Guyana condemns Venezuela for continued aggression

GUYANA has condemned Venezuela again for its continued rejection of the 1899 Arbitral Award which settled the border controversy between the two countries. And on the occasion of the 117th Anniversary of the award it reiterates its commitment to a peaceful settlement of the matter.

In a statement government through Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Monday October 3, 2016 was the 117th Anniversary of the 1899 Arbitral Award handed down in Paris and Venezuela marked the occasion on Tuesday with a “vituperative statement unworthy of a law abiding member of the international community.” According to the Guyana Government Venezuela’s statement is a reaffirmation of its disrespect for the rule of law among nations. “It is a frenzied display of ill temper from forces with whom history has caught up revealing the tangled web of falsehoods on which their specious claims to Guyana’s Essequibo were built.”

“Guyana marks the occasion by the issue by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a booklet in English and Spanish — The New Conquistadors/Los Nuevos Conquistadores – which gives an account of the Tribunal’s Award and Venezuela’s sixty-year recognition and respect for it.” The ministry said the booklet commemorates the Award of one of the most prestigious judicial tribunals ever assembled under its most eminent Russian chairman.

“The Venezuelan statement of October 4, 2016 perpetuates the falsities that have marked its predatory campaign and have continued in relation to Guyana’s maritime space. Its greed for territory has added a new dimension of Guyana’s maritime resources,” the government asserted. The New Conquistadors offers to all, the statement said “the true account of these events and illustrates the urgency of the need to bring this egregious Venezuelan misconduct to an end as the international community grapples for the supremacy of law and order worldwide.”

“Guyana continues to uphold and respect the Arbitral Award of 1899. It will defend its validity in the world’s highest courts and expose Venezuela’s sordid efforts to besmirch Guyana’s development agenda.” The New Conquistadors, the ministry said tells the story of “these unworthy actions and the threats they continue to pose to Guyana, the Caribbean and beyond, through their attack on the sanctity of treaties on which human civilization depends.”

Fraud
Meanwhile, in its statement, Venezuela expressed its rejection of what it called “the absurd and irrational actions taken by the government of Guyana to ignore its international commitments.” Through its statement, Venezuela said that Guyana has alluded “false protections based on lies and subterfuge” for the purpose of generating a situation of aggression against the country. Caracas, however reaffirmed its commitment to peace to reach a solution to the controversy over the Essequibo territory, as Venezuela has requested the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, reactivate the process of good offices in force, in accordance with the established 1966 Geneva Agreement.