, first during the Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Bridgetown, Barbados in July; and second, during the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September, 2015.

Guyana, in its engagements with the UN Secretary General, with the teams that he dispatched to Georgetown; and, indeed, with many international leaders, emphasised that the ‘Good Offices Process’ failed to resolve the controversy, and thus the time has come for another peaceful option to be pursued, the President told congress.

As such, he said, the PNCR fully supports Guyana’s preference for a juridical settlement through recourse to the International Court of Justice.

“Venezuela’s Decrees Nos. 1.787 and 1.859 published, on 26th May, 2015 and 7th July 2015 respectively, posed specific threats to Guyana’s maritime zone. We denounce those threats. The PNCR reminds the international community of our country’s expressed confidence in the capacity of the Office of the UN Secretary General to identify solutions that will validate the ‘just, perfect and final’ nature of the Arbitral Tribunal Award of 1899.”

The PNCR, he said, would continue to work within the Government to reinforce national security in order to protect the country’s patrimony in the face of threats.

“We will continue to support the Government’s efforts to work with the Secretary General of the United Nations to seek a swift juridical solution to the spurious claim of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to our territory.

“The Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana defines the territory of the state. Guyanese today inherited that territory from their progenitors; they have an obligation to pass it on to their progeny. They have a duty, as trustees, to protect their precious priceless patrimony.

“They have the right to promote the exploitation of their resources. They have a prerogative to preserve their way of life without provocation from any foreign state whatsoever. Guyanese deserve to enjoy the God-given rights for which their ancestors struggled — their land, their liberty and their livelihood — so that they can all have a good life.

“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela perversely continues to claim nearly 160,000 km² of our territory. This area represents nearly three-quarters of our land space, comprising five of Guyana’s ten regions – the Barima-Waini; Pomeroon-Supenaam; Cuyuni-Mazaruni; Potaro-Siparuni and the Rupununi.

“The Venezuelan National Armed Forces, we must never forget, seized the 7km² Ankoko Island in the Cuyuni River in October 1966, Guyana’s Independence year, and has remained in illegal occupation ever since. The island is used as a military garrison to harass Guyanese miners and to engage in occasional acts of provocation against Guyanese citizens.

“The Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela notoriously sent a Corvette into Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone on Thursday, 10th October 2013, to expel an unarmed petroleum exploration vessel.”