Venezuela 🇻🇪 vs. Guyana 🇬🇾 Watch Thread - Essequibo/Esequiba/Esequibo

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article254824047.html

As Guyana finds more oil reserves, it wants border dispute with Venezuela settled
By Jacqueline Charles

Updated October 08, 2021 5:43 PM
Prime Minister of Guyana, Mark Phillips, discussed various topics during a visit to South Florida on September 8, 2021. Jose A Iglesias jiglesias@elnuevoherald.com
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó don’t agree on much. But last month, the two adversaries did find common ground on at least one thing —where Venezuela’s border begins— and neighboring Guyana isn’t happy.

During talks in Mexico mediated by Norway, Maduro and Guaidó agreed that the oil-rich Essequibo region that Guyana claims as its own belongs to Venezuela and rejected the International Court of Justice’s role in settling a border dispute over the region. The two went as far as making their position known in the long-running territorial dispute by inking it in a Sept. 6 accord.

“You know that is most unfortunate that you would have an agreement between the government of Venezuela and the opposition that will include this dispute that Venezuela has with Guyana,” Guyanese Prime Minister Mark Phillips told the Miami Herald Friday. “I say Venezuela has with Guyana because as far as we’re concerned, the Treaty of Washington of 1899 settled the border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela.”

The treaty refers to when an arbitration court, pressured by the United States, decided where British Guyana ended and Venezuela began.

Philips led a government delegation that included Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira; Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond and head of the Guyana Office for Investment, Dr. Peter Ramsaroop.

They spent the week making the rounds in South Florida at the invitation of the South Florida-based Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) under the theme “Doing Business with Guyana.” Among their focus, meeting with members of the Guyanese diaspora to discuss investment opportunities and the transformation of South America’s only English-speaking nation thanks to recent discoveries of oil and gas.

On Thursday, ExxonMobil announced a massive new discovery of oil deposits in offshore Guyana and increased its estimate of the discovered recoverable resource to approximately 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

The find adds to previous recoverable resource estimates which since 2015 have added millions of dollars to the Guyanese economy, as well as jobs.

But the oil discovery also revived the border dispute that was supposedly settled in 1899. Located west of the Essequibo River, the disputed region consists of 61,600 square miles. After the matter failed to be settled at the level of the United Nations, it was transferred over to the ICJ, much to Venezuela’s dismay. Venezuela wanted to continue with the U.N. arbitration.

In 2015, Venezuela issued an order that laid claim not only to the disputed region but to the exclusive economic zones of Colombia and nine Caribbean territories. The decree reasserted Venezuela’s sovereignty over Essequibo and its hundreds of millions of barrels of oil reserves.

In January, Maduro issued another presidential decree, this one establishing a new so-called “Atlantic facade” reasserting his nation’s claim to parts of Guyana’s maritime waters.

Phillips said Guyana remains confident that the ICJ will rule in its favor.

“Guyana has maintained its respect for that process and we have continued to support that process,” he said. “We believe that international law will finally be the mode to settle the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.”

Phillips said there is no telling when the ICJ will issue its ruling on the matter. But it has submitted all of its arguments and reports to the court and it is now for the court to go through its process and determine when they will rule.

Phillips said once the decision comes, Venezuela “will have to accept” it. He refuses to entertain the idea that the court could rule in favor of Venezuela.

“I’m very confident that the court is unlikely to rule against us, so I won’t even entertain the thought,” Phillips said.

For now, however, the turf war and the latest declaration by Venezuela’s government and political opposition are having an impact.

“The practical impact of not having a settled border is it will affect development, it will affect business in Guyana because many investors may not want to come and invest in an area that they consider to be in dispute,” Phillips said. “The whole of the Essequibo area is an area that is rich in oil, extracted minerals, diamonds, you just name it...It is in our interests that this controversy is finally settled so that oil investors feel comfortable that they are coming to invest in a country and this country has jurisdiction over all of its geographic space.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2021 5:17 PM.


Jacqueline Charles has reported on Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean for the Miami Herald for over a decade. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she was awarded a 2018 Maria Moors Cabot Prize — the most prestigious award for coverage of the Americas.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Translation:


portail--ie-fr.translate.goog
Vers une escalade militaire en mer des Caraïbes
3-4 minutes
Since the 19th century, territorial dissensions have existed between the cooperative republic of Guyana and Venezuela over the Guayana Esequiba region. The recent discovery of a vast oil field off the coast of the former British colony has further deteriorated relations between the two nations. However, the American presence and the oil major ExxonMobil risks deterring any attempt at military maneuver on the part of the Maduro government, which is already at odds with Washington.

