Geopolitics and the Argyle Declaration

"We must choose dialogue over confrontation and peaceful settlement of disputes over unilateral acts of imposition."- Nguyen Phu Trong. We all have grown accustomed to read about conflicts in faraway lands. In fact, there are many of us in this part of the Hemisphere who were unaware that there was a conflict brewing between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo Region. The disputed Essequibo Region was at Caricom’s backdoor. However, we can all breathe a sigh of relief as both parties have indicated their willingness to a peaceful resolution. The Venezuelan Boundary Dispute officially began in 1841, when the Venezuelan Government protested alleged British encroachment on Venezuelan territory. In 1814, Great Britain had acquired British Guiana (now Guyana) by treaty with the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the treaty did not define a western boundary, the British then commissioned Robert Schomburgk, a surveyor and naturalist, to delineate that boundary. His 1835 survey resulted in what came to be known as the Schomburgk Line, a boundary that effectively claimed an additional 30,000 square miles for Guiana (now Guyana). Interestingly, the Essequibo region makes up two-thirds of Guyana. Geneva Agreement. The Geneva Agreement is an international treaty signed on February 17, 1966, between the governments of Guyana (formerly British Guiana) and Venezuela. The agreement was brokered by the United Nations to resolve a longstanding territorial dispute between the two countries. The main issue at stake was the border between Guyana and Venezuela, specifically the region known as the Essequibo. The border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela dates back to the colonial era. After gaining independence, Guyana in 1966 and Venezuela in 1811; both countries inherited conflicting territorial claims in the Essequibo region. CARICOM and CELAC Member States. Let us remind ourselves that Guyana is part of the regional bloc of the Caribbean Community commonly referred to as CARICOM. The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which was signed by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago in 1973. The Caribbean Community has three areas of activity: economic integration (that is, the Caribbean Common Market which replaces CARIFTA); cooperation in non-economic areas and the operation of certain common services; and coordination of foreign policies of independent member states. Astonishingly, there is no military assistance mentioned in any of the areas of cooperation among the 15 strong Caricom members. One can only imagine the economic, military and diplomatic devastation the annexation of Essequibo Region by Venezuela would have on the viability of Guyana in particular and Caricom and CELAC member states in general. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was launched in 2011 and represents a regional political coordination mechanism, which gathers all 33 Latin American including Venezuela and Caribbean countries in the region. The CELAC headquarters is in Santiago, Chile. The diplomatic fight over the Essequibo region has flared over the years but intensified in 2015 after ExxonMobil, one of the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies announced it had found vast amounts of oil off its coast. Venezuela then reactivated its claim to the territory thus triggering off an international conflict with Guyana. President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela rhetoric that the Essequibo Region belongs to Venezuela is as a result of gas and oil discoveries off Guyana’s coast. It is that simple. The longstanding border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela almost pulled the United States of America into yet another war given that Guyana's President Irfaan Ali invited the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean. We must also be mindful that the boundary dispute was inherited from the colonial powers (Spain in the case of Venezuela, and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in the case of Guyana) and has persisted following the independence of Venezuela and Guyana.

Argyle Declaration. It is important to contextualize events leading to the Argyle Declaration that was arrived at in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Venezuelans voted by a wide margin on Sunday, December 3, 2023 to approve the takeover of an oil-rich region in neighbouring Guyana the latest escalation in a long-running territorial dispute between the two countries, fueled by the recent discovery of vast offshore energy resources. The area in question, the densely forested Essequibo region is roughly the size of Florida. Although the referendum was symbolic and not recognized by the United Nations or the International Court of Justice (ICJ) it provided Venezuela’s president Maduro with some sense of false comfort and approval to move ahead with his sinister plans to incorporate the Essequibo Region as part of Venezuela. Interestingly, the International Court of Justice based in The Hague ruled that “Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute.” It plans to hold a trial in the spring on the issue, following years of review and decades of failed negotiations. However, Venezuela does not recognize the ICJ jurisdiction on the issue. The escalating rhetoric had prompted troop movements in the region. In fact many observers drew comparisons to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the annexation of The Crimean Peninsula. After weeks of intense and heightened tension between Guyana and Venezuela, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonzales played mediator and conveyed a meeting between the presidents of Guyana and Venezuela. Dr. Gonzales is currently in his fifth consecutive term as prime minister. An agreement was arrived at by the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela not to resort to force to settle a territorial dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region. The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela met on December 14. This led to the establishment of the non-binding Declaration of Dialogue and Peace of Argyle. The declaration noted that Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro agreed not to use force or escalate tensions over the border dispute. Among the notables attending the Declaration were Chairman of CARICOM, Roosevelt Skerritt, and observed by representatives of the President of Brazil, the UN Secretary General, the Office of the Secretary General and the Under Secretary General of the UN Department of Political and Peace Building Affairs. The Caribbean region has had its fair share of instability, the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021 and the subsequent political and social instability in Haiti. Let us not forget the attempted coup in Trinidad and Tobago in 1990 by the Jamaat al Muslimeen. Additionally, the overthrow of the government of Eric Gairy in Grenada in 1979 by the New Jewel Movement and led by Maurice Bishop clearly indicates that the time has come for Caricom to implement a rapid response military team to intervene in member states. Perhaps, the Maduro government miscalculated the end game of this self created conflict. There are those who argue that Maduro’s calculated move was done as a distraction to all the economic woes currently in Venezuela. In spite of all of the economic upheavals being experienced in this Latin America country, Venezuela, contains the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Venezuela’s economic crisis has been exacerbated by US sanctions imposed on its oil sales over the 2018 election of Mr Maduro. On the other hand, Guyana's economy is booming largely due to offshore oil reserves, and its output is expected to triple to more than 1.2 million barrels per day by 2027. It must be noted that presidential elections are due in Venezuela in 2024. These elections will be scrutinized closely by the international community. There will also be implications whether the US imposed sanctions are lifted. Undoubtedly, the Argyle Declaration can serve as a template to resolve other conflicts on geopolitical matters and national interest. The success of the Argyle Declaration speaks to the regional abilities within the Caribbean region to defuse conflicts and broker negotiated peaceful solutions. Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo © #EssequiboRegion #Guyana #Venezuela