Guyana: misión de la ONU se reúne con Granger para discutir sobre el conflicto territorial con Venezuela
UN mission holds discussions with President Granger
A day after visiting the area in question, the United Nations (UN) Mission, dispatched by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Guyana, met with President David Granger, along with Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge and Minister of State Joseph Harmon on Monday where a discussion on Government’s position on the border controversy was held.
The UN Mission team which also included United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Representative, Khadija Musa included Chief Americas Division in the Department of Political Affairs, Martha Doggett; Political Affairs Officer Marylene Smeets; Legal Officer from the UN Office of Legal Affairs Diana Taratukhina; and Senior Mediation Expert from the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, Sven Koopmans.
Head of the delegation Martha Doggett said the team has come to Guyana to be informed of Government’s views on the next steps so that it could in turn advise the Secretary General of the United Nations, who will then speak to the Presidents and craft a way forward.
While the team is yet to visit Venezuela, Doggett said that the UN has had a number of exchanges with both parties in New York and at the recently concluded Caribbean Community (Caricom) Heads of Government Meeting in Barbados.
At that meeting, President Granger stated that the Good Officer Process and the Geneva Convention which have been utilised in the past, has been exhausted and a better approach is needed to end Venezuela’s aggression, with regard to Guyana’s sovereign territory.
On Sunday the team visited the Essequibo Coast and River, as part of its preparations for consultations today. Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge in an invited comment told Guyana Times on Sunday that the team, headed by Martha Doggett, visited the locations on Sunday, along with the Maburama and Waini regions. According to the Minister, the officials saw that the area was not an “empty expanse of river and land”, but that they have been occupied and utilised since the 19th century.
According to Greenidge, while Guyana’s job is not to argue with the team about what really belongs to Guyana, Government has facilitated the officials and will be cooperating in every possible way. It is their job; he said, to deal with the issue. The team has also indicated that it will be visiting the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as part of the consultative process.
Venezuela recently began moving throughout the Caribbean seeking out solidarity from the Caricom member states on its claims over the Essequibo. This has not gone down quite too well, as every member country, including its Chair Freundel Stuart of Barbados reiterated Caricom’s deepening and unwavering support to Guyana and the position it holds.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro issued a decree ratifying maritime sovereignty over waters within a 200-mile range, including the entire Atlantic Ocean off the Essequibo Coast, as well as part of Suriname’s maritime territory.
This decree sparked a nationwide debate regarding the matter, with various regional bodies and nations calling for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Guyana insiste en que la Caricom le reiteró su apoyo
El intento de Venezuela para que los países del Caribe se solidarizaran con su posición sobre el territorio del Esequibo fue infructuoso, pues la Comunidad del Caribe reiteró su apoyo inquebrantable a Guyana, reportó el diario Guyana Times .
El canciller de Guyana, Carl Greenidge, declaró al medio: «Venezuela recientemente comenzó a moverse por todo el Caribe en la búsqueda de solidaridad de los Estados de la Caricom, pero no lo logró… Su búsqueda por mayor apoyo no ha salido bastante bien, ya que todos los países miembros, incluido su presidente, Freundel Stuart, de Barbados, reiteró el respaldo profundo e inquebrantable de la Caricom a Guyana y la posición que ocupa».
El diario también reseñó que la misión de la Organización de Naciones Unidas que se encuentra en Guyana para tratar la disputa territorial vendrá próximamente a Venezuela. Aunque no precisó fecha.
La misión enviada por el secretario general de la ONU, Ban Ki-moon, y encabezada por la encargada de las Américas de Asuntos Políticos de Naciones Unidas, Martha Doggett, estuvo el domingo en la costa del Esequibo y el río, como parte de sus preparativos para las reuniones con las autoridades guyanesas, informó Greenidge. Afirmó que los funcionarios vieron que la zona no era una «extensión vacía del río y de la tierra», pero que han sido ocupadas y utilizadas desde el siglo XIX.
El canciller aseguró que aunque el trabajo de Guyana no es argumentar ante la misión sobre el territorio que les pertenece o no, el gobierno les ha facilitado toda la información necesaria para tratar el tema.
Aunque aún se desconocen los detalles de la reunión con las autoridades guyanesas, la misión indicó que estará en el país vecino hasta mañana.
El gobierno de Guyana reiteró el sábado su posición de llevar la disputa territorial a la Corte Penal Internacional. En un comunicado informó sobre la llegada de la comisión de la ONU a esa nación y expresó que «el gobierno de Guyana será el anfitrión de una Misión de Naciones Unidas para discutir las opciones en virtud del Acuerdo de Ginebra para solucionar el reclamo de Venezuela referido a que el Laudo Arbitral de 1899 es nulo».
