- Guyana queries SVG PM, FM over image showing Essequibo in Venezuela
- Guyana talks with St Vincent after Venezuelan map controversy
Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd said Wednesday night that the Guyana government has received an explanation from St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves over his inclusion in a photograph with a map of Venezuela that includes Guyana’s Essequibo County.
Mr. Todd stated that the picture was shot in December 2022 at a joyous occasion, ahead of an expected official pronouncement from the Vincentian leader. “The photo is dated, and we are expecting clarity on the event itself,” Mr. Todd told Demerara Waves Online News.
Mr. Todd also stated that he spoke with Keisal Melissa Peters, the Foreign Affairs Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who is also seen.
According to reliable sources, the Guyana administration was informed that the Vincentian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister were ignorant that Guyana’s Essequibo County had been seized by its western Spanish-speaking neighbour.
The Guyana Foreign Minister stated that Dr. Gonsalves was expected to give a remark over the image, which has prompted Antigua and Barbuda’s Permanent Representative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), Guyana-born Ronald Sanders, to express his thoughts. Mr. Sanders stated on Wednesday that he believes the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is uninformed that the Venezuelan map shows the annexation of Essequibo.
“I’ve known and respected Dr. Ralph Gonsalves for over 40 years.” I’m not persuaded he was made aware of the image when he held up this map showing the Essequibo absorbed into Venezuela.
“The Ralph Gonsalves I know and respect would not consciously do such a one-sided thing while the world awaits the International Court of Justice’s decision on the Guyana-Venezuela controversy and while he, himself, is acting as CELAC’s honest broker,” Mr. Sanders stated.
Prime Minister Gonsalves is also the pro-tempore chairman of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which played a key role in brokering a peace declaration between Georgetown and Caracas on December 14.
Even after stepping down as CELAC Chairman, Dr. Gonsalves is identified in the Argyle Declaration as continuing as an interlocutor after his mandate expires. Brazil’s President Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ Da Silva, as well as the Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), are likely to pay careful attention to Guyana-Venezuela relations.
The Argyle Declaration was reached after weeks of rising tensions caused by Venezuela’s efforts to press its claim for the Essequibo Region and a return to bilateral talks rather than the International Court of Justice to resolve the validity of the land boundary between the two neighbouring South American countries.
Venezuela had positioned troops along its border with Guyana, and following the December 3 referendum, it proclaimed Essequibo a defensive zone and announced that its state oil and mining corporations would seek for hydrocarbons and gold. Mr. Maduro had also given enterprises that had been granted concessions in Guyana a three-month deadline to leave.
#HaceUnAño Muy emblemática imagen del PM de San Vicente y las Granadinas, rindiendo honores al Libertador Simón Bolívar con un Mapa de Venezuela que incluye nuestro Esequibo. #2Ene 2023 #MiMapa pic.twitter.com/yKfIDeNnyh
— Mi Mapa de Venezuela incluye nuestro Esequibo (@AntroCanal) January 2, 2024
