AS we continue to examine the Venezuela claim to a significant portion of our land, we need to be reminded that this matter was settled by an international arbitration award in 1899.

Every time this issue resurfaces, we can see the hands of rank political opportunism which have been used at the expense of Guyana’s development.
The resurfacing of the claim under the leadership of President Maduro speaks to an act of desperation by a political leader who ran his last political campaign on the legacy of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.

President Maduro continues to live in the shadow of the late President Chavez; and since his assumption to office, his leadership has shown, in every form, failure to develop any indigenous plan to help his countrymen and women out of the economic and political morass into which he has successfully plunged his country. Having failed his people at the domestic level, President Maduro has taken on the task of reshaping himself as a nationalist; and for that reason, he has chosen to take on Guyana, a country he perceives does not have the military strength to combat his aggression. President Maduro’s action is designed to give him political currency to maintain power at the upcoming elections.

We have a task, as a peaceful people, to recognise the importance of resisting Venezuela’s aggression and dismissing their claim, since their claim can well stymie the economic development of Guyana and have a domino effect on decent jobs and economic opportunities for all Guyanese. To do otherwise can lead to international financial institutions like the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank refusing to finance projects within the areas Venezuela considers disputed.

It is time that we make a rallying call to the citizens of this beautiful country to defend our territorial integrity at all cost, since this is done at a time when Venezuela is aggressively rallying the Latin American community in support of its spurious claim.

As this issue continues to generate national conversations, Professor Justice Duke Pollard, constitutional scholar, had this to say through the Stabroek News letters column on Saturday, 26th. “What appears to be required is an approach to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in whose court the ball has now been firmly located, to invoke Article 99 of the Charter to bring the aggressive acts of Venezuela, which undeniably threaten international peace and security, to the attention of the Security Council with an invitation for that body to secure from the International Court of Justice an Advisory Opinion on the current controversy between Venezuela and Guyana.”

It is this type of recommendation around which we must all get involved and get consumed as a national act of defending every square inch of our country.
Sharma Solomon