Guyana asks Inter-Parliamentary Union to condemn Venezuela’s annexation of Essequibo

Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 March 2024, 2:31 by Denis Chabrol

Guyana’s Attorney General, Anil Nandlall on Tuesday urged members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to condemn the Venezuelan government’s violation of international law by most recently passing a law to incorporate Essequibo as part of its territory.

“While time will not permit us at this conference to collectively condemn the actions of Venezuela, there is still much to be done. I appeal to each of you to use the theme of this Conference and the platform of your respective Parliaments to condemn the actions of Venezuela; to demand compliance with International Law; and to call for diplomacy to be used as a bridge for peace and understanding,” Mr Nandlall told the 148th IPU Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

His appeal to the IPU came one week after the Nicolas Maduro administration passed legislation in Venezuela’s National Assembly to annex Guyana’s 160,000 square kilometre Essequibo county in keeping with a controversial referendum whose voter turnout was very low. “This is not a favour to Guyana, but it is discharging a duty we owe to ourselves and indeed the world, if we are to be true to the founding principles of this organisation,” he said.

The Attorney General said the Guyana delegation discussed Venezuela’s aggression with the IPU President, Tulia Ackson. “The main purpose of the engagement was to brief the President on the evolving unlawful claim by Venezuela of Essequibo, part of the sovereign territory of Guyana and its consequential actions,” he said. Guyana is being represented by Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir; Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs; Attorney General Nandlall and A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) parliamentarian Dawn Hastings-Williams.

Mr Nandlall said Venezuela’s action was taken despite a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and a Declaration by Presidents Irfaan Ali and Maduro in Argyle, St Vincent that neither country would take action against each other. “Only last week, in breach of both the letter and spirit of the interim measures granted at the ICJ and the Argyle Declaration, the Venezuelan Government enacted laws in its Parliament to annex two-thirds of Guyana’s sovereign territory,” the Attorney General said.

The Argyle Declaration was as a result of an intervention brokered by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

Though the IPU failed to collectively pass a resolution, which was co-sponsored by Guyana, on the lack of democracy in Venezuela and the worst human rights tragedy in Gaza, Mr Nandlall hoped that that global parliamentary body could still forge ahead with the call for peace. “These horrendous events, although occurring on opposite sides of the globe, together manifest the deadly havoc that armed conflicts wreaks and the social disorder and human sufferings that the absence of democracy produces,” he added. He noted that more than 30,000 are dead in Gaza. Nearly eight million refugees have fled Venezuela.

Tracing the history of Venezuela’s “outrageous claim”, the Attorney General said the land boundary with Guyana was settled by the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award and was accepted by that Spanish-speaking country for 60 years. However, Venezuela deemed that award unlawful in the early 1960s when Guyana was about to gain independence from Britain.

“It continues to make this outrageous claim to date without producing a scintilla of evidence to substantiate,” he said.

In 2018, the the UN Secretary General referred Venezuela’s claim to the ICJ in keeping with the 1966 Geneva Agreement. But, Caracas has rejected the ICJ’s jurisdiction and has been pressing for a return to bilateral talks, a process that Guyana had said did not work for 50 years.

The ICJ has issued interim measures restraining Venezuela from taking further steps in its declared intention.

The Attorney General said Venezuela had threatened physical invasion, triggering condemnations by every major international organisation in the Western Hemisphere and calls for Caracas to respect the ICJ’s jurisdiction, comply with international law and use diplomacy to resolve the alleged dispute.  They include the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the Commonwealth, Organization of American States (OAS), CARICOM and CELAC as well as the governments of the United States, Canada, Britain, and Brazil. “During all of this, Guyana has emphatically maintained that the matter must be resolved by the ICJ. Further, Guyana has always maintained that diplomacy and dialogue must prevail over threats and confrontation,” he said.