Venezuela’s “expansionist ambitions” is a national obsession

PRESIDENT David Granger was resolute and forceful at last week’s United Nations General Assembly gathering where he made his case for a judicial settlement of Venezuela’s spurious claims of our Essequibo region.“Guyana does not wish that this obnoxious territorial claim should…obstruct the possibility of [Guyana’s economic] growth for the next 50 years. We need a permanent solution in order to avoid the fate of perpetual peril and penury. Guyana seeks a judicial settlement to the controversy,” President Granger declared before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, September 29.

Later that same day, at a press conference in the United Nations Secretariat Building, Mr. Granger explained that the UN Good Offices process, which facilitated dialogue between Guyana and Venezuela over the last 50 years with the aim to settle the matter, is now “exhausted.” The options of mediation and arbitration having been exhausted, it is now the responsibility of UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, to select the judicial route to settlement.

To underscore Venezuela’s pettifoggery, Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, at the same press conference, exposed the legal quagmire in which Venezuela has placed itself: “There is no international legislation, which supports or embraces Venezuela’s sovereignty claims of Essequibo.”

Alluding to the 1994 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, ratified by over 165 countries, Vice President Greenidge said that the Convention does not “grant Venezuela sovereignty over Guyana’s sea-space.” He added that “there is no formula devised by the Convention which supports Venezuela’s claims” on Guyana’s territory. In fact, Venezuela violates the Convention by deploying gunboats in Guyana’s territorial waters and threatening the use of force against the sovereignty of our nation.

President Maduro, on the other hand, is completely oblivious to his country’s obligations under international law. One UN journalist described the Venezuelan president as “delusional” because of his casuistry. Referring to his meeting with the UN Secretary General and President Granger, President Maduro declared that “the diplomacy of peace did prevail and we were able to take a positive decision and resolve the issue.”

The resolution to which Maduro referred was not the judicial settlement which President Granger demands but some fantasy playing around in his head. Venezuela’s expansionist ambitions is not only a Maduro obsession, it is also the obsession of all of Venezuela’s opposition leaders. Lilian Tintori, wife of imprisoned Venezuelan opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez Tintori, who heads the political party, Voluntad Popular, visited the United States recently to garner support for her husband’s release. She met with U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, and members of the American national security establishment.

Ms. Tintori is a spokesperson for all of the opposition parties in Venezuela and is in “constant communication” with all of the leaders. Asked whether, if the opposition wins the next election in December, her country will renounce its claims of the Essequibo region, she equivocated and explained President Maduro threats against Guyana as “a distraction to sabotage the electoral process.”

Asked whether her husband if victorious, will submit Venezuela’s claim against Guyana to the International Court of Justice for a judicial settlement, Ms. Tintori refused to answer the question. It is clear that Guyana’s problem is not only with the Maduro administration, it is with the entire Venezuelan political establishment, a pusillanimous cabal that refuses to submit its spurious claim to the International Court of Justice for a full and final judicial settlement. Guyanese must remain resolute and steadfast in the face of this existential threat to our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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