Border dispute… Venezuelan NGO uses altered maps for impact

Sep 21, 2011 News

A long simmering border issue between Guyana and Venezuela has taken a twist, unofficially, with an online newspaper in Venezuela reporting that a non-state entity intends to distribute thousands of maps to schools showing Essequibo as part of that country.
According to Venezuela’s El Universal, the Geographic Institute of Venezuela, a non-governmental organization that has been agitating for the land, will be distributing the maps.
The report made reference to Guyana’s recent announcement that it has requested an extension of its continental shelf and the fact that the application has been placed before the United Nations.
However, another non-government group is also unhappy. Retired Colonel Pompeyo Torrealba, the director of the National Group to Rescue the Essequibo, is quoted in the report as saying that the application by Guyana is a violation of the Geneva Agreement.
“The Geneva Agreement provides for the presence of a Good Officer and Guyana’s strategy is very clear. They intend to ignore the agreement and not to abide by (the mediation of) the Good Officer,” Torrealba said.
The retired military officer said that Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez has been determined to defend Venezuela’s interests in this area.
“I hope that he has a firm attitude once again and that replies and protests be directed to the Good Officer, who is the appropriate authority to address these issues,” he added.
The Geneva Agreement, which was signed in 1966, provides that for purposes of settling the border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, the parties may use the mechanisms established under the Charter of the United Nations.
The two countries agreed to appoint a UN Good Officer and designated Jamaican economist Norman Girvan.
Guyana recently requested the United Nations to extend its continental shelf from 200 miles to 350 miles.
Sergio Rodríguez, the Deputy Minister for Territorial Administration and Land Use and Planning, Ministry of the Environment, stated that the United States wants to take over the disputed territory.
Yesterday, both the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, and Director General, Ambassador Elizabeth Harper were unavailable for comment, with the former out of the country at a United Nations forum.
However, a Foreign Ministry staffer (not speaking in an official capacity) opined that the Geographic Institute of Venezuela was not a government entity, thus the position may not necessarily reflect that of the neighbouring country.

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