Guyanese Online

 Jan 26, 2021  News

Kaieteur News – Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, yesterday threatened further action against Guyanese found in Essequibo waters after Guyana gave a firm rebuke to its detention of two Guyanese fishing vessels off the Essequibo Coast on Thursday last.

“Venezuela,” he said, “rejects the Communique of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana [of January 24] on the operation of the Bolivarian National Navy and reiterates that it will not allow illegal incursions of any kind into its territory, exercising the defence of its sovereignty.”   

The first two vessels, Lady Nayera and Sea Wolf had been operating just off the coast at Waini Point on Thursday, where they were intercepted by the Venezuela Navy Vessel, Commandante Hugo Chavez GC 24, and ordered to navigate their way to Port Guiria to be held.

In response, Guyana had announced that it is seeking to ensure the status and security of the vessels’ crew members, and ordered the Venezuelan government to release them immediately.

The Bolivarian Republic’s foreign minister tweeted yesterday that Venezuela rejects Guyana’s statement, and that Venezuela would not allow “illegal incursions in its territory.”

Arreaza claimed the vessels were fishing illegally in “undisputed” Venezuelan territory without having required documentation.

Arreaza also claimed that Guyana’s authorities are engaged in a “media matrix” which “lays bare the unilateral claims of that government, in alliance with transnational oil companies, particularly with the American ExxonMobil, on uncontested Venezuelan territory, as well as on marine and underwater areas pending delimitation.”

Though the vessels were found in Guyanese waters, Venezuela arrested the vessels in-keeping with a presidential decree made by its President, Nicolas Maduro, on January 7.

“I signed the decree, he had posted on Twitter shortly after, “by which the Territory for the Development of the Atlantic Façade of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is established, which becomes part of the legal, diplomatic and political actions for the defence of our rights for more than 200 years.”

The decree effectively means that the Venezuela Government would treat the Essequibo region, which Venezuela has coveted for decades, as its own. President Maduro vowed to “reconquer” the region.

Maduro’s move had set off a series of actions by Venezuela’s national assembly including a unanimous degree by all political factions to fight for the region, and the establishment of a ‘Special Commission for the Defence of the Guayana Esequiba Territory and Territorial Sovereignty.’

Arreaza called Guyana’s objections to Maduro’s presidential decree “absurd and erratic,” and posited that Venezuela has already made clear that it wants to have a relationship of respect and cooperation with Guyana.
This is based on Maduro’s rejection of the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to assume jurisdiction in ongoing litigation to put the controversy to rest. Venezuela has decided not to respect the ICJ’s jurisdiction, and has instead called on Guyana to negotiate with Venezuela.

Maduro had announced in a tweet alongside his presidential decree, which he wrote to the United Nations with the objective of advancing a peaceful alternative to the ICJ litigation.

The Venezuelan President said that only sovereign states could bring the neighbours closer to a solution to the controversy. Guyana, on the other hand, awaits the ICJ’s ruling.