‘Maduro is no fool’

As Venezuela and Guyana spar over the mineral-rich Essequibo region, a senior Guyanese politician has suggested that any escalation to war between South American neighbours would see the United States and the United Kingdom coming out as the biggest beneficiaries.

Earlier this year, Nicolás Maduro reinvigorated a long-standing dispute over the Essequibo, claiming it as Venezuelan territory. The Essequibo region makes up about two-thirds of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of the country’s 800,000 citizens.

Amid heightening tensions, Britain, Guyana’s former coloniser, deployed a patrol vessel to Guyana last Friday in a show of support. Venezuela began military exercises a day earlier near its border with Guyana as the vessel neared.

Last week’s events have escalated tensions, which many had hoped were being kept in check following a meeting three weeks ago in St Vincent and the Grenadines, where Venezuela’s Maduro and Guyana’s Irfaan Ali committed to further dialogue and no use of force in settling the dispute among other things under the Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace.

Sunday Gleaner sources in Venezuela’s said that country’s aggression towards Guyana “is because Venezuela has information that there was digging into its underground wells in its exclusive economic zone”, adding that the information was gleaned from surveillance.

“Maduro is no fool. This is not about oil or annex. This is about imperialists states, including the US and others, which they support such as UK and Canada and others in Latin America, seeking a route to invade Venezuela and overthrow our president,” said the highly placed source.

On Friday, Gerald Pereira, a pan-Africanist and Guyanese small party leader, expressed similar sentiments, pointing to outside powers and influence.

“It makes absolutely no sense for Venezuela to be seeking a war with Guyana over the issue,” Pereira, leader of the Organization for the Victory of the People, told The Sunday Gleaner.

“Only two countries stand to benefit from any hostilities – the United States and Britain. First, the United States is already here through Exxon and affiliated companies, raping and robbing the resources. Britain and the USA want Maduro out of Venezuela and one way to do that is to provoke a war and give themselves a reason to invade Venezuela,” he suggested. “This is not about Essequibo. It is about the continuation of imperialism, and the plantation control or divide and rule.”

According to him, Guyanese politicians were beholden to interests in the US and the UK and neither country wants peace as it would defeat their plan to invade Venezuela.

Pereira claimed that under former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who died recently, Venezuela, with a US-supported regime, was being urged to invade Guyana.

“Now, the tables have turned with the USA now on Guyana’s side as Venezuela now has an anti-imperialist government, and everyone wants a war. We seem to forget the Kissinger doctrine that the USA has no permanent friends nor permanent enemies, but permanent interests,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “If a right-wing government takes control of Venezuela tomorrow and Maduro was out of power, this territorial control issue will go back to sleep. This territorial squabble has been used by imperialist states when it suits them over the years.”

Pereira scoffed at British Foreign Secretary David Cameron’s announced visit to Guyana, saying it was ironic that he wanted “people to believe they are coming to defend Amerindians and black people in Guyana”.

The leader of the opposition minority party charged that neither Cameron nor the UK had any respect for the Argyle agreement brokered by CARICOM.

“Explain to me why would regional leaders meet in St Vincent and the Grenadines, hammer out an agreement, and days after, the UK announced it is sending a warship to the border? It is a clear disrespect of the CARICOM leaders, and if we are not careful we could see an invasion of Venezuela right before our eyes, much like the US invasion of Grenada,” he said.

Cameron had welcomed the Argyle Declaration in a post on X. The former British prime minister said that “it must be followed by concrete actions” and that London “supports efforts by the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves to promote peace in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Sovereign borders must be respected,” he added.

The border dispute has divided the Guyanese, with issues of race and class featuring in the debates.

The tension has boiled over in the National Assembly with government ministers put to the sword since the Argyle agreement. Opposition members believe the country has not been told the full truth about the meeting with the CARICOM leaders.

Member of Parliament David Patterson saw his motion for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder task force to address all aspects of the contentious issue rejected by House Speaker Manzoor Nadir.

Patterson told The Sunday Gleaner that the Argyle agreement only provided “temporary relief from Venezuela’s aggressive position and the Alliance for Change (AFC) views this as an opportunity for Guyana to be better prepared through all avenues to manage the likelihood of a border crisis”.

Although his motion was dismissed, Patterson said the AFC “intends to advocate through varying platforms that a threat of Guyana’s sovereignty is not limited to the ruling party’s political action, but [that] a crisis that threatens Guyana’s borders must involve all stakeholders in the network governance system”.

That body, he said, should comprise MPs on both sides and from all professions and various skill sets, along with diplomats, military, police, and citizenry representation through focus groups and international institutions.

A Guyanese lawyer told The Sunday Gleaner that while there is worry among citizens that the tension could lead to violence, “there is a deep sense of patriotism and trust in the legal process that international law will prevail”.

“People are naturally worried because I don’t think in modern history our people have had to deal with such an issue before. The Guyanese people are nice and loving and get on well with their neighbours. We used to be allies under the (Hugo) Chávez government, but that deteriorated under Maduro and worsened after Guyana’s relations strengthened with Exxon – the American-owned oil extractor … ,” the attorney said.

She noted that it was ironic “that the rice produced in this region was the subject of an exchange for oil under the PetroCaribe agreement between Guyana and Venezuela a few years ago”.

Guyana has also taken nearly 30,000 Venezuelan refugees and migrants fleeing their sanction-hit country.

“Essequibo is the most research-rich part of Guyana – bauxite mining, timber harvesting, gold, and diamond mining. If this area is annexed, Guyana’s GDP (gross domestic product) would plummet dramatically, as most foreign earnings come from this region,” she said.

 

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com