Some Venezuela-aligned Caribbean countries’ support for Guyana appear shaky

Last Updated on Tuesday, 7 November 2023, 14:30 by Denis Chabrol

Dr Nigel Gravesande

International Relations expert, Dr Nigel Gravesande on Monday urged Guyana to be alert to possible cracks in Caribbean Community (CARICOM) solidarity against Venezuela’s claim to this country’s Essequibo County.

“I’m quite concerned about some of the utterances coming from within CARICOM given ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas), given the relations that some Prime Ministers have with Venezuela and some recent engagements that are happening,” he told the University of Guyana-sponsored Turkeyen and Tain Talks on the topic: “Prepare Rather Than Fear- Venezuela’s Illegal Claim and Its Possible Effects”.

He suggested that Guyana informs itself and strengthens its Foreign Ministry to understand what was being said so that the country could build strategic alliances.  Dr Gravesande noted that last weekend there were 38 statements, including four from CARICOM, several of which are beneficiaries of Venezuela’s ALBA. “That’s what we have to intentionally start sensitising ourselves with a clear diplomatic and political understanding of how the dynamics are working,” said Dr Gravesande, UG’s Registrar, whose doctoral thesis is titled “An assessment of Regional Integration efforts by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the latter half of the nineteenth century: An Agenda for immediate action.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd told the National Assembly during consideration of a motion against Venezuela’s aggression that he was in constant contact with foreign ministers of CARICOM member states and other countries.

Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley late last month told the 84th conference of her Barbados Labour Party CARICOM has spoken, but equally, we know that Venezuela has been a good sister country to us, and we pray that therefore, persons will allow maturity to attend all of their actions and conversations,” she said. Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley in late October described both Venezuela and Guyana as friends, but stressed that his country subscribes to CARICOM’s position on the Guyana-Venezuela territorial controversy.”Guyana is our neighbour, Venezuela is our neighbour, they are two friendly States. “Guyana is part of Caricom and we have a Caricom position on the issue with Venezuela. That is where TT is,” he said.  St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who enjoys extremely close relations with Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, urged respect for international law. “We have to approach this thing with understanding, wisdom and knowledge against the background of existing international law and the Caribbean being a zone of peace. We have to make sure we do things in a peaceful, non-hysterical manner and we have a calm and a patience.”
Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Commonwealth of Dominica, and St Lucia also have  close ties with Venezuela.

Former UG and University of the West Indies (UWI) International Relations Professor, Mark Kirton, speaking from the floor, reiterated the need for Guyana to develop a “more robust” relationship with neighbouring Brazil which has consistently maintained the inviolability of its 10 borders. He said his research shows that the trajectory of Guyana-Brazil relations “has fallen significantly.”

In response, Guyana’s Agent to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Carl Greenidge said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Advisory Committee had recognised the importance of Brazil, “an obvious avenue”, because some of the territory now claimed by Venezuela had been previously claimed by Brazil. He added that Brazil had decided to yield its claim once Guyana and Brazil had resolved their territorial boundaries.

Earlier Monday, during debate on a unanimously supported motion against Venezuela’s aggression, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton reminded that Venezuela has already taken over Bird Island which was once owned by Dominica and has made inroads into the Eastern Caribbean states through the mechanism of Petro-Caribe and economic largesse has made inroads into our support among these
states.

In clear reference to the Barbadian Prime Minister’s remark that,”I hope that the rhetoric and the noise between Venezuela and Guayana does not turn our Caribbean into anything that is not a zone of peace because it matters to us that this Caribbean remains a zone of peace,” Mr Norton queried whether Guyana has threatened the territorial integrity and sovereignty of any state in the Caribbean, issued decrees to take over another state’s maritime space or rejected the decisions of any international tribunal.

The Opposition Leader recommended that Guyana strengthens its foreign policy to deal with a dangerous and sinister enemy in the
form of the Venezuelan state. “We will have to take measures not only to defend our territorial integrity and sovereignty but also our place in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. Clearly, there is need for a more robust and aggressive foreign policy, vis a vis Latin America and
the Caribbean,” he said.