Guyana Youth must stand up to Venezuela
Dear Editor,
The Bolivian Republic of Venezuela should be Guyana’s friendly, helpful neighbor. He came out of the cradle of underdevelopment before us, and grew rich with the earth’s resources. But he also cultivated instincts of greed and power – and expanded to satisfy both.
Certainly, there are good people in Venezuela who disregard these motives; but there are powerful cabins that cling to them, alien though they are to the spirit of pan-Latin American cooperation and respecting the country’s national hero, Simon Bolivar.
For over a century and a half, Venezuela lived with its borders, including with Guyana, when they were colonial borders. Clearly, they could endure colonial boundaries, but not those of the true people of Guyana – our indigenous people, and the sons and daughters of the imperial years of slavery, and the indenture and labor of immigrants, molded into a young nation.
As we tried to exercise our right to self-determination in the 1960s – as colonialism collapsed worldwide – Venezuelan greed could not be contained. Under nationalist and even ‘cold war’ banners they laid siege to nearly three quarters of Guyana – an emerging baby neighbor. With an old conquistadorial adventure, they sought to exclude Guyana’s birth and birth right. They failed to disable us at birth due to the resistance of “mighty” Britain and “small” Guyana.
Guyana would be the territory within the boundaries of its Independence cradle unless, in the unlikely case, the world’s highest judicial body, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), would at some point rule that Guyana’s self-determination had been superseded.
But Venezuelan imperialist ambitions never liked the law. It was too pure for his indecency of territorial theft. And so it remains – only now amplified by the reality that “small” Guyana has the prospect of offshore oil resources. Venezuela’s territorial greed – like Nazi Germany’s policy of Lebensraum (seizure of Eastern European territory by force) – is now intensified by criminal enrichment.
The ICJ whom the Secretary-General of the United Nations has entrusted to resolve this invisible issue has ruled that this is the right place to do so.
That confirmation of the legal route has irritated poaching forces in Caracas that now threaten, in their raids, to further challenge international law, and the peace and security of the Caribbean region as they reach out in a maritime clutch against Guyana and beyond beyond it. . The Venezuelan President’s decree of January 7, 2021, with his proclamation of the so-called ‘Atlantic Face’ asserting sovereignty and exclusive sovereign rights to Venezuela in the waters and seabed off the coast of Guyana to the west of the Essequibo River, not only a violation of international law, it is also a blatant attempt to seize Guyana territory and maritime space.
We must not allow this to happen. Foremost in pressing for such opposition must be the younger people of this beloved country. Under no circumstances should we face any attempt to erode our nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Caribbean Community has already spoken out publicly against her, as have the United States and Canada. Having failed to silence the voice of global justice, shame should overwhelm Venezuela. Unfortunately, that’s unlikely. Therefore, the youth of Guyana must stand up now, and let Venezuela and the world know that we will defend our country’s rights – peacefully, and in accordance with the applicable rules of international law. We will not genuflect threats or unilateral, illegal statements by any party in Venezuela.
Correctly,
Thandi R. McAllister