WAYNE KUBLALSINGH

AT A PRESS conference on November 21, Prime Minister Rowley was asked by a journalist why Venezuela was at this time ramping up its claim to Essequibo. He replied that this journalist should know the answer to the question. And he looked forward to reading the journalist's answer to his own question. Yet, the answer is complex and far from obvious. Any presumption of obviousness is not good. Unwise.

On October 25, Caricom issued a statement on the 'border dispute.' It was 'deeply disappointed and concerned at the decree and subsequent statements by Venezuela with respect to that country's border controversy with Guyana.' It expressed 'full support of the judicial process underway at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).' It ended, 'Caricom firmly repudiates any acts of aggression by Venezuela against Guyana.'

This is a flat, unilateral statement, evincing no regard for the deeply complex realpolitik of the issue. It is either dumb, pretends to be dumb, or dumbly following learnt or accepted dicta.

Venezuela has clearly pronounced on the matter; and where there are instances too delicate to describe, it has thrown hints. Much of this position was articulated in its defence before the ICJ on November 15. First, it alleged that Guyana had used its seat at the OAS to join in actions 'orchestrated against the sovereignty and the institutions of Venezuela including the calls made by its Secretary General Luis Almagro for the use of military force and the calls aimed at denying the legitimacy of the president of the republic.'

Second, 'Guyana then participated in a group of states that was created exclusively to intervene and attack Venezuela within this infamous Lima Group. Guyana approved 16 interventionist declarations against Venezuela.'

Third, 'Guyana has put its institutions and its territory in the service of the major powers that have always aspired to destroy Venezuela in order to grab some of the largest world reserves of oil, gold and gas. The growing presence of the United States Southern Command and the frequent joint military exercises with the government of Guyana along with hostile declarations aimed at threatening Venezuela are public knowledge.'

Fourth, it claimed that it is only when Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon Mobil, a key oil contractor in the Essequibo, was appointed by Donald Trump to the position of secretary of state, 'that United States supported for the first time Guyana's position in the territorial dispute.' And that Trump's next secretary of state, Mike Pompeo (former CIA director), had signed a strategic geopolitical and military pact with Guyana threatening Venezuela. In a speech, Maduro addressed President Irfaan Ali directly: 'In your eagerness to please powerful transnational interests, you are turning Guyana into a branch of Exxon Mobil.'

Fifth, Guyana has prematurely granted concessions for oil mining in 'delimited' maritime areas which were still in dispute, that had yet to be negotiated between Guyana and Venezuela.

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