Venezuela’s aggression towards Guyana now poses an existential threat to Guyana’s survival as a nation state. If Essequibo is taken over by Venezuela, Guyana becomes a rump state with its western border on the eastern bank of the Essequibo River. Guyana will have no mineral wealth, no oil production, a large portion of its rich agricultural land lost and flailing on the international scene trying to dislodge Venezuela from two-thirds of our territory. The Guyanese people of Essequibo and in Regions 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9 will be living under the boots of the Venezuelan occupying army subject to suppression, imprisonment, torture and death.
Venezuela’s decades of aggression against Guyana, began with the seizure of Guyana’s half of Ankoko Island in 1966, mere months after the signing of the Geneva Agreement. Countless acts of aggression since then have now reached the stage where a bridge has been built from Venezuela to Ankoko, military installations and infrastructure constructed and military personnel in large numbers deployed – demonstrating clear aggressive intent. An ‘organic’ law has been passed incorporating Essequibo as Venezuela’s 24th state of ‘Guayana Essequiba.’ Elections for a Governor and other officials are due to be held on May 25. In March a Venezuelan military vessel entered Guyana maritime space and threatened Guyana’s vessels. As in the past, Guyana’s steadfast partners, Caricom and the Commonwealth, criticized the incursion and supported Guyana’s sovereignty. Guyana continues to work towards the expansion of its diplomatic efforts.
In 2015 at a press conference when he arrived in Guyana, US Ambassador Perry Holloway said in answer to a question from a journalist that the US supported the Arbitral Award of 1899. This was the first explicit US support for the 1899 Arbitral Award. The US remained consistent in its support since 2018. Fifty-nine years after the Geneva Agreement in 1966, the UN Secretary General, at Guyana’s request, referred the issue as to whether the Arbitral Award was null and void to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for adjudication relying on Article 33 of the UN Charter, provided for in Article IV of the Geneva Agreement. By this time about 25 years of direct, continuous, talks had taken place between Guyana and Venezuela in the Mixed Commission, Good Officer Process and Enhanced Mediation.
Guyana’s diplomatic efforts against Venezuelan aggression have been bearing fruit, not perhaps as speedily and robustly as Guyana would like, but at least the world is waking up to the nefarious activities of Venezuela against a much smaller country. Apart from Caricom’s and the Commonwealth’s continued support, the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in March condemned Venezuela as follows: “They [the Foreign Ministers] also agreed Venezuelan naval vessels threatening Guyana’s commercial vessels is unacceptable and an infringement of Guyana’s internationally recognized sovereign rights. They reaffirmed respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations as an enduring value.” Most important, two weeks ago US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said that it would be a “sad day” for Venezuela should it attack Guyana.
As Guyana seeks to expand and widen diplomatic support for its territorial integrity on borders fixed by the Arbitral Award of 1899, which Venezuela accepted for sixty-three years, it must turn its attention to the Peoples Republic of China. Guyana was the first country in the English-speaking Caribbean and on the South American mainland which established diplomatic relations with China in June 1972. Relations with China began to grow and continued to improve as the years went by. Relations were also established between the Communist Party of China and the PPP and PNC. Economic relations began to grow and China’s investments in Guyana expanded rapidly, especially since the 1990s. At the present time, China’s state-owned company, CNOOC, is an investor in Guyana’s oil industry which earns millions of US dollars annually. In addition, Chinese companies are heavily involved in Guyana’s infrastructure development and continue to be the most active participant in competitive bidding. While Guyana benefits substantially from China’s economic activity, so does China.
Guyana is not entitled to, and should not expect, a quid pro quo from China in relation to Guyana’s border controversy with Venezuela such as China’s taking Guyana’s side in the controversy. Guyana would understand that China has substantial economic relations with Venezuela and, in fact, Venezuela is indebted to China in excess of US$50 billion which China would not want to jeopardize.
But having regard to Guyana’s relations with China, and Venezuela’s threat to CNOOC, the latter’s silence on the issue of a peaceful resolution of the controversy is no longer acceptable. The time has come for China, the second most powerful country economically in the world and one of the most powerful militarily, to declare whether it supports peaceful resolution of disputes between countries with border controversies, a policy China manifested recently with India. In the face of China’s continuing silence, it cannot complain of preferential treatment that Guyana might extend to those of its friends who stand by its side in this period of extreme danger to its existence. China also has “sacred commitments” in relation to territory for which it consistently seeks international support, which Guyana has readily, continuously and generously given since 1972, but which some would be happy to undermine.