When British Guiana became independent in 1966, a 19th century territorial dispute with Venezuela resurfaced over possession of the Guayana Esequiba region. Located west of the Essequibo River, this area was incorporated into the territory of the British colony when the borders were drawn in 1840, which has never been officially recognized by Caracas.

Today, it is on this pretext that a conflict could be about to break out against the background of the struggle for the appropriation of the oil discovered off the coast of Surinam and the former British colony. Indeed, this huge deposit ranked eleventh in the world with reserves estimated at 33 billion barrels has quickly become a source of greed for Venezuela and its national oil company PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela SA). Very quickly Caracas appropriated the maritime zone in defiance of international law and the decision of the International Court of Justice which should rule between 2023 and 2024 . In addition, the Venezuelan Navy has repeatedly engaged in maritime harassment operations. At the end of 2018, it notably intercepted two ships from the ExxonMobil company working in seismic exploration operations under the authorization of the Guyanese authorities.

But more recently, tensions escalated further when Nicolas Maduro called on January 8 on twitter for a “great effort of national unity” around the issue of Guyanese Essequibo which “historically belongs” to Venezuela. There followed a whole series of provocations, the latest of which , on January 24, concerned the capture of two new Guyanese fishing boats by Venezuela.

However, the prospect of an imminent war must be qualified insofar as the prospect of a rapprochement between the Guyanese government and the United States will considerably reverse the balance of power. All these provocations are also a way of testing the new Biden administration as to its degree of involvement in defending its oil interests in the region.

Evan Tirologos

For further :

- Guyanese oil, a potential opportunity for French energy security

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

nationnews.com
Guyana to continue challenging border dispute with Venezuela
Article by
3 minutes
Posted on February 9, 2022

Posted on February 9, 2022

Venezuela seeks bilateral talks with Guyana over border dispute - GP
GEORGETOWN – Guyana legislators have approved GUY$660 million for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to pay for legal fees in the country’s ongoing border dispute with Venezuela.

The matter is now before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and on Monday night the Committee of Supply approved the allocation outlined in the budget presented by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh.

During the budget debate, Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd gave assurance that the government will not rest in its efforts to preserve Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Todd said that Guyana has been making all efforts to submit the country’s memorial on the merits of its case by March 8.

Guyana moved to the ICJ with its case in March 2018, challenging the non-participating Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, over its disagreement on the legal validity and binding effect of the October 3, 1899 Award.

Venezuela has maintained that the ICJ was without jurisdiction to hear the case and had not participated in the matter.

However, by a 12-4 majority ruling, the ICJ upheld that it has jurisdiction to entertain Guyana’s contention concerning the validity of the 1899 Award about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela, and the related question of the definitive settlement of the land boundary.

The ICJ said this is in keeping with a recommendation with United Nations Secretary-General Mr António Guterres.

In January 2018, Guterres, acting within the authority bestowed upon him by the Geneva Agreement, chose adjudication by the Court as the final means for resolving the controversy.

The ICJ pointed out too, that both Guyana and Venezuela had agreed to the 1966 Geneva Agreement which showed that both parties had accepted the possibility of the controversy being resolved by means of judicial settlement.

Guyana maintains that a juridical settlement of this matter is the only recourse remaining as it has exhausted all other measures. (CMC)

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

williamwalker.substack.com
Guyana: Port in a geopolitical storm?
William Walker
4-5 minutes

The planned Q3 auction of offshore blocks in the Guyana Basin may become even more of an event with the geopolitical complications tumbling from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Peering into the future, projects in Asia, the Middle East and former Soviet satellite states will likely be increasingly complicated given what has been a cataclysmic disruption of the economic order in the past two weeks. As Lenin said decades can happen in days and we have seen the most extraordinary economic and financial blockade/isolation of Russia that will not be easily and quickly walked back. Even then both sides will be wary to enter into agreements that previously seemed impervious to political tensions. Above ground risk has been heightened and the withdrawal of several IOCs from Russia will likely result in a new caution over where to invest and who to partner with.

