Venezuela will not invade Guyana or create any conflict, says Ambassador Pérez Silva

Last Updated on Sunday, 12 November 2023, 12:06 by Denis Chabrol

Venezuela would not invade Guyana even if people vote ‘yes’ to the declaration of Essequibo as a State of that western Spanish-speaking neighbour, that country’s Ambassador Carlos Amador Pérez Silva said Sunday.

“No, never,” he said when asked whether Venezuela would invade Guyana, even if Venezuelans vote in favour of the declaration of Essequibo as a State of Venezuela. He attributed to the feeling among sections of Guyana that there would be an invasion to misinterpretation and anxiety. “It is no war, ok. Diplomacy and negotiation,” he said.

He also told Demerara Waves Online News that the deployment of troops along the border with Guyana was aimed at clamping down on gold smuggling and other crimes.

Mr Pérez Silva said the December 3, 2023 referendum would be an “internal activity” for Venezuelans according to the law. “There is no intention whatsoever to create a conflict or something like that,” he said.

In the past, Venezuela’s fighter jets and navy have invaded Guyana’s air and sea space and chased out seismic research vessels from Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

One of the five questions seeks a popular vote on whether to declare Guyana’s Essequibo county a Venezuelan State and to grant citizenship and identification cards to inhabitants living there, but the Venezuela envoy insisted that no military action was planned. “This is a misinterpretation because if you see in the Social Media blogs is that Venezuela pretending annexation of the Essequibo. No, we are going according to international law and diplomacy. We are not taking about any conflict, no war, nothing at all,” he said.

The Venezuelan envoy opted to await next Wednesday’s “detailed explanation” by his country’s agent and legal team at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), when asked whether the Venezuelan government would go against a ‘yes’ vote on the declaration of Essequibo County a Venezuelan State.

Stressing that there would be no conflict but the use of international law and diplomacy, Ambassador Pérez Silva explained that the movement of troops close to Venezuela’s border with Guyana was aimed at tackling illegal gold mining, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, gangs and other “internal security” matters as part of an operation codenamed “Operation Roraima” in a number of areas of the country with neighbouring Brazil, Guyana and Colombia. “The mobilisation is in different States of Venezuela. It is nothing. It is not a provocation,” the Venezuela envoy said.

While Venezuela maintains that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction to hear Guyana’s case on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award, that country has participated in a number of related hearings and plans to do so on Wednesday. On whether that amounts to a contradiction, Ambassador Pérez Silva said its appearance was confined to “particular issues that we will like to address”. He said Venezuela continued to maintain that the only way to resolve the controversy was through diplomacy and negotiation. “It is still our historic position 0f no recognition of this case, for the resolution,” he said.

The ICJ has already ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the case.

The United States, Canada, Organisation of American States, Caribbean Community, and the Commonwealth of Britain and her former colonies have condemned Venezuela’s intensified saber-rattling, troop movement and the planned referendum that Guyana has interpreted as the planned annexation of Essequibo. Those countries and organisations have restated Guyana’s right to exploit its natural resources.

Guyana’s National Assembly earlier this month approved a resolution reaffirming the country’s commitment to the ICJ and ruling out bilateral talks between President Irfaan Ali and his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro to settle the controversy.