The Foreign Affairs Ministry in Guyana on Tuesday condemned a statement by the Venezuelan Government on 117th anniversary of the 1899 Arbitral Award handed down in Paris regarding the border controversy between Guyana and that country.
A statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Guyana said Venezuela marked the occasion with an insulting statement unworthy of a law abiding member of the international community.
“Its statement is a reaffirmation of Venezuela’s 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,” the Ministry’s statement said.
It added that Guyana on the other hand marks the occasion by the issuance 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 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,” it said.
According to the Ministry, the New Conquistadors offers to the entire world 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 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 civilisation depends,” it added.
Outgoing United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has pledged to assess the border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela before he leaves office.
During a meeting with Guyana President David Granger on the sidelines of the just concluded UN General Assembly, MrBan Ki-moon said his assessment will most likely be given in November.
Granger, who accepted the timetable, has committed to providing the Secretary General with any additional information needed to complete the assessment. “We have been very impressed with the seriousness with which you have approached the problem and your own sincerity… We have been personally convinced that you want to bring closure to this matter,” the President said.
