The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has restated its commitment to Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. That commitment was iterated by CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett. The Secretary General indicated that the issue of Venezuela’s claim to Guyana’s territory will be on the agenda of the 33rd Inter-Sessional Heads of Government Meeting. The two day meeting of CARICOM Heads begins on March 1 at San Pedro, Ambergris Caye in Belize. Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali is in attendance.
Secretary General Dr. Barnett was careful to emphasise that CARICOM’s stated commitment to Guyana’s sovereignty is in no way related to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Dr. Barnett said, “There are two border issues that are on the agenda for every Head meeting and one is the Guyana-Venezuela and the other is of course, is the Belize-Guatemala, those are issues that the Heads follow very closely, those are the issues which make the region stand strong on the matter of self-determination and territorial integrity and that will not change and that has nothing to do with the position on Ukraine in terms of any discussion of those issues.”
Dr Barnett’s pronouncement follows numerous similar statements by CARICOM expressing the organization’s solidarity with Guyana. In January of last year CARICOM announced that, “The Caribbean Community is in full support of the judicial process underway at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which is intended to bring a peaceful and definitive end to the long-standing controversy between the two countries.”
That announcement came on the heels of a decree and subsequent statements by Venezuela with respect to that country’s border controversy with Guyana, including the creation by Venezuela of a strategic area of national development called “Territory for the Development of the Atlantic Façade,” that included Guyana’s Essequibo region and maritime areas that belong to Guyana. The border issue with our western neighbour Venezuela relates to more than a century-old matter which arose as a result of Venezuela’s contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899 was null and void.
The 1899 Award had definitely settled the boundary between the two countries. While Venezuela refers to the matter as a “dispute,” Guyana’s position has always been that there exists no “dispute,” since the matter was conclusively settled in 1899. The matter is currently being considered by the ICJ.
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