THE recent action of the Venezuelan Navy against the RV Teknik Perdana has been condemned by the Guyana Government, and the issue surrounding what was described as the “misguided actions of the Venezuelan military” should, as in previous cases, be dealt with bi-laterally through diplomatic channels, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon said yesterday.

According to the Cabinet Secretary, the dispute has to be addressed with due attention to international norms and rely on the good officer’s facility provided by the United Nations Secretary General.
Guyana’s claim is based on strong evidence that the US ship was well within its jurisdiction when it was intercepted and seized by the Venezuelan Navy. Dr Luncheon told media operatives, at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing, that because the ship was engaged in a seismic survey, its exact location was being captured by the second.

CLEAR EVIDENCE

The HPS maintains that the vessel was in Guyanese territory when it was intercepted.
Asked if there was evidence to support this, he explained that the surveys that were being conducted by the MV Teknik Perdana require constant monitoring and recording of location by the second.
Luncheon added that the reports following the survey would be meaningless without a record of updated coordinates to supplement the phases of work as it progressed.
“There is no question on where the vessel was,” he said.
“The vessel was engaged in seismic survey work. The reports of the investigations are meaningless save and except their precise location is identified, so at all material times the location of that ship – the coordinates were being captured second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour during the survey. So there can be no question of where the ship was located,” Dr Luncheon explained.

Asked if the seizure of the ship was a deliberate one by the Venezuelan Navy, the Cabinet Secretary responded that it would be impossible for him to pronounce on their intentions.

AFFECTED RELATIONS
On the point of strained or at best affected relations between Guyana and Venezuela, the HPS noted that the recent visit by President Nicolás Maduro evidences a commitment by the neighbouring country to pursue continued bilateral relations.

Meantime, a high-level delegation is in Trinidad to discuss the transgression which includes Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud; Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elisabeth Harper; Ambassador Rudolph Collins; Guyana’s Ambassador to Suriname Keith George; Guyana’s Ambassador to UNASUR Audrey Jardine Waddell and Deputy Commissioner (Technical), Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Newell Dennison.
On October 10, research vessel RV Teknik Perdana which was conducting a survey in the Roraima Block offshore Guyana was intercepted by a Venezuelan Navy ship and ordered to cease their activities. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the 36- man crew of the RV Teknik Perdana explained to the crew of the Venezuelan vessel that they
were conducting a multi-beam survey of the seafloor in Guyana’s exclusive economic zone. However, the Venezuelan Navy ordered the vessel to sail to its Margarita Island, where it was seized for six days then later released.

Its captain Ukranian, Igor Bekirov was charged and released on bail for allegedly violating Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone.
The Venezuelan Attorney General’s office, in a press release, said, in a preliminary hearing, the designated prosecutor, Andrés Bravo, charged Bekirov for allegedly failing to meet the special regime of security zones as specified in the organic laws on Water Areas and National Security.
He was released pending trial and is banned from conducting oil exploration and research activities in the Venezuelan territory.
Bekirov will have to appear in court for pending proceedings and will be summoned through the Guyanese Embassy to Caracas.