By ret’d Rear Admiral Dr. Gary Best- At the outset, any analysis of the recent attack on soldiers of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF)- deployed in defence of our western border- by armed Venezuelan men, more specifically, any analysis of the attack on the nation state of Guyana by Venezuela must be situated within the illegal claim by Venezuela to two thirds (2/3) of Guyana’s sovereign territory, including its adjacent territorial sea and exclusive economic zone.
Apart from the fact that both Guyana and Venezuela are successor states of former colonial powers, Great Britain and Spain respectively, Venezuela became an antagonist state towards Guyana sixty-seven years (67) after accepting the border agreed to between itself and Great Britain in 1899.
To put its antagonism in perspective, readers are reminded that on the eve of Guyana’s independence, Venezuela began its illegal occupation of Guyana’s half of Ankoko island, situated in the Cuyuni river which demarcates the boundary between the two countries. It’s been one hundred and twenty-six (126) years since the 1899 Arbitration Award that defined the two boundaries. An award that is full final and perfect.
Importantly, it is fifty-nine (59) years and counting since Venezuela’s illegal occupation of a part of Guyana’s territory. This is no accident. This is a calculated plan that spanned various Venezuelan governments, whether capitalist, bolivarianist or socialist. Venezuela’s true intention is to capture two thirds of Guyana’s territory by using soft and hard power. Consequently, there is an escalation that even the warring boys in Miraflores must be themselves worried about.
Venezuela’s soft power’s plan to capture two thirds of Guyana’s territory
The Venezuelan attack on GDF Soldiers is nothing more than a Venezuelan action to capture Guyana’s territory through an escalation in the form of hard power as it contemplates its failed soft power approach. It is an attack on the nation state of Guyana.
To analyse this recent attack by Venezuela on Guyana as a localised domestic matter conducted by syndicatos/ criminals would be to ignore the obvious facts of its hegemonic behaviour and focus instead on Venezuela’s camouflage efforts of ‘good neighbour’ conduct and fall for yet another Venezuelan trap, a la Argyle Declaration. There is no doubt that Venezuela is wargaming its every move.
Venezuela’s soft power’s plan to capture two thirds of Guyana’s territory began with the Geneva Agreement of 1966 which it forged between itself, the UK and then dependent British Guiana. Article 1 of the Geneva Agreement provides for “… seeking satisfactory solutions for the practical settlement of the controversy between Venezuela and the United Kingdom which has arisen as the result of the Venezuelan contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899 about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela is null and void.”
From a ‘controversy’ between the United Kingdom and Venezuela, it migrated to one between Venezuela and an independent Guyana. In this succession matter, Guyana was left to face an antagonist Venezuela, save for Article IV which provides for the solution of the controversy, raised by Venezuela, to be determined by the Secretary General of the United Nations. This article checkmated Venezuela which inclusion is credited to LFS Burnham, Prime Minister of then British Guiana.
Its soft power against Guyana continued with failed attempts to bilaterally negotiate with a new border agreement; its consistent violation of international law; its reservation not to sign Article 15 of the Law of the Sea Convention which deals with “[d]elimitation of the territorial sea between States with opposite or adjacent coasts,” thereby not being bound by that provision of the Convention; its failed attempt to persuade Guyana to sign onto the 1979 Search and Rescue Convention (SAR) where under Article 2.1.4 “[e]ach search and rescue region shall be established by agreement among Parties concerned….”
Guyana’s territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone; Venezuela’s hard power action
Notably, Venezuela’s proposed search and rescue area of responsibility included Guyana’s entire exclusive economic zone with all of its oil deposits, its numerous decrees claiming Guyana’s territorial sea and exclusive economic zone. Its backdoor tactic was discovered, and Guyana did not sign onto the SAR convention. Add to this list, its Petrocaribe initiative which provided much needed petro-fuel and products to Guyana and other Caricom states.
Recently, Guyana has witnessed the ambivalence of many Caricom states to condemn Venezuela’s aggression towards Guyana. More embarrassingly, a small Caricom state appears to openly side with Venezuela’s aggressive approach to Guyana. All these Venezuelan soft power measures failed. Guyana, in response, filed with the International Court Justice (ICJ), the Venezuelan controversy over the 1899 Arbitral Award. And what was Venezuela’s reaction? The ‘peaceful Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’ stepped into hard power mode.
Hard power action began, with the persuasion, by some Petrocaribe states, for Guyana’s President, after Guyana had secured key provisional measures against Venezuela from the ICJ, to enter discussions with President Maduro and the eventual signing of the Argyle Declaration. A document of much less international value than an agreement. Of course, Venezuela knew that! Its objective was to have a bilateral discussion with Guyana whom it would later accuse of bad faith.