The attraction of the Guyana Basin is primarily geological, ticking all the right boxes: Numerous discoveries of light, low carbon crude in large and consistent reservoirs. Its possible 20B barrels are seen as the perfect product for the energy transition.

Moreover Guyana’s location -in America’s backyard and close to East Coast refineries - also makes investment here in a risk off world even more appealing. In many ways Guyana’s oil can be viewed as contributing to American energy independence what with ExxonMobil and Hess major partners in the prolific Stabroek Block.

Domestically, Guyana’s politics is not without risks but the current government is not under immediate threat of losing power, with elections not until 2025. It is also pursuing a highly accommodative policy of looking to develop the basin and monetize its resources aggressively. The fiscal terms are now being revised as part of a new model Production Sharing Agreement but even here Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has told investors not to be unduly alarmed as while it will mean more revenues to the government it will encourage accelerated development. The government has also promised to build regulatory capacity to ensure timely approvals of projects.

There is one area of risk, and that is the historic claims by Venezuela to a large portion of North Western Guyana and the related maritime area. This has in the past discouraged any exploration closer to the Venezuelan maritime border, with the Roraima block held by Occidental after its acquisition of Anadarko under a force majeure. Also an ExxonMobil-contracted seismic vessel was intercepted by the Venezuelan Coast Guard in 2018 and since then no more activity in that area has occurred. Guyana has brought the case to the International Court of Justice for a final resolution of what is a 120-year-old controversy. This will take some time and Venezuela has yet to recognise the court’s jurisdiction. However the threat of physical force to claim territory is seen as remote and American naval presence in the Caribbean sea would be a significant deterrent.

There are few details on the proposed auction but likely areas will be nearshore blocks and areas relinquished in existing licensed blocks as part of contract requirements. However, the jewel in the crown might be the deep water Block C, 9600 acres, that is north east of Stabroek, directly north of Canje block and next door to the Suriname maritime border.

Jagdeo has advised that some blocks may be reserved for a proposed national oil company although no firm decision has been made on this. In addition he suggested ExxonMobil might be precluded from bidding, presumably from a fear of too much dominance in the sector. This might be a mistake as the company has shown itself to be incredibly efficient in exploring and developing the Stabroek Block, with only five years from discovery to first oil. However there might be geopolitical considerations involved with Guyana in recent talks with Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Brazil has also been mentioned as a possible suitor.

Subscribe to Letters from Georgetown
Valuable monitoring and analysis of political and industry developments in the world's newest energy producer - Guyana!

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

 

[the next guy]

oh boy.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

military.com
With Unrest Next Door in Venezuela, Air Force Hopes to Make Strides in Guyana
Oriana Pawlyk
7-9 minutes
A detachment of U.S. airmen recently returned to the South American country of Guyana for the first time in a decade in an effort to shore up relationships amid growing tensions in neighboring Venezuela.

The four-month long New Horizons humanitarian outreach program, led by the Air Force, was meant to be a stepping-stone toward a prolonged relationship with the Guyana defense force. Air Force officials hope the service’s relationship with the Guyanese military remains strong, especially as Russia and China continue to encroach into southern hemisphere and political unrest in Venezuela shows no signs of subsiding.

"Guyana is going to become a larger player in this region, both economically and politically in the future, so it's important that we are closely tied with them," Maj. Gen. Andrew Croft, 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) commander, said in an interview.

"What we leave is an enduring, physical presence in addition to the partnerships that we build," he added, citing medical facilities and schools built in 1997 that are still used today.

Related content:

• Corps Hopes to Add South American Allies, Presence in Next Deployment
• LCS Expected to Deploy to Latin America This Year for Counter-Drug Mission
• US Aims to Expand Military Partnerships in South America

Roughly 600 service members participated in the project to construct community centers and a women's shelter in Guyana, on South America's northern coast.

Air Force and Army personnel, who worked in areas near port cities such as Port Mourant, New Amsterdam and Georgetown and in the countryside near Linden, also conducted several medical outreach and veterinary events that brought in 13,446 patients, according to officials who participated in the exercise.

That presence reminds local communities and government that the U.S. will be there, not only to help its citizens in future rotations, but also for emergency response.

