Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, will meet with Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela on Saturday to discuss the border issue with Guyana.
“I won’t answer your question about going to Venezuela to discuss this. I’ll just tell you that I am going to Venezuela,” Gonsalves told a Friday news conference, adding that the Georgetown-Caracas border dispute “is one that bothers me deeply.
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“I just want to see the principles of international law followed, that there be peace and no use or threat of force in this particular controversy,” said Gonsalves, a staunch Venezuelan ally.
“As Guyana pursues its case before the International Court of Justice, I am hopeful that both sides will still have a conversation, if not on the border controversy, but on other matters, including respect for international law, the principles of international law, and no force or threat of force,” Gonsalves said, noting that both countries are neighbours.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced concern at the recent escalation of tension between Guyana and Venezuela, saying he hopes all sides “will demonstrate good faith and avoid any action that would aggravate or extend the controversy”.
Venezuela accused President Irfaan Ali of continuing to “refuse to engage in direct dialogue” with Guyana on the border issue on Wednesday. Guyana denied the claim.
“The Foreign Ministry is unaware. Venezuela’s traditional strategy is to mislead and divide the region, and I think they’re failing at that, Foreign Minister Hugh Todd said in reaction to Caracas’ official statement. Todd claimed Caracas was spreading its usual propaganda, “This is what Caracas is engaging in—a lot of misinformation and a lot of propaganda, and this is for their local consumption to build momentum around their so-called referendum that they’re planning on December 3”.
He urged Caracas to pay attention to the National Assembly’s Monday motion denouncing the referendum on Guyana’s Essequibo County annexation and non-participation in the International Court of Justice’s adjudication of Guyana’s case on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award on the land boundary between the two countries.
The Venezuelan statement comes less than 48 hours after the Guyana parliament, in a rare show of national unity, rejected Venezuela’s claims to the mineral- and forest-rich county of Essequibo in a referendum on December 3. Both government and opposition legislators denounced Caracas’ move.
Guyana has requested the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prohibit Venezuela’s requests for popular votes to back the South American government’s refusal to recognise the ICJ to resolve the decades-old border dispute.
The Guyana administration has accused Venezuela of trying to seize parts of the country in violation of international law, citing its scheduled referendum and approved questions for later this year.
The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Organisation of American States (OAS) have also rejected the referendum, arguing that international law prohibits one state from unilaterally seizing, annexing, or incorporating another state’s territory.
At his news conference, Gonsalves called the situation in Gaza “entirely unacceptable” after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing dozens on both sides.
Gonsalves stated St. Vincent and the Grenadines agrees with the UN Secretary-General that Gaza is a graveyard for Palestinian children.
Even if Israel established a right to self-defense in response to what transpired with Hamas on October 7, it cannot be disproportionate.
“Self-defense cannot include revenge, genocide, or collective punishment.”
The UN and competent bodies that examine these problems have declared these activities illegal under international humanitarian and human rights law, according to Gonsalves.
Gonsalves said Kingstown endorsed the humanitarian truce resolution at the UN General Assembly a few weeks ago.
“In fact, the initial resolution that we co-sponsored—only Belize and St. Vincent and the Grenadines did the co-sponsoring—was voted for by all CARICOM countries except Haiti, which abstained, and Jamaica, which did not vote.”
The proposal was reworded from a “cease fire” to a “humanitarian truce,” according to Gonsalves.
The prime minister claimed 120 countries voted for it, 14 opposed it, including the US, and 40 abstained, including most of America’s allies in Europe and beyond.
A time has arrived when the world community must speak out. He used “a simple parallel” in the domestic context to illustrate, saying it would be inappropriate to slice off a hand or shoot someone who boxed you in the chest with a cutlass or rifle.
“And I then can’t say because you box me in my chest, go and hunt down your whole family,” Gonsalves added.
Everything is not equal between the domestic and the international, but an analogy, while not the best, is possible.
