IPS-English POLITICS: Venezuela Crosses Guyana's Border (Again)
 
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:15:46 -0800


 
Bert Wilkinson

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 19  (IPS)  - It has happened yet again and,
as on previous occasions, Guyana's government appeared clueless about
how to respond.

Late last week, about 40 Venezuelan soldiers led by an apparently
overenthusiastic general crossed into Guyana's border Cuyuni District
in the west and used high-powered C-4 explosives to blow two Guyanese-owned
gold mining river dredges out of the water on the first of a three-day
exercise allegedly aimed at expelling illegal miners from the area.


As news reached the capital 320 kilometres away towards the end of
the week, Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally hastily summoned new Venezuelan
Ambassador Dario Morandy to his ministry to explain his country's
action. Unsurprisingly, he met with a flat denial that the Venezuelan
military had taken any such action on the Guyana side, with Morandy
suggesting that nothing of the sort ever happened. 

But as he was interviewed by local and foreign media later in the
day, Morandy gave some clues about the Venezuelan attitude toward
its much weaker neighbour to the northeast, saying it had every right
to protect the environment from wildcat Guyanese, Colombian and Brazilian
miners who had been allegedly polluting the bordering Wenamu River.

The border is the river's centre line, but Army Chief Commodore Gary
Best said that teams rushed to the area at the weekend from the city
had confirmed ”in no uncertain terms” that the incident had taken
place in the nearby Cuyuni River well into Guyana. 

”Also, there was clear evidence that C-4 explosives were used. There
is no doubt about that,” said Best, who was recently appointed army
chief. 

The government said that last week's incursion was only the latest
in a series of disrespectful if not dismissive and carefree incursions
into Guyana's territory. On each occasion, the Guyanese response amounted
to nothing more than a statement of protest, leaving many Guyanese
wondering on any given day whether Venezuelan authorities will decide
to cross the border with their English-speaking neighbour. 

An editorial in the mainstream Stabroek News newspaper might have
put it best. It severely castigated the Bharrat Jagdeo administration
for its tortoise-like approach as it urged the government to internationalise
the incursion fully. 

”If it doesn't, then our neighbour will be emboldened and we will
be accorded even less respect than is the case now,” the paper, recounting
the numerous breaches in recent years. 

The latest incursion immediately brought back memories of last year's
murder of a Guyanese citizen by national guardsmen on the Guyana side.
As appears to be the pattern, Insanally said he had not heard a single
word from Caracas about the state of the investigation into that killing,
nor had he received any official report. This is in spite of repeated
official requests. 

For his part, Morandy told reporters that authorities had ordered
a three-day exercise to flush out illegal miners in the area and that
his country had a right to protect its resources. He had said that
heavy pumps used by miners were polluting and damaging rivers. Mercury
use was also affecting the river waters, he charged. 

”Nothing like this has happened. Nothing happened in the border area,
but in Venezuela. Venezuela has a right to protect the environment
of the area. That is what they are doing in this operation. We are
removing illegal miners. We are moving to protect the basin of the
Cuyuni and the Wenamu rivers. There was no incident. The entire area
is in Venezuela. Venezuela is protecting its natural resources. We
are not going to fight over this,” he said through an interpreter.


Boundary commissioners from the United States, Russia, Venezuela
and Britain demarcated the boundary line in 1899. Not a word about
Venezuelan dissatisfaction with the marker was heard until Venezuelan
commissioner Mallet Provost died in 1948. Writings he left behind
appear to suggest that Venezuela was cheated out of the western Essequibo
Region that comprises a full two-thirds of Guyana's land area of 215,000
square kilometres, where most of its foreign investment in gold, diamond
and timber is located. 

There were at least two United Nations-scripted temporary agreements
freezing the border row since the 1960s even as Venezuela moved to
occupy a border island in the weeks before Guyana's independence from
Britain in 1966. 

Since then, the United Nations has appointed a” good officer” to
act as a roaming mediator but the last one died earlier this year,
leaving the dispute in limbo with a replacement yet to be named. 

President Hugo Chavez has visited Guyana at least once and at the
last moment, cancelled his second appearance at the seat of the Caribbean
trade bloc in February when Central and South American leaders of
the Rio Group came to Guyana for a one-day summit. 

And while Morandy has made it clear the two are not going to spar
militarily over the latest incursion, Insanally said Guyana was shocked
at the use of force deployed by its neighbour and fellow South American
Community of Nations counterpart. 

”We are registering our profound concern,” said Insanally, noting
that Venezuela has not given the courtesy of an explanation regarding
the death of the Guyanese last year. ”This incident following that
deepens our concern. We are left to wonder: what is the state of our
relations? I would want to know why this kind of force was used,”
he said. 

Guyana's military is no match for Venezuela, whose president has
been buying up AK-47 rifles, new helicopter gunships, fighter aircraft
and other military equipment. In contrast, Guyana barely has 3,000
troops, no air force and nothing more than a few coast guard patrol
vessels. Diplomacy is its strongest weapon, but newspapers are already
attacking the administration for its reluctance to fire the only shot
it can so far. 

Last week's incident is part of the reason why Guyana has shied away
from buying its oil and petroleum supplies from Venezuela. Joseph
O'Lall, the former head of the national energy agency, has said that
Trinidad will continue to be the country's main supplier because it
is more trustworthy and has no territorial ambitions over Guyana.



*****
+ SURINAME-GUYANA: Maritime Settlement Sparks Oil Rush (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39358)
+ TRADE: Venezuelan Diamonds Under the Microscope (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39828)


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