Guyana should ask CARICOM, UN to send military help to deter Venezuela

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 November 2023, 20:06 by Denis Chabrol

Professor of International Relations, Mark Kirton on Monday recommended that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) provide military support to Guyana and at the same time take Venezuela’s intensifying aggression to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

“It can be argued that given the current unprecedented level of aggression and the statements related to possible armed intervention and annexation, Guyana should immediately approach the United Nations Security Council to inform that body, since it is clear under Article 34 of the United Nations Charter which states that the Security Council will investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, that kind of process could be adopted,”  Dr Kirton told a panel discussion on the topic “Guyana-Venezuela Border Controversy: Perspectives From Guyana” held at Trinidad’s Cipriani College of Labour and Cooperative Studies.  He said Article 35 provides for any nation to bring any dispute or situation, such as the “existential threat” that Guyana faces to the UNSC.

Dr Kirton also recommended that Guyana asks sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders for an emergency summit before December 3 with the aim of invoking the Regional Security System (RSS) to address “the clear and present danger” that Guyana faces as a result of “the rising tensions and Venezuelan troop movements” combined with statements about annexation and agree to send military assistance to Guyana under the leadership of Trinidad and Tobago. “With the security of member states being part of the fourth pillar of regional integration, enshrined in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas; CARICOM, led by the State-Trinidad and Tobago- which has responsibility for regional security should actively consider the enlargement and widening of the Regional Security System, which Guyana recently joined, and establish a military observation mission to Guyana,” he said.

The former University of Guyana (UG) and University of the West Indies (UWI) International Relations Professor also said CARICOM should join Guyana in approaching the  United Nations (UN) should be approached to provide wider international military assistance to an RSS contingent “in support of Guyanese forces as a multinational force which can act as a deterrent to possible incursion on Guyanese territory and prevent loss of life especially in the border communities.”

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali at the weekend expressed confidence that regional and “strategic partners”, a number of which are also members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), have assured the country that they would not tolerate any military aggression by Venezuela.

Dr Kirton, said based on Brazil’s experience in UN peacekeeping in Haiti and its diplomatic respect for borders and international rules, Guyana should engage its Portuguese-speaking neighbour for support.

Venezuelans go to a referendum on December 3, 2023 to rubber stamp government’s decisions not to recognise the International Court Justice (ICJ) to settle the territorial controversy with Guyana and to declare Essequibo County a Venezuelan state where all current and future inhabitants will be provided Venezuelan citizenship and national identification cards. A defiant Venezuela last week told the ICJ that it would be going ahead with the referendum at hearing of Guyana’s request to block those questions it said that could lead to irreparable damage if its Spanish-speaking neighbour seizes Essequibo. Despite military build-up of Venezuelan forces along the border with Guyana, Caracas has assured that there would be no invasion and their presence is part of ‘Operation Roraima’ to crackdown on illegal gold mining, narco-trafficking, trafficking in persons and other crimes. However, that explanation is in contrast to veiled utterances on social media by top Venezuelan military and civilian officials.

Former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Retired Rear Admiral Gary Best told the forum that he interprets Venezuela’s Constitution to mean that that Spanish-speaking country includes territory declared by arbitration.

Guyana maintains that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award is the full, final and perfect settlement of the land boundary with Venezuela.  Dr Best posited that Venezuela would be using the December 3 referendum to amend its constitution to include Guyana’s Essequibo county as that country’s state. “In fact, the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award remains acceptable to Venezuela in accordance with its own constitution which is Article 10,” said Dr Best, a Caribbean-trained lawyer and holder of a doctorate in International Relations. Venezuela became independent on July 5, 1811- 88 years before the 1899 Award- and the country comprises 23 States none of which is Essequibo. He also noted that Guyana’s constitution entrenches all of the territory it inherited from Britain at the time of independence in 1966 and the boundaries could only be changed by a referendum.

Dr Best said Guyana, along with Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, could use their hydrocarbon resources to engage in petro-diplomacy with other CARICOM States similar to Venezuela’s PetroCaribe cheap oil deal.

Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge, who is now Guyana’s Agent to the ICJ, said the close relations between several CARICOM member states and Venezuela could be used as a leverage to reach out to Caracas.

He added that even if Brazil is providing assistance, “it often does not say a great deal but it is a major power in the region and beyond as a source of soft power”.