Guyana Parliament debating border dispute

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The National Assembly will meet on Monday to debate a motion being proposed by  Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Hugh Todd, on the border dispute with Venezuela.

The 65-member legislature was originally due to have met last Friday to debate the motion after Caracas announced plans to hold a “Consultative Referendum” on December 3 this year.

One of the question being proposed by Caracas “proposes the creation of Venezuelan state of Guyana Essequibo and an accelerated plan for giving Venezuelan citizenship and identity cards to the Guyanese population”.

Referred to the Arbitrators, and in 1905 signed the Agreement with regard to the Map of the Boundary which outlined the boundary and accepted the coordinates  thereof;

“AND WHEREAS, for over six decades, the boundary was internationally recognized, accepted and respected by Venezuela, Guyana and the international community as being the land boundary between the two States;

“AND WHEREAS the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela arbitrarily and unilaterally  sought, from 1962, to challenge and impugn the 1899 Arbitral Award, thus, giving rise  to a controversy over the validity of the Award,” the motion reads in part, Georgetown is asking its legislators to “affirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State of the Cooperative  Republic of Guyana”.

The motion also calls for the legislators to denounce “as provocative, unlawful, void, and of no international legal effect,  the purported referendum in Venezuela that is scheduled for December 3,  2023”.

They are also to support “the Government in its pursuit to ensure a peaceful and lawful  resolution of the controversy before the International Court of Justice and  rejects the proposal to return to any form of dialogue with Venezuela on the  controversy outside of the The motion also “calls for the deepening of engagements among all national stakeholders on  issues relating to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Cooperative  Republic of Guyana, particularly within the context of the meetings of the  bipartisan Ministerial Advisory Committee on the Guyana/Venezuela  Controversy”.

It also encourages the citizens of Guyana to “remain fully engaged on developments  surrounding the controversy” and expresses “appreciation to the partners and friends of the Cooperative  Republic of Guyana for their support and expressions of affirmation of the  sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana”.

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