The Government of Guyana managed to walk away from the St Vincent and the Grenadines meeting victorious. It was always the country’s desire to have peace and stability in the Caribbean and South America while it is allowed to follow-through with its case rightly before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The government only wanted Venezuela to understand that both countries could peacefully exist as neighbours while it waits on the final and binding ruling of the ICJ. The government, Thursday, proved that it was never against dialogue and the use of diplomacy to quell whatever squabble there might exist with its neighbour to the west, except delving into the controversy with the Essequibo.

This reasoning on the part of Guyana, and with clear understanding from Venezuela paved the way for the Argyle declaration in which the two parties effectively agreed to the peaceful co-existence and a mechanism to settle other controversial matters that may arise within the next three months.

The word ‘Essequibo’ is not mentioned in any part of the declaration because the President of Guyana Dr Irfaan Ali would neither discuss nor dialogue on the subject matter despite the superstitious ramblings of the Venezuelans at the meeting.

So, therefore, no concessions were made and Guyana secured Venezuela’s commitment that there will be no war, force or use of threats in the coming months. It managed to get Venezuela’s commitment to international law “including the Genevia Agreement” of 1966 which clearly outlines the right of the Secretary General of the United Nations to choose the ICJ as a means of settlement of the border controversy between the two parties.

The declaration now paves the way for Guyanese to question what is next or what are parties going to do during this phase of ‘peace’ and civility.

Firstly, while the agreement must be respected and commended, the government must take the declaration with a pinch of salt. This means that there must be optimism on the part of Guyana that the declaration will be kept by Venezuela. Also, the government must be mindful of what it says and does moving forward to avoid giving Caracas anything to find reasonably objectionable.

This is not to say that Guyana has said or done anything that warranted the blatant threats that have been made against it coming from Venezuela, which has done everything but cross into Guyana’s Essequibo to annex it.

The government too will continue to exercise and administer the Essequibo region because it belongs to us. This here, means the government can continue its development of natural resources and minerals found in its exclusive economic zone. It will peacefully continue its plans to develop the lives of its citizens in Regions One, Two, Three, and Seven, offering protection as it has done for centuries.

That is, of course, if Venezuela hold up its end of the deceleration.
Secondly, the government must continue talks with its strategic partners in the Caricom region, European Union, USA, France and other UN countries. There must be no moratorium on security talks aimed at better border monitoring and response to any threat that may be planted to start to dispute.

It must do everything in its power to ensure Guyana is not caught on the backfoot if there is any threat of violence or use of force flowing from an abandonment of these articles in the Argyle Declaration by Venezuela.

To put it frankly and bluntly, President Maduro and the Socialist Government are not known for upholding treaties, agreements, or declaration. The U.S. and certain countries in South America can attest to this. It is unstable and too politically risky to blindly trust our neighbours.

Thirdly, the government must continuously have a plan to tackle the immigration problem, ensuring all Venezuelans and other immigrants are carefully registered and processed through the system.

Already, the government is hinting at legislation to effectively deal with border control and the National Assembly is moving to entertain some motion or bill for establishing a mechanism for the opposition to jointly deal with this complex issue.

This is a step in the right direction but the government needs to make sure that the Venezuelans are treated with dignity and respect, and according to the laws because no doubt Maduro will be looking closely at this area to start a problem.
Finally, dialogue must remain open with Venezuela, providing the atmosphere to discuss anything except the border controversy. This is a triumph for Guyana. Its is hoped that it is not short-lived or Venezuela does not have a change of heart.