A former Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana has bashed the Nicolás Maduro Government over its planned referendum that seeks to annex Guyana’s territory of Essequibo, saying the exercise is not only useless, but is a distraction from the ongoing socioeconomic crisis in the Spanish-speaking nation.
“The referendum that the Maduro government has decided to call on the Essequibo claim is not only useless, but harmful to the interests of Venezuela,” Sadio Garavini di Turno said in an opinion piece that was published by several regional media outlets on Thursday.
Last month, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council published a list of five questions it plans to put before the Venezuelan people in a referendum set for December 3, 2023. One question (#5) proposes the creation of Venezuelan State of Guyana Essequibo and an accelerated plan for giving Venezuelan citizenship and identity cards to the Guyanese population.
However, according to Turno, a former Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana and current advisor to the Opposition in Caracas, this is an unreal question. He noted that it is ridiculous to think that Essequibians, who live in the world’s fastest growing economy, would want to be citizens of a country in the midst of a socioeconomic disaster, and from which its own people – approximately 35,000 – have fled to Guyana and more are coming daily.
Turno noted that this particular question also gives the impression that Venezuela intends to militarily occupy the Essequibo region – something which has already been denounced by Guyana and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries.
Moreover, the former Venezuelan Ambassador pointed out that two of the questions in the referendum are absolutely inconsequential, and are tantamount to asking “if you love your mother.”
He said that in asking the Venezuelan electorate if they support the 1966 Geneva Agreement as the only instrument to resolve the controversy, the Maduro regime forgot to mention the ongoing process before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Turno asserted that with the question that asked whether one agrees not to recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ to resolve the border controversy, there is a clear intention to use the probable affirmative answer to get out of the judicial process, in which Venezuela has already accepted the jurisdiction of the Court by participating in it.
Further, the former Venezuelan diplomat outlined that the World Court, with or without the presence of Venezuela, would follow the process; and in a few years’ time, would issue its ruling, which is mandatory and unappealable. He added that after the decision on the 1899 Award and the definition of the land border, it is very likely that the ICJ would also have to intervene in the delimitation of marine and underwater areas.
According to the former diplomat, the responsible thing is for Venezuela to prepare itself to defend its case before the ICJ.
After years of failed good officers’ process, Guyana approached the World Court in 2018, seeking a final and binding judgement to reinforce that the 1899 Arbitral Award remains valid and binding on all parties, as well as legal affirmation that Guyana’s Essequibo region, which contains much of the country’s natural resources, belongs to Guyana and not Venezuela.
Guyana’s Spanish-speaking neighbour has laid claim to more than two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass in the Essequibo region, and to a portion of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in which nearly 11 billion barrels of oil have been discovered largely by United States oil giant ExxonMobil.
Venezuela has accused the Guyana Government of being a puppet of ExxonMobil and the US Southern Command. But according to Turno, the Venezuelan Government’s position on the oil activities offshore Guyana is “extremely irresponsible”, and “not very serious”, especially since two of the partners in the Stabroek Block – Chinese State Oil Company (CNOOC) and Chevron, which will soon take over Hess’s local operations – also have operations in Venezuela.
To make matter worse, Turno pointed out, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, after all its actions, is now asking the Guyana Government to sit down to negotiate bilaterally.
According to Turno, who is a former Vice Minister of Justice in Caracas, he is of the opinion that the referendum is a manoeuvre to distract public attention from the enormous socioeconomic failure, in view of the announced 2024 elections, by raising the nationalist flag.
Further, he said it is about forgetting the irresponsible and very unprofessional handling of the controversy during these two decades, which has led us to the ICJ, the scenario preferred by Guyana since 1966.
The Guyana Government has already declared its commitment to resolving this longstanding border controversy with Venezuela through the legal process at the World Court. Over the past few weeks, Guyana has been informing regional and international partners of Venezuela’s planned referendum, which has been criticised by the United States, Caricom, and the Organization of American States (OAS), as well as several other nations in the region, including Brazil.
There is a consensus that Venezuela’s referendum threatens the peace, security and stability of the region.
