MEMBERS of the Guyana Legion said yesterday that they will not sit idly by as Venezuela and Suriname threaten the territorial integrity of the country.In addressing the issue of aggression, President of the Legion George Gomes said the organization has taken note of the attempts by Venezuela and Suriname to “destabilise the country and its development.”
“Mr. President, please be assured that we the veterans of Guyana Veterans Legion are ready and prepared to play our part… in full support of your Government’s effort to resolve these issues and have them successfully concluded,” Gomes said as he spoke directly to President David Granger.
At the time, Gomes was delivering remarks at the Guyana Veterans Legion Headquarters, at Coghlan House, where a reception was being held to mark Remembrance Day.
President David Granger, who in his address, spoke briefly on the threats issued by both Venezuela and Suriname, said, “We can’t afford to blink or close our eyes to the threat at our borders; we cannot cede our territory or sea space.”
In his last address in the National Assembly, President Granger said Guyana is more than willing to settle the territorial controversies with Suriname and Venezuela through the judicial process, noting that a judicial settlement will be consistent with the spirit of the Geneva Agreement, particularly with regards to the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.
Following ExxonMobil’s discovery of oil in the Liza-1 well in the Stabroek Block, approximately 120 miles offshore Guyana, Venezuela has expanded its claim to include Guyana’s Atlantic front.
This new area claimed by Venezuela includes Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and also intrudes on the EEZ of Suriname, French Guiana, Barbados and a chain of other Caribbean islands.
ExxonMobil is a U.S.-based oil and gas company.
Venezuela’s latest claim came in the form of decrees by that country’s President, Nicolas Maduro. The first decree claimed the waters that include the area where Exxon is drilling, in addition to the earlier claim of the Essequibo, which is two-thirds of Guyana’s land mass.
The second decree, which replaced the first, does not specify any coordinates in relation to boundaries, but makes clear that Venezuela is ready to use military force to defend its new maritime boundary. Guyana has condemned both decrees, contending that the claim by Venezuela to this country’s EEZ has no basis in international law, pointing out that the 1899 Tribunal Award had put to rest that country’s claim to the Essequibo.