GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana government Wednesday night said it has received an explanation from the St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, regarding his appearance in a picture with the map of Venezuela that includes Guyana’s Essequibo County.
Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd told the Guyana-based online publication, Demerara Waves Online News that Georgetown has been informed that that picture was taken in December 2022 at a celebratory event.
“The photo is dated and we expect clarity on the event itself,” Todd said, adding that he had also spoken to his St. Vincent and the Grenadines counterpart, Keisal Melissa Peters, who also appeared in the photo.
Todd said that Prime Minister Gonsalves is expected to issue a statement about the image that became public after the Antigua and Barbuda’s Permanent Representative to the United States and the Organisation of American States (OAS), Sir Ronald Sanders, posted it on his Facebook page.
The Guyanese-born diplomat said he believes that Prime Minister Gonsalves was unaware that the Venezuelan map indicates the annexure of Essequibo region which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of the country’s 800,000 citizens.
“I have known and highly regarded Dr Ralph Gonsalves for over 40 years. I cannot be convinced that, when he held up this map, showing the Essequibo incorporated into Venezuela, he was made aware of the image.
“The Ralph Gonsalves, I know and respect, would not consciously do such a one-sided thing while the world awaits a decision on the Guyana-Venezuela controversy from the International Court of Justice, and while he, himself, is playing the role of CELAC’s honest broker,” Sir Ronald wrote.
Prime Minister Gonsalves, is also the Pro-Tempore Chairman of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that played a major role in getting Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and Guyana President Dr. Irfaan Ali to meet in Kingstown on December 14 last year.
The discussions were facilitated by Gonsalves and Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who is also the chairman of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Gonsalves and Skerrit, together with Celso Amorim, special adviser and personal envoy of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, acted as principal Interlocutors.
The meeting led to the Argyle Declaration easing the tension between the two countries over the ownership of the Essequibo region.
Speaking on a radio programme in Kingstown last month, Gonsalves said the leaders of Venezuela and Guyana returned to their respective countries following the talks feeling that they had won “important victories” in addressing issues related to the border dispute between their two countries.
Gonsalves said that Guyana, with its smaller population and military, should “sleep better” now that both sides have agreed not to use force or threaten to use force to settle the border dispute.
The Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela, said that the two countries agreed that “any controversies” between them would be resolved in accordance with international law, including the Geneva Agreement dated February 17, 1966.
Gonsalves noted that the joint document said that both Venezuela and Guyana agreed that under no circumstances would there be any violence used, no force used directly or indirectly.
“Now, that’s an amazing proclamation. That’s an amazing agreement,” he said, noting that the joint declaration further states that the controversies between the two states will be resolved in accordance with international law.
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