‘Any country making territorial claims has to respect the rule of the sea and international obligations,’ …U.S. Ambassador to Guyana nominee
Nominee for the post of US Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Halloway
Nominee for the post of US Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Halloway

WEIGHING in on the Guyana – Venezuela border controversy which has demanded much attention of late, United States nominee for ambassador to Guyana, Perry Halloway, offered that any country making claims to territory must respect the rule of the sea and international obligations which govern same. Halloway was at the time addressing the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Senate last Wednesday evening, as the stages in his nomination process commenced.
Holloway, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counsellor, who is from South Carolina, was announced to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary nominee of the United States to Guyana late last year by President Barack Obama.
Presenting himself as nominee for the post, which he described as an “honour,” Halloway was questioned by the Committee on the U.S.’s foreign policy in relation to the Guyana – Venezuela border controversy which escalated earlier this year, following a decree issued by Venezuelan President, Nicholas Maduro.
In response, the nominee who spent the vast majority of his career in Central and South America, explained that the U.S.’s policy as it has been in similar scenarios, has been to encourage both countries involved in a controversy to seek a peaceful resolution through the United Nations (UN) or any other appropriate international forum.
Halloway related to the Committee that this controversy arises in spite of an 1899 decision which granted most of the territory to Guyana, even while Venezuela has historically maintained claims of up to 67 per cent of Guyana and parts of the coastline.
He underscored however, that “At the same time any country that makes claims still has to respect the rule of the sea and respect international obligations.”
In this regard, the U.S. nominee noted that the situation is being monitored “closely” by the U.S. even as they continue to analyse and understand the issue in its entirety. But at this time, he disclosed that the U.S. remains committed to encouraging both sides to reach a “peaceful resolution.”
Meanwhile, Halloway detailed his plans to foster closer relations with Guyana in the areas of Crime and Security, Health, Agriculture, Climate Change and the strengthening and preservation of democracy among other areas, should he be confirmed as the Ambassador to Guyana.
According to the U.S. nominee, through President Obama’s Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, cooperation is being made to counter the threats of transnational crime and terrorism. Improved security for all citizens of the Caribbean, he said, is essential to the Region’s future stability and prosperity, as well to the U.S.’s interests. As such, he made a commitment that if confirmed, “I will work closely with the appropriate agencies of the U.S. Government to strengthen our security cooperation with Guyana.”
Noting that Guyana is a poor country, Halloway told the Committee that this is the reason the U.S. has historically worked with the Government and private sector to support efforts to diversify the economy and create new opportunities in agribusiness, aquaculture, wood products, and ecotourism.
“If confirmed, I will continue to work with the Government and private sector to strengthen Guyana’s market competitiveness, build its trade capacity, improve the investment climate, and promote greater two-way trade with the United States.”
Halloway graduated from North Augusta High School in 1979. He went on to attend Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in foreign languages literature and linguistics in 1983. While there, he studied as an exchange student in Spain. Holloway went to graduate school at the University of South Carolina, earning a Master’s in international business sciences in 1986. He joined the Foreign Service in 1989.
His first overseas posting, in 1989, was as a consular officer in the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, subsequently becoming staff assistant to the ambassador there. In 1992 he was made a general services officer at the embassy in El Salvador and in 1994 was an administrative officer for the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico. Holloway went to the embassy in Quito, Ecuador in 1997 as a general services officer.
He began working in the anti-drug effort in 2000 when he was named director of the Narcotics Affairs Section of the embassy in Guatemala City. In 2003 he took time-off to do graduate work at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, earning a Master’s in national resource strategy before being named in 2004 as the Andean drug coordinator at the Department of State.

Holloway returned to Latin America in 2005 when he was named deputy director, then director of the Narcotic Affairs Section at the embassy in Bogota. In August 2009 he was named deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay and returned to Bogota in a similar post a year later, remaining in that position for four years. His one assignment outside Latin America came in 2013, when he was a political-military counsellor at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

By Ravin Singh

 

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