Written by Leroy Smith
GUYANA’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, is to meet “in the coming week” with her Venezuelan counterpart in an effort to find a diplomatic solution to the current impasse over the eviction Thursday of a Guyana-chartered vessel conducting seismic studies in Guyana waters.The meeting, the venue of which is yet to be named, follows a directive from President Donald Ramotar that Minister Rodrigues-Birkett make contact with Venezuela’s Minister of External Relations, Mr Elias Jaua, to discuss the matter, which she did on Friday.

According to a release issued yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both ministers have since agreed that dialogue was essential to finding a peaceful solution to the matter, as well as in the preserving of the relations which had developed between the two countries in recent years.

“In this regard,” the release goes on to say, “they agreed to meet in the coming week.”

Last Friday, both the Government of Guyana and the main opposition party in Parliament condemned the actions of the Venezuelan Navy vessel, stating that it constituted a threat to the peace.

While the Government of Guyana has called for the release of the crew and vessel from Venezuela’s custody, the main opposition party has called on Venezuela to honour the United Nations’ regulations, and desist from using armed force in its relations with Guyana.

The Government of Guyana was informed that at approximately 16:00 hrs on October 10, 2013, a Venezuelan Navy frigate, the “Yakuana” was trailing the seismic vessel, the RV Teknik Perdana, which is under contract with Anadarko. The frigate obstructed the research vessel’s passage, requested them to change course and stop surveying. As is known, Anadarko has a petroleum prospecting licence to search for hydrocarbons in the Roraima block offshore Guyana.
The crew of the RV Teknik Perdana had explained to the crew of the Venezuelan frigate that they were conducting a multi-beam survey of the seafloor in Guyana’s exclusive economic zone.  The Venezuelan crew aboard the frigate countered by insisting that the vessel was doing such work in Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone and instructed that the vessel switch off its engines and shut down its seismic equipment.
The Venezuelan Frigate subsequently ordered the RV Teknik Perdana, to sail to the island of Margarita in Venezuela.  It was then clear that the vessel and its crew were not only being escorted out of Guyana’s waters, but were under arrest.
The Guyana Government has stated clearly that firstly, the RVTeknik Perdana was in Guyana’s waters when this regrettable incident took place.  In fact, Guyana has been exercising jurisdiction over the said area ever since the extension of the jurisdiction of coastal States was established under international law.  This was in fact made clearer after the passage of the Maritime Boundaries Act of 1977.
Secondly, the Venezuelan Navy vessel acted in contravention of the laws of Guyana and indeed international law when it entered Guyana’s waters and sought to intimidate the crew of the vessel and later ordered that vessel out of Guyana’s waters and escorted the vessel and crew to Venezuela.
The Government of Guyana has expressed to the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela its grave concern about the incident, and is of the firm belief that the actions taken by the Venezuelan navy vessel constitute a serious threat to the peace of this sub-region.
Guyana believes in the peaceful resolution of disagreements amongst States.  It is for that reason that Guyana maintains that since the vessel was merely collecting seismic data, and it will be some time before actual exploration for hydrocarbons could take place, there was and is ample time for Guyana and Venezuela to discuss any differences of view that may exist in relation to the provisional maritime boundary between the two States. (With additional reporting from GINA)