Error or no error, the stakes are too high for Prime Minister Gonsalves’ mistake to be acceptable

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves must do the decent thing and remove himself forthwith from the long-term position as interlocutor of the Argyle Agreement dated 14^th December 2023, an agreement that aims to navigate relationship between Guyana and Venezuela that this country shares a border controversy.

This nation must not accept Gonsalves holding a map of Venezuela that includes Essequibo was a mistake, according to him. Neither must this nation accept Bharrat Jagdeo explanation that he accepts Gonsalves’ excuse because he, Jagdeo, was photographed with a “drug lord.” That Jagdeo, as a national leader, was photographed with such a character does not make Gonsalves’ act acceptable.  It’s an egregious error.

Jagdeo’s explanation is not only one of false equivalency but serves as further confirmation of the flippancy with which the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) continues to treat this grave border issue. From being misled by President Irfaan Ali, who before leaving for St. Vincent and The Grenadines told this nation there will be no talks on the border controversy with Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro, then signing an Agreement with Maduro that in part addresses the controversy as a “dispute” which is a departure of the language in the Geneva Agreement, to now witness Gonsalves with a map that annexed Essequibo to Venezuela, we must ask what next.

This nation has not forgotten it was Jagdeo who said the PPP was exploring ways to resolve the border controversy with Venezuela through extrajudicial means, one of which he said was giving Venezuela “a channel to the sea” which means ceding our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) already established by international law.

Lest we forget or are unaware, Venezuela is not a landlocked country, it is bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Both Guyana and Venezuela share coastlines to the Atlantic.

And whereas Jagdeo is not unknown for lawlessness and giving protection to the lawless, borne out by evidence with Guyana being a major drug transshipment port and ranked the most corrupt English-speaking country on his watch, being photographed with “a drug lord” is not the same as a Head of Government of another nation, holding a map that shows Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity compromised.  We must be very concerned, Gonsalves, who has appointed himself interlocutor for life, has the potential to commit more egregious errors to this nation’s detriment. How can one overlook this as a mistake without taking into consideration the relationship between Gonsalves’ government and Madura’s.

President Irfaan Ali government is called on to rethink its position on the continued presence of Gonsalves as interlocutor. All Guyanese must demand he removes himself for he is a clear and present threat to our territorial integrity. We must further review the section of the Argyle agreement that states:

“Both States agreed that Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves, the Pro-Tempore President of CELAC, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, the incumbent CARICOM Chairman, and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil will remain seized of the matter as Interlocutors and the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres as Observer, with the ongoing concurrence of Presidents Irfaan Ali and Nicolas Maduro. For the avoidance of doubt, Prime Minister Gonsalves’ role will continue even after Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ceases to be the Pro-Tempore President of CELAC, within the framework of the CELAC Troika plus one; and Prime Minister Skerrit’s role will continue as a member of the CARICOM Bureau.”

What this section says to us is that this matter has been placed in the hands of individuals not institutions which is considered very dangerous. For while the institutions can be held accountable these men in their personal capacity cannot be.  If tomorrow they no longer hold their positions, why must they remain involved and not the institutions, when it is their offices that gave them entre into the matter?

Error or no error, the stakes are too high to permit the presumed mistake of Gonsalves, to think it is even possible. He was not careful enough. He had a right to know what he was holding up, what it represented. He is a regional leader, he had a right to ask and make the appropriate decision, which was to excuse himself from that photograph. Holding a photograph that violates the sovereignty of his CARICOM sister country to us must be seen as sacrilegious. There must be no compromise.