Former President David Granger ascribed Venezuela’s unchanging claim to five of Guyana’s ten regions over the last six decades to the mindset of the men in Miraflores Palace − the Venezuelan Presidents’ office and residence.
Speaking on his weekly programme – The Public Interest − Mr. Granger explained that President Rómulo Betancourt initiated Venezuela’s current frontier strategy towards Guyana in 1962 when Venezuela was threatened by Cuban-backed Castroite guerilla insurgency. Venezuela had the largest US corporate investments in minerals and petroleum in South America at that time and US President John F. Kennedy’s visit there to launch the Alliance for Progress in December 1961 aimed at destroying Cuba’s influence and protecting US investments.
The former President related that Miraflores denounced the Arbitral Award of 1899 before the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation eleven months later in November 1962 during the PPP administration and nearly four years before Guyana’s Independence. Miraflores adopted a policy of bilateral negotiations thereby prolonging the controversy beyond the quelling of the Castro-ite insurgency. Miraflores still insists on bilateral dialogue reinforced by the ‘concept of globality’ which sought joint development of Guyana’s five regions by deploying commercial concessions on one hand and employing military aggression, on the other hand.
According to Granger, the centerpiece of Miraflores’ current foreign policy is the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas – ALBA – that derives its influence from concessionary supplies of petroleum which contribute about half of the central government’s income. Chavez’s pan-continental goal of uniting Latin America and the Caribbean now includes Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Nicaragua, St. Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. The diplomatic, economic and strategic consequences of the ‘Alliance’ have been to amplify members’ support for Venezuela and undermine their understanding of Guyana’s plight over the past twenty years.
Miraflores consequently and consistently pursued a policy of provocation from the presidency of Raúl Leoni who issued Decree No. 1.152 in July 1968 purporting to annex the coasts of the Barima-Waini and Pomeroon-Supenaam Regions, to Carlos Andrés Pérez who brazenly tried to bribe his way into gaining access to the Atlantic – salida al Atlantico – to the administrations of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, both of whom visited Georgetown.
Chávez, apart from offering favourable economic concessions, belligerently denounced Guyana’s plan to establish a satellite station in the Barima-Waini Region. Maduro issued Decrees Nos. 1.787, 1.859 and 4.415 purporting to appropriate portions of Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Violations of the air, land and sea spaces intensified with the seizure of the Teknik Perdana in October 2013, weeks after Maduro’s visit, and the interception of the Ramform Tethys in December 2018.
The former President asserted that Venezuela’s foreign policy towards Guyana was essentially unchanged over six decades and is not about to change. He recommended that Guyana should strengthen the deployment of its defence and militia forces to reinforce frontier villages where residents suffer harassment; strengthen its relations with international organisations; strengthen Parliamentary cooperation on foreign relations; and strengthen public education campaigns on the territorial controversy. Guyana should be eternally vigilant of the strategy and stratagems of the men in Miraflores.
