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CARICOM Heads want early resolution to Guyana/Venezuela Maritime dispute
By Gary Eleazar
The recently completed Heads of Government meeting of the Caribbean Community has called on Guyana and Venezuela to pursue the negotiations with greater expediency towards the conclusion of a maritime delimitation agreement.
The Guyana delegation during the 35th CARICOM Heads of Government conference in Antigua/Barbuda
The Heads made known their official position in an official communiqué issued at the conclusion of the confab held in Antigua.
Head of State, Donald Ramotar, led the Guyana delegation which included Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall among others,
The CARICOM Heads, following the conclusion of the regional confab, reiterated their firm support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana and for the unhindered economic and social development of all of Guyana.
They expressed their hope for an early resolution of the controversy which arose as a result of Venezuela’s contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899, which definitively settled the boundary between the two countries, is null and void.
The Heads of Government also expressed their concern over the lack of progress towards the consideration of options, within the context of international law, in delimiting the maritime boundary between Guyana and Venezuela as agreed by the Foreign Ministers following their meeting.
A committee was established following that meeting to explore options in resolving the Guyana and Venezuela maritime dispute over its delimitation but talks stalled when protests erupted in Venezuela over internal matters.
There has been no movement on the matter since.
Last October, a Venezuelan armed naval vessel, the ‘Yekuana’, was trailing the seismic vessel, the RV Teknik Perdana which was under contract with Anadarko.
Anadarko has a petroleum prospecting licence to search for hydrocarbons in the Roraima block offshore Guyana.
At the time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced that upon entry into Guyana’s territory the Venezuelan naval vessel obstructed the research vessel’s passage, and requested that they change course and stop surveying.
The Ministry reported that the crew of the RV Teknik Perdana explained to the crew of the Venezuelan vessel that they were conducting a multi-beam survey of the seafloor in Guyana’s exclusive economic zone. The Venezuelan crew however insisted that the vessel was doing such work in Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone and instructed that the vessel switch off its engines and shut down its seismic equipment.
Two hours later, the Venezuelan naval vessel ordered the RV Teknik Perdana, to travel at five knots in a westerly direction. The vessel was later instructed to increase its speed and given directions to sail to the island of Margarita in Venezuela.
“It was then clear that the vessel and its crew were not only being escorted out of Guyana’s waters, but was under arrest…These actions by the Venezuelan naval vessel are unprecedented in Guyana Venezuela relations.”
The ship’s Ukrainian captain was charged with violating Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone but allowed to leave with other crew members and the search for oil on Guyana’s part was halted until a resolution of the dispute as there is no assurance that another vessel attempting to conduct a survey in that location will not meet the same fate.
There is no formal maritime border in place with Venezuela hence the incident involving the Teknik Perdana.
Minister Rodrigues-Birkett had explained that Guyana maintains that the vessel was in Guyana’s Jurisdiction.
She said that under international maritime law, where there is no formal delimitation of the maritime border, a line can be drawn using equidistance.
“We drew our line and they drew their line,” said Rodrigues-Birkett.
She explained that where the confusion arises is that the border line drawn by Venezuela cuts across to Guyana’s coast.
Both parties, she said, starts the maritime border at the correct location but as the line is taken further out, the Venezuelan claim cuts across to Guyana’s coast.
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