US weighs in on border controversy

Last Updated on Monday, 5 October 2015, 20:25 by GxMedia

New US Ambassador to Guyana Perry Holloway has weighed in on the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy saying that both countries should pursue a peaceful settlement of the controversy.

Holloway at a press conference on Monday made it clear that international law must be respected in pursuit of settlement of the territorial claim between Guyana and Venezuela.

The US Government has received some criticism from local politician Ralph Ramkarran, who had posited that the US should affirm Guyana’s boundaries.

“In these circumstances the position of the US today is wholly inadequate and inexplicable. By confining its comments to the provisions of the Geneva Agreement and omitting to validate Guyana’s territorial integrity as having been settled by the Arbitral Award of 1899, the US’s public statements have been a less than adequate representation of what it knows to be the truth of the matter,” Ramkarran stated in a blog.

However, Holloway explained that Guyana has done a good job at defending its sovereignty against the aggressions from neighboring Venezuela.

“I don’t think we have be silent. I think Guyana has been very good at defending its sovereignty. They [the government] are doing so in a professional manner…throughout the region and the rest of the world, people have been very impressed and I think that the way people do thing,” Holloway stated.

Meanwhile, Holloway indicated that the US is in support of a resolution through peaceful means, diplomatic dialogue and respect for international law.

He said that both countries should continue to respect the 1899 Arbitration ruling until another substantive body rule otherwise on the issue.

Guyana is pushing for a juridical settlement of the issue, even as it maintains that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award was full, final and perfect- essentially that the Essequibo Region belongs to Guyana.