Guyanese spectators sit at the handover ceremony for the village of Yarrowkabra community center during New Horizons exercise 2019 in the village of Yarrowkabra in Guyana, Aug. 5, 2019. The New Horizons exercise 2019 provides U.S. military members an opportunity to train for an overseas deployment and the logistical requirements it entails. The exercise promotes bilateral cooperation by providing opportunities for U.S. and partner nation military engineers, medical personnel and support staff to work and train side by side. (Derek Seifert/U.S. Air Force)
Guyana, third-smallest country on the continent, sits just east of Venezuela, which has endured political turmoil and economic hardship since 2010. Millions of Venezuelan refugees have migrated to neighboring countries since the onset of the crisis.

U.S. medical personnel treated some Venezuelans during the Medical Readiness Training Exercise (MEDRETE) event tied to the program, officials said.

"Guyana sits is in a strategic location on the north edge of South America and on the Caribbean," Croft said during a telephone interview from Guyana last week. "That's what makes it important. Also, as political change happens in the nation and they become more aligned with us, it's important for us to make those personal relationships not only through the embassy, but also through the military and the Guyana defense force, which is currently about 3,000 strong with the intent to nearly double it in the upcoming years."

The exercise, under U.S. Southern Command, concluded Aug. 22.

Intermediate exercises can act as an "insurance policy" against other conflicts, Croft said.

"It builds a foundation for the future so that we're not stuck in a situation that we're in the Middle East, where we're actually doing full-up combat operations," he said. "The more we can help them build rule of law, education and services functions, the more we can then help them build the foundation of a workforce."

China and Russia have made inroads in South America. For example, local citizens were operating off of a Huawei network to communicate. While the U.S. brings in its own communications, "You wonder about where all that data goes," Croft said.

The officials also noticed that the local bauxite mines, used to make aluminum, may soon be under new management as both Russia and China weigh investments or expand on operations already underway within the country's mining industry.

"Other folks will step into the breach if there is one or they'll fill a gap. So if we don't actively encourage U.S. commerce and U.S. interests, [it will] not only [happen] here, but in the other nations in this region," Croft said.

He added that his command often sees competing areas of interest. Partners of Air Forces Southern and SOUTHCOM would benefit from annual rotations, but the service "just doesn't have the bandwidth or the capacity to do that level of effort" for every participating country simultaneously, he said.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Caleb Baumcratz, security forces fire team member assigned to the 911th Airlift Wing, and Amanda Hedman, registered veterinary technician from World Vets, vaccinates a local goat during a Veterinary Medical Readiness Training Exercise during New Horizons exercise 2019 in Linden, Guyana, July 9, 2019. (Derek Seifert/U.S. Air Force)
Next year, the exercise will move to Honduras. Officials have already started planning it.

During the exercise, local conditions were sometimes a challenge. For example, supply delivery to remote areas wasn't always smooth, and equipment broke "over and over and over again," added Air Force Col. Kenneth Bratland, 346th Air Expeditionary Group commander. Bratland said the rainy season, which typically concludes in the early summer months, went long this year, posing a setback for quick construction.

"Fighting the weather and the rain and the water everywhere has been a physical challenge," he said.

The exercise cost roughly $8 million, according to Croft.

The program utilized local goods and supplies where it could, such as concrete, gravel, cinder blocks and roofing material, Bratland said, adding that the Guyana defense force's persistence made it work.

"We were extremely impressed the GDF's commitment to doing this," he said.

The two commanders have faith that the commitment will last.

"Those are the reasons why it's important that we still remain focused on this region, which, oh by the way, is closest to our shores as well. And you see the effects of things like illegal migration right now," Croft said.

Guyana's military force is looking to add personnel for efforts such as protecting oil fields, monitoring illegal fishing, counter-drug trafficking and border crossings, he said.

"If you don't pay attention to [these things], it becomes a military problem rapidly," Croft said.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

Show Full Article

© Copyright 2022 Military.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

guyanachronicle.com
Guyana, regional partners zero in on ‘threat to global peace’ with Ukraine-Russia crisis - Guyana Chronicle
By Staff Reporter
4-5 minutes
GUYANA has joined with numerous other partners in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The country is also exploring how that crisis may impact the stability of the Latin America and Caribbean and global peace, generally.

On Friday night, the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation announced that subject Minister Hugh Todd spoke with the Foreign Ministers of Colombia and Brazil to discuss the ongoing crisis.

