PRESIDENT David Granger has wisely moved away from an apparent angry, competitive shouting match with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to a mature, diplomatic offensive in defence of Guyana’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty.

Against the backdrop of mixed responses and the relevant text of the communiqué issued by CARICOM on the Heads of Government Conference in Barbados earlier this month, President Granger has openly declared his interest in pursuing the path of “friendship” with President Maduro in relation to Venezuela’s continuing claim to vast areas of Guyana’s recognised demarcated territory.

It was in this “friendship” mood that he had travelled to the just-concluded Mercusor summit in Brazil, where he urged that relatively new bloc of states to condemn Venezuela’s latest act of territorial aggression against Guyana by President Maduro’s ‘decree’ annexing demarcated Guyanese territorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean.

Undoubtedly, blocs of Caribbean and Latin American states need to be fully apprised of the surprising renewal of hostility by Venezuela in relation to an historic 19th century accord (“The Paris Award” of 1897) deemed to be “a full, perfect and final settlement”.

Consequently, the need for disciplined diplomatic initiatives that extend to all hemispheric organisations, including CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States); UNASUR (Union of South American States) – to all of which Guyana and Venezuela are members — as they are, of course, to the United Nations and the Organisation of American States.

Guyana has much to gain and nothing to lose in pursuit of diplomatic initiatives at all levels. Inevitably, these initiatives must include direct bilateral talks between the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela, that ideally include few carefully chosen observers from Regional organisations, like, for a start, CARICOM and CELAC.
The WPA factor
Of course, President Granger would be advised to also appropriately address the political problem that has surfaced by a segment of his A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), namely the Working People’s Alliance (WPA). Specifically, that is, over what that party has described as CARICOM’s “watered-down” statement on the Guyana/Venezuela territorial dispute.

Further, its “dismay” over the expressed “satisfaction” by both President Granger and Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge with the Community’s end-of-summit communiqué must be addressed.

What was remarkable about the WPA’s response is that, small as it is in terms of membership and/or popular support, it is the best known segment, other than the dominant PNC, of what comprises APNU.

After all, while the Alliance For Change (AFC) has developed as the most readily identified accompaniment of APNU, which basically revolves around the PNC, the significance of the comparatively small WPA should not be expediently ignored. It certainly has an engaging history of its own.

Therefore, while now contemplating wider and more challenging diplomatic peace initiatives with Venezuela with the objective to maintain Guyana’s territorial integrity — ‘every blade of grass’, as the saying goes –President Granger would perhaps need to also avoid unnecessary political schisms within his coalition administration. At some stage, he may need to offer a response to that careful post-CARICOM Summit release from APNU’s partner — the WPA.

Analysis by
Rickey Singh

(Rickey Singh is a noted Caribbean journalist based in Barbados)