This was then followed by Venezuela’s referendum on Guyana’s sovereign Essequibo, the appointment of a Governor and a Military commander for Guyana Essequibo. All of which fly in the face of the Argyle Declaration and the provisional measures issued by the ICJ. This was also swiftly followed by a massive military buildup of Venezuelan military on the Guyana Venezuela border, unreported entry by Venezuelan naval vessels into Guyana offshore oil concessions, increased military deployment and a bridge to Ankoko island. Everything chronicled above points to a nation that cannot be trusted.
Venezuelan syndicatos/criminals fire at GDF soldiers
It is against this backdrop of consistent action by Venezuela to capture territory in Guyana and a GoG news blackout on details that we examine the recent attack on the GDF soldiers. Firstly, in light of Venezuelan massive military buildup along the Guyana border, how possible is it for Venezuelan syndicatos/criminals to dominate and operate in the Cuyuni river under the nose of its military?
How was it even possible for Venezuelan syndicatos/criminals to fire at GDF soldiers from the Venezuelan bank of the Cuyuni river under the nose of its military? Why would the Venezuelan syndicatos/criminal gang fire on GDF soldiers- knowing it is a force with superior power to find and eliminate them?
Additionally, who took the pictures of the GDF ranks? Who took the pictures of dead ‘so called’ syndicatos. Why the rush by Guyana media houses, the Guyana Police Force and the GoG to grab onto the Venezuelan syndicatos/criminals’ moniker and naming them the ‘bad actors’? These are all questions that could well be answered by a bi-partisan inquiry into the circumstances that led to the attack on our troops protecting our western border.
However, absent answers, the chronological facts laid out above do not point to a Venezuelan type syndicatos/criminal attack. In fact, the kaleidoscope and interrelatedness of events by Venezuela over the decades to capture Guyana’s territory point to another ruse and deliberate plan to further test Guyana with the eventual aim of forcing a land concession by Guyana or taking its territory by force.
Firing on GDF soldiers by Venezuelans makes this an international incident
Firing on the GDF soldiers by Venezuelans makes this an international incident. It is a violation of international law. It’s an affront to international law that requires positive state responsibility. The action by the Guyana Minister of Foreign Affairs in summoning Venezuela Ambassador and demand Venezuelan’s condemnation of this attack on Guyana’s sovereignty was swift. However, Venezuela’s accusatory response in blaming Guyana for the incident speaks to this writer’s conclusion that it’s not a syndicatos/criminal attack, rather it is squarely another Venezuelan attack on Guyana’s territorial integrity.
As to any land concession, Article 2 of the Guyana Constitution deeply entrenched the territory of Guyana. Any changes to the nation’s territory/borders can only be achieved by way of a national referendum.
As to the use of force by Venezuela, the GoG must promote continuous territorial integrity and defence discussions involving the opposition and wider society. In this context the GoG is reminded that the opposition is part of government and governance, while civil society’s participation is an expressed article under the Guyana constitution.
Even though the GDF is a relatively small defence force, it is necessary that it be better equipped in keeping with its mission which is to identify aggression and delay the enemy while GoG seeks international support to its troops and deterrence against the aggressor. Credit to the GDF soldiers, they fought back. However, the nation’s men and women serving on our borders must be the best equipped units in the GDF.
More importantly, Guyana has additional financial resources to adequately beef up its military to better defend its borders. Living frontiers, total national defence and defence in depth are solutions to increasing border defence. Our national intelligence units must probe and identify Venezuelan forward elements in Guyana and have them deported. A nation that puts all its resources, human and material, against an enemy puts itself in a position to win.
Failure of President to engage Leader of the Opposition
The fact that President Ali did not call in the Leader of the Opposition for a secure brief and to demonstrate tangible national unity on this territorial issue is another lost opportunity for a bipartisan outlook when it comes to the territorial integrity of Guyana. Notwithstanding, the Opposition has continually condemned Venezuela and expressed its commitment to national territorial defence.
This brinkmanship has left the Maduro administration in a political vortex whose escape seems to be calculated at even more escalation. After all, staying in power hinges on his calculus of winning by any and all means. Interestingly, Guyana has recently found renewed allies, albeit more military than diplomatic. But as the old foreign policy adage goes- in the practice of international relations there are no permanent friends or enemies only permanent interests. To this adage, the government of Guyana (GoG) must be cognizant and prescient in its duty to defend the nation’s borders.
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About the author
Rear Admiral (Rt’d) Dr Gary A R Best is a retired Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force and an Attorney at Law. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations (UWI), a Master’s Degree in Law (University of London) and a Master’s Degree in Global Studies (UWI), quite apart from studies in National Defence (National Defence University, USA); Governance (Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA); Climate Finance (Frankfurt School of Finance, Germany). Dr Best has presented several papers at tertiary institutions including the University of Havana, University of the West Indies, University of Guyana and the Australian National University. He has a published article, among others, titled “The Influence of Global Environmental Governance on Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy.” He currently lectures in Constitutional Law at the University of Guyana.