These talks are part of a string of engagements Guyanese authorities have been holding with regional and international partners to discuss Russia’s actions. Already, Guyana has been participating in talks at the United Nations’ (UN) level.

Following the engagements on Friday, Colombia’s Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Marta Ramírez said that Guyana and Colombia discussed how the Ukraine- Russia crisis would impact the security of Europe and the stability of the Latin America and Caribbean region.

She said this via her official Twitter account, where she also noted that Guyana and Colombia will continue to engage the Organization of American States (OAS) and the UN, and support efforts at maintaining global peace and security.

Similarly, a tweet from Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also addressed Minister Todd’s engagement with Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Alberto Franco França.

According to the Brazilian Ministry, the two ministers reaffirmed their concern regarding the military operations in Ukraine. They also both agreed that the hostilities need to be suspended immediately and both parties should seek a diplomatic solution to their issues.

Smoke and flames rise during shelling near Kyiv, as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine on Saturday (Photo credit: CNN International)
On Saturday, Russian forces continued to attack Ukraine with citizens in the capital city, Kyiv, bracing for missile attacks from Russia.

Reuters reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces were repelling Russian troops advancing on Kyiv on Saturday, as Western nations announced they were shipping more weapons to help the country’s outgunned military.

Importantly, too, the United States of America (USA), Canada and key European countries, including Germany, have agreed to remove “selected Russian banks” from the Swift payment system, the countries announced on Saturday.

Swift, the UK Guardian noted, is the world’s main international payments network. Several countries have already expressed support for locking Russia out of the platform, and Germany, which had previously opposed the measure, lent its support earlier today.

While those countries rolled out more sanctions against Russia, Guyana joined several regional partners in a Declaration on “The situation in Ukraine” which noted countries’ alarm at Russia’s actions and condemned the aggression and hostilities.

The Declaration, inter alia, also reiterated the importance of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and of respect for the sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

This Declaration was presented to the OAS by the Permanent Missions of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahama, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the USA and Venezuela.

Though Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has signalled his support of Russia’s actions, it is important to note that the OAS has, however, recognised the envoy of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s official delegate to the group. This explains why Venezuela is part of the OAS Declaration.

The OAS was also among one of the first bodies to condemn Russia’s actions when the invasion first started on Thursday.

Later, the Government of Guyana and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) issued statements too. Those statements strongly condemned Russia’s actions and called for a return to global peace and security.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Expert: Maduro’s support for invasion of Ukraine a regional concern

Expert: Maduro’s support for invasion of Ukraine a regional concern
March 3, 2022

An international and public affairs expert says the recent pledge of support by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a regional concern.

A statement from the Kremlin on Tuesday claimed Maduro backed Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin via a telephone conversation.

The move by neighbouring Venezuela comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its seventh day yesterday.

Heavy attacks on cities have resulted in climbing civilian casualties and the evacuation of over six hundred thousand people.

Maduro also lashed out at destabilising actions by the US and NATO and raised concerns with what he described as a western campaign of lies and disinformation.

However, Dr Patsy Lewis, Director of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University, advised regional leaders to not only be on alert but also strategic in how they respond to the recent development.

In an interview with Guardian Media on Wednesday Lewis said, “The Caribbean has to be very careful how it relates to the big powers, we cannot give the United States any reason to be more interventionist in the region and to use geopolitical lens for their relationship with the Caribbean.”

On Tuesday, T&T permanent representative to the United Nations Ambassador Dennis Francis condemned Russia’s aggression towards the Ukraine, saying the conflict could have serious consequences on smaller states.

Meanwhile, Lewis explained why she believed the Venezuelan leader may have shot himself in the leg by holding discussions with Putin.

“I think its a mistake it’s a very short-sighted act on Maduro’s behalf, In 1979, the Grenada revolutionary government voted in favour of the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan and that sealed its fate in terms of the US’ hostility towards the revolution.

Guardian Media reached out to Foreign and Caricom affairs minister Dr Amery Browne for a response on Government’s position on the latest development.

Browne, who is in Belize for the Caricom Heads of Government meeting, said the matter involving Venezuela’s backing of Russia was one that had engaged the attention of leaders.

(By Guardian Media Newsroom)

 

[88m3]

Maduro wouldn't dare lol