Guyana continues to push for juridical settlement – Greenidge

Foreign Affairs Minister and Vice President Carl Greenidge on Tuesday said Government remains committed to the judicial settlement of the Guyana/ Venezuela border controversy, and will be seeking the legal opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the 1899 arbitral award.

The Foreign Affairs Minister was updating the media on the ongoing work of the Secretary General of the United Nation (UN) and its involvement in working towards addressing the border controversy between the two neighbouring countries.

Venezuela remains fixed in its claims over portions of the Essequibo but has failed to show any evidence that the decision handed down more than a century ago by the United Nations is in fact illegitimate.

“There have been many discussions as regards the option that the Secretary General may choose. We have been calling for a judicial resolution of the problem because Venezuela has been arguing that the 1899 award is null and void”, Greenidge said on Tuesday.

According to him, Guyana has lived with this controversy for over 50 odd years and it was not because it could not have been resolved, “but because one party has no intention of facilitating a resolution unless they get what they want… it seems we are destined to relive 1899 many times over…”

“The options available have all been tried… under one name or another and they have all been found wanting… at the end of the exercise, they left Guyana at a disadvantage.”

According to Greenidge, the opinion given by the ICJ could influence the settlement of the controversy, as that opinion could be used as the final word and a decision could be made without Venezuela’s input.

“The thing about an opinion in those circumstances – it is only advisory. The value of it to Guyana is the world will see that a legal exercise having been conducted on Venezuela’s claim is not supported,” he said.

The two parties between themselves have not been able to find a way to go forward, Greenidge stressed, noting that the controversy has been damaging to Guyana’s interest.

Venezuela, up until now, has not accepted the 1899 Award as a final settlement of the border dispute although it only made its contention international in 1945. In 1949, the US jurist Otto Schoenrich gave the Venezuelan Government a memorandum written by Severo Mallet-Prevost, the Official Secretary of the US-Venezuela delegation in the Tribunal of Arbitration, which was written in 1944 to be published only after his death.

Mallet-Prevost, one of the four lawyers who had appeared for Venezuela before the Arbitral Tribunal, surmised from the private behaviour of the judges that there had been a political deal between Great Britain and Russia and for the first time, attacked the Award. This memorandum led to Venezuela’s revival of its claim to Guyana’s territory.

In 1966 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Governments of British Guiana, the United Kingdom and Venezuela signed an agreement to resolve Venezuela’s contentions. Since the issue has sporadically flared up and has not been resolved.

The issue reignited in early March when the Government of Guyana granted access to the US-based oil exploration company ExxonMobil, allowing it to drill for oil in the Stabroek block offshore Essequibo.

The Venezuelan Government was peeved at this move and made direct contact with the oil company, urging it to discontinue its attempt to carry out drilling activities in the area. Saying it had no part in the territorial issue, the oil company went ahead with its drilling activity.

It recently reported the discovery of oil. Maduro later issued a decree on May 26, which purports to ratify maritime sovereignty over waters within 200 miles including the entire Atlantic Ocean off the Essequibo Coast as well as part of Suriname’s maritime territory and an area which is under dispute with Colombia.