Ankoko Island

Oct 25, 2015 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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“The Venezuelan National Armed Forces seized the 7-km² Ankoko Island in the Cuyuni River in October 1966, Guyana’s independence year, and has remained in illegal occupation ever since. The island is used as a military garrison to harass miners and to engage in occasional acts of provocation against the Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) border detachment at Eteringbang on the opposite bank of the river.”- President David Granger, October 22, 2015.
Before President David Granger in his address to Parliament on October 2, 2015, mentioned the seizure of Ankoko Island by Venezuela in October 1966, many Guyanese were unaware that for 49 years Venezuela has illegally occupied Guyana’s territory. The eastern half of Ankoko Island, situated at the confluence of the Cuyuni and Wenamu Rivers, which forms part of the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela, was taken over by the Venezuelan Army in 1966. The Venezuelans constructed a military base an airstrip and a Post Office and brought in civilian settlers.
On the morning of October 14, 1966, Forbes Burnham, as Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs of Guyana, dispatched a strong protest to the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Ignacio Iribarren Borges, and demanded the withdrawal of Venezuelan troops and the removal of installations they had set up on Guyana’s territory.
Shortly after, Burnham called in the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, to brief him on the situation. Later that morning, in a radio broadcast Burnham informed Guyanese of the developments, urging them to remain calm. He added that every step was being taken “to retain our territorial sovereignty by peaceful means.”
For most of the last four decades, the government of Guyana has been silent on the matter of Ankoko Island. The Arbitral Award of 1899, which settled the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela, stated clearly that the boundary should run “along the midstream of the Acaribisi to the Cuyuni, and thence along the northern bank of the Cuyuni River westward to its junction with the Wenamu to its westernmost source. . . .” At the junction referred is the island of Ankoko with an area of roughly six square miles.
In connecting the boundary from the north bank of the Cuyuni to the midstream of the Wenamu, the Mixed Venezuelan-British Boundary Commissioners drew a line passing through the island and dividing it from north to south in roughly equal parts. The eastern part of about three square miles falling on the British Guiana (Guyana) side of the boundary and the western part falling on the Venezuelan side. A boundary map showing these details was signed on  January 7, 1905 by the Boundary Commissioners, Harry Innis Perkins and Charles Wilgress Anderson of Great Britain and Abraham Tirado and Elias Zoro of Venezuela.
Ever since the completion of the work of the Boundary Commission, the eastern part of Ankoko was recognised as juridically and administratively part of Guyana and totally within its boundaries. The Venezuelan Government had never before challenged the validity oraccuracy of the map produced by the Boundary Commissioners and had at no time asserted sovereignty over the entire island of Ankoko.
The boundary of Ankoko as shown on the 1905 map was indeed reproduced on Venezuelan maps published in 1911 and 1917; the former having been issued under the express authority of the administration of General Gomez, then President of Venezuela, and signed by F. Alicantara, the Venezuelan Minister of Internal Affairs.
But the most convincing demonstration of the degree to which the 1905 delimitation had at all times before been accepted by Venezuela was shown on December 13, 1965 when the Legislative Assembly of the State of Bolivar formally acknowledged that the eastern part of Ankoko Island was in fact Guyanese territory.
The State of Bolivar, a constituent State of the Republic of Venezuela, forms part of that country’s boundary with Guyana in the vicinity of Ankoko Island. An Extraordinary Gazette of the State of Bolivar on January 3, 1966 published the relevant portion of the law passed by the Legislative Assembly which declared the boundary with Guyana to be:
“. . . .down the River Acarabisi to its mouth with the Cuyuni and from this point upstream along the River Cuyuni on its left bank as far as the Island of Anacoco, where running from north to south it divides it into two portions, the western portion belonging to the State of Bolivar and the eastern to British Guiana; from the southern terminal of this line on the above mentioned Island of Anacoco it follows the left bank of the River Wenamo. . . .”
Attack on Eteringbang
After Venezuela’s occupation in late 1966 there was a period of relative calm as Guyana challenged the occupation through diplomatic channels. But on February 21, 1970, two days before Guyana was proclaimed a Republic, Venezuelan soldiers on Ankoko opened fire with guns and mortars on the Guyanese military outpost at Eteringbang. The firing continued intermittently throughout the next day, but there were no reports of injuries even though buildings were damaged.
On February 22, Guyana’s Minister of State Shridath Ramphal made a verbal protest on these incidents to the Venezuelan Ambassador in Georgetown. Later that evening the Ministry of External Affairs delivered a note to the Venezuelan Embassy protesting in the strongest terms these recent attacks on Guyana’s territorial integrity, and calling upon the Government of Venezuela to provide adequate compensation for the damage done.
The information about the attack on the Guyana outpost was soon after brought to the attention of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, following the delivery of another protest note to the Venezuelan Government. In response, Venezuela denied opening fire, and argued that its military forces had no interest in doing so. Despite these protests, intermittent firing by the Venezuelans into Guyanese territory continued on February 24, 1970.
We must continue to educate our citizens about Venezuela’s provocations and aggression towards Guyana. We must never forget that the eastern half of Ankoko Island belongs to Guyana.

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