THE 24th Year of Century 21 blasted off with Guyana, Venezuela and Cuba all celebrating new beginnings after an eventful 2023 in the three Caribbean and South American nations.

Cuba observed the 65th Anniversary of its 1959 Revolution; Guyana celebrated continuing, unprecedented, exponential economic growth and Venezuela reported a 10th consecutive quarter of economic growth — and the celebrated return of diplomat Alex Saab from US custody.

LONGEVITY
What Cuba and the world also saw in the celebrations in Havana and Santiago on January 1, 2024, was another display of the longevity of their revolution, thanks to the leadership from Fidel Castro to Raul Castro to Miguel Diaz-Canel — and the limitless sacrifices of its people — despite efforts to strangle them through deadly economic, financial and commercial suffocation.

The Revolution continues to suffer the consequences of various US boycotts, embargoes and sanctions, but the majority of Cubans at home know the true sources of their difficulties are not in Havana, but primarily in those elsewhere who’ve made it an eternal duty to deny them their daily life needs, while highlighting migration of those unable to continue bearing the sufferance caused by their inhuman sanctions.

CONTINUED GROWTH
Same with Venezuela, which, under continuing pressure from the same northern neighbour in several respects, according to President Nicolas Maduro, has been able to report 10 continuous quarters of economic growth, consistent with predictions for 4.5% annual economic growth in 2023 and positive results from 18 economic sectors prioritised by his government’s Bolivarian Economic Agenda.

President Maduro also looked forward to Venezuela eventually becoming a full member of the BRICS alliance (led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), resulting in greater markets and mutual investment possibilities in several areas.

FASTEST-GROWING
Guyana ended 2023 as the fastest-growing oil-producing nation globally, with the greatest economic potential in the entire Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and much of Latin America, after only four years as a newcomer in the oil and gas business.

Guyana also started 2024 as the new chair of CARICOM after Caribbean leaders and counterparts in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) brokered, in less than one day, an accord between neighbouring Guyana and Venezuela over the 124-year-old Essequibo controversy.

DE-ESCALATION
The December 14, 2023 Argyle Accord, negotiated in St. Vincent & The Grenadines (under the guidance of host Vincentian Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves in his capacity as President Tempore of CELAC) saw the two nations’ Presidents and Commanders-in-Chief of their respective armed forces agree to de-escalate the latest tensions over Essequibo and instead escalate efforts at peaceful coexistence and possible cooperation.

In that regard, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali reiterated in a New Year address that the dispatch of a small British navy ship to Guyana is not intended to threaten Venezuela (or any other neighbour), but rather to help in the continuing fight against drugs and other illicit trades.

Britain had earlier made references to the Guyana-Venezuela border issue as part of the reason for its dispatch of ‘HMS Trent’ and Venezuela responded with announced adjustments to its naval defence capabilities.

But Guyana also insists it has an eternal responsibility to shore up its national defences and its current related discussions with international partners are also aimed at ensuring the Caribbean remains a Zone of Peace.

Notwithstanding Venezuela’s issue with the vessel, there’s also much possibility that the Argyle Accord can, in 2024, yield peace and cooperation between Guyana and Venezuela while the world awaits the related decision of the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ).

INSEPARABLE
President Ali said he never went to St. Vincent & The Grenadines seeing President Maduro as the leader of a country that intended to invade Guyana, but instead to seek opportunities for peaceful cooperation engagements between two inseparable neighbours.

Stressing that “Venezuela will always be our neighbour,” the Guyana President said: “At the end of the day… we have to work in a collaborative way for the betterment of the region.”

President Ali said Guyana and Venezuela “have resources that are similar and can be deployed effectively towards the energy and food security of the region…” as well as mutual cooperation on “Climate Change and keeping the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.”

MUTUAL TIES
Cuba and Venezuela both have strong mutual ties with CARICOM, the latter unapologetic in its support for the former against external regime-change efforts.

The two Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations also have longstanding ties through the Cuba-CARICOM and PetroCaribe regional economic and energy initiatives, anchored by decades of bilateral and multilateral agreements in health, education, tourism, trade, agriculture and energy exchanges, as well as mutual assistance in emergency areas, such as the region’s worsening annual hurricane seasons and provision of medications and personnel during the recent COVID pandemic.

The Argyle Accord overshadowed CARICOM’s simultaneous engagement with Haiti on a Draft Framework Agreement (DFA) with stakeholders on December 13, as well as the quiet diplomacy involving St. Vincent and Qatar in negotiations between Venezuela and the USA that resulted in the exchange of Saab for 10 Americans, which took place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Against that background, there’s much reason for optimism that when the Foreign Affairs Ministries of Guyana and Venezuela submit their reports by mid-March, as agreed to at Argyle, they could highlight further progress through neighbourly economic and other forms of coexistence in the several areas each side have common interests in, instead of keeping an inherited and eternally dividing colonial border quarrel between inseparable neighbours going for more 125 years.