VENEZUELAN Ambassador to Guyana Margarita Arratia Diaz, in keeping with an agreement made at the recently concluded United Nations General Assembly, has returned to Guyana.The two countries had committed to restoring diplomatic affairs, following a trilateral meeting comprising Guyana’s President David Granger, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Though Ambassador Diaz had returned to Venezuela during the height of the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy, the Venezuelan flag remained at her place of residence. The Venezuelan Envoy was called home for “talks”, Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman told the media on Wednesday at a post-Cabinet press briefing.
“Note that though the Venezuelan Ambassador was not physically here, she was not recalled. She was invited home for talks…which is really a euphemism the way states use diplomatic devices to speak to each other.”

He said the flying of the Venezuelan flag at the Ambassador’s home was a “strong sign that the ambassador in a sense is still in residence though not physically there…but the presence was still acknowledged,” the Minister of Governance stated.
Venezuela’s Ambassador yesterday was presented with a Trades Union Peace Declaration by the General Secretary of the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU) Ann Anderson.
Meanwhile, Trotman said Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela Cheryl Miles is preparing to take up her post in Caracas. “We are still in the process of engaging the UN and briefing our ambassador so it is a matter not of if, but of when. She is not formally there but preparations are in train for her to move her belongings and her property over to Venezuela.”
He explained that both countries have agreed to restore normal relations and that will happen over time. “We expect that when the UN team returns, things would move a little faster. Those impediments have been removed.”
President Maduro had ordered his Foreign Affairs Minister Delcy Rodriguez to stay the accreditation of Guyana’s appointed Ambassador to that country after accusing Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge of launching a verbal attack on that country while on official duty in the United States.
“It is nonsense to initiate the diplomatic way of regularisation, the appointment and admission of ambassadors and suddenly go to the United States to launch attacks against Venezuela,” Maduro had said.
However, Guyana maintained that it is open to dialogue with Venezuela on matters related to bilateral relations. “We see the exchanging of ambassadors as being an important part of promoting such dialogue. Notwithstanding announced actions by President Maduro in this regard, we are prepared to carry on these discussions. Whatever actions Venezuela takes in relation to ambassadors, we remain ready to adhere to the Geneva Agreement,” Greenidge said.
Ambassador Miles served under the Desmond Hoyte administration for seven years as Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela until she was recalled in 1993 to serve as Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She spent six years in that post and then headed the Embassy in Brazil until 1999 when she exited the Foreign Service.