As if the not so long ago spat between the Venezuelan President and the King of Spain where Mr. Chavez was told to "Shut Up!" (LINKS: BBC) was not enough to cast sufficient negative image on Venezuela, the country is back in the international bad news line up again. Only this time it's to do with its relentless bully of its small eastern neighbour - Guyana. Just recently the Venezuelan military blew 2 dredges belong to Guyanese right within the Guyana Border. (LINKS: Guyana Chronicle, Stabroek News). Of course i don't know what sequence these types of constant presumptuous acts follow or even where they are leading but one will hope that such acts are dealt with severely so to ensure they do not reoccur.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The genesis of these aggressive acts is the erroneous belief of Venezuela that the Essequibo region belongs to them.Thus, Guyana and Venezuela do not have a border dispute but rather a territorial controversy.This is because the boundary between these two countries was settled by the 1899 Arbitral Award, hence no dispute exists.
This controversy has impeded Guyana's development for decades and what is even more unfortunate is it appears that the present administration has sidelined the issue. Protection of Guyana's territorial integrity should be at the pinnacle of foreign policy objectives but sadly this is not reflected in the foreign policy of the current administration.
Guyana has to formulate and implement a strategic plan to deal with the controversy. The use of diplomacy, garnering of international support, strengthening bilateral relations with Brazil, the US and other military potent nations etc. should be considered.
Post a Comment