St Vincent PM should not have been pictured with Venezuela’s map that includes Essequibo- Norton

Last Updated on Thursday, 4 January 2024, 12:34 by Denis Chabrol

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on Thursday criticised St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves for appearing in a picture holding Venezuela’s map that includes Guyana’s Essequibo County.

“What I do know, it sends the wrong signal more so if you accept that he was involved in the Argyle Declaration and has been given a kind of a permanent status. It is unacceptable for him to be involved in a picture like that,” Mr Norton told a news conference. The December 14 Argyle Declaration was the product of talks between Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali and Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in Argyle, St Vincent after Brazil’s President, Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, Dr Gonsalves as Pro-Tempore Chairman of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries and the Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) brought them together.

For several decades now, CARICOM has always supported Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity related to Venezuela’s claim of the 160,000 square kilometre Essequibo Region. Against that background, Mr Norton said the Vincentian leader should have never been in that picture. “It is known for years that Venezuela has been making this claim and Venezuela was putting out maps. Now, a Prime Minister of a country that supports Guyana should not, by any stretch of imagination, should not find himself in such a picture,” said Mr Norton, a Political Scientist and former Foreign Service Officer.

While Guyana’s Foreign Minister Hugh Todd said on Wednesday that Dr Gonsalves was expected to publicly explain his appearance in the December 2022 picture, none up to late Thursday morning was forthcoming.

The Guyana Opposition Leader said he would never know whether the long-serving Prime Minister of a CARICOM member-state appeared in the picture consciously or unconsciously. “What I would say is that he should have not because this is a critical issue. CARICOM has been discussing it for years and he would have known the situation,” Mr Norton added.

Responding to Gonsalves administration’s preliminary explanation to the Guyana government that the picture dates back to December 2022, Mr Norton said that is irrelevant given that “critical” issue to Guyana.

According to the declaration “both Guyana and Venezuela directly or indirectly will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two States.”

The Declaration also provides for a conflict resolution mechanism that would include the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), CELAC and the President of Brazil. “Agreed that both States will refrain, whether by words or deeds, from escalating any conflict or disagreement arising from any controversy between them. The two States will cooperate to avoid incidents on the ground conducive to tension between them. In the event of such an incident the two States will immediately communicate with one another, CARICOM, CELAC, and the President of Brazil to contain, reverse and prevent its recurrence.