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Venezuela Venezuela and Guyana
Over the years, Venezuela's claim to the Essequibo
region of
Guyana has been a much more bitter issue than the maritime
dispute with Colombia. Historical and cultural
dissimilarities
between Venezuela and Guyana explained this to some
extent.
Formerly British Guiana, Guyana represented for Venezuela
the
unfair intrusion of an extrahemispheric colonial power
into the
Caribbean region. Originally settled by the Dutch, the
Essequibo
region was claimed by the Spanish, seized by the British,
and
subsequently restored to the Netherlands by France.
Britain
finally took firm possession in 1803 during the Napoleonic
Wars.
After achieving independence from Spain, the Republic of
Gran
Colombia, and later Venezuela, petitioned Britain for a
resolution of the border question. The Venezuelans held
that the
Essequibo River should mark their eastern boundary; the
British
favored the mouth of the Orinoco in the Quiana highlands
at the
Brazilian border as the demarcation point. Negotiations
failed to
achieve a compromise. A protracted period of proposals,
threats,
and brief skirmishes, yielded in 1897 to international
arbitration, a step strongly urged on the British by the
United
States.
The final decision of the arbitral tribunal awarded
Punta
Barima and the mouth of the Orinoco to Venezuela, but
granted the
vast majority of the Essequibo territory to Britain. The
Venezuelan representatives, claiming that Britain had
unduly
influenced the decision of the Russian member of the
tribunal,
protested the outcome. As a poor country with
comparatively
limited military capabilities, Venezuela could not press
its
claim against the British empire by force of arms.
Periodic
protests, therefore, were confined to the domestic
political
arena and international diplomatic forums.
In 1962 Caracas began to make more forceful efforts to
resolve the Essequibo dispute. Britain agreed in November
to hold
tripartite negotiations, including representatives of
British
Guiana, which would review the record of the 1899
arbitration.
After numerous ministerial conferences, the parties agreed
to
procedures by which the conflicting claims could be
resolved
definitively. Subsequent negotiations were complicated by
Venezuela's occupation in 1966 of a portion of Ankoko
Island in
the Cuyuni River that had previously been claimed by
Guyana
(which became independent that same year). In 1968
Venezuela also
claimed a portion of the Caribbean Sea near the mouth of
the
Essequibo River that had been recognized as Guyanese
waters. The
Guyana government also accused Caracas of aiding an
insurrection
in southern Guyana the following year. This incident
prompted
reports of a Venezuelan military buildup near the Guyanese
border. Against this backdrop of conflict and
recriminations, the
tripartite commission that had been negotiating the
territorial
dispute declared itself incapable of producing a
settlement. The
two governments began bilateral talks in 1970.
In 1970 leaders of both countries signed the Protocol
of
Port-of-Spain after talks hosted by the government of
Trinidad
and Tobago. Under the terms of the protocol, Caracas
agreed to
suspend its territorial claims for twelve years. The two
nations
established diplomatic relations and continued their
talks. In
1981, however, Venezuelan president Herrera reasserted the
historical claim to the Essequibo and refused to renew the
protocol. Venezuelan political and military leaders began
to make
bellicose statements with regard to the Essequibo; there
was much
speculation in the press that Venezuela might take the
region by
force. This saber rattling aroused the concern of the
Brazilians,
who also considered Guyana within their sphere of
influence. In
September 1982, Guyanese president Forbes Burnham visited
Brasilia and agreed to a project whereby the Brazilian
government
would build a road northward through the Essequibo region.
If the
Venezuelans had entertained notions of reclaiming the
territory
by force, this demonstration of concern by their giant
neighbor
to the south apparently deterred them from taking action.
Accordingly, both governments submitted the dispute to the
UN
Secretary General under the terms of the 1966 tripartite
agreement signed in Geneva. The issue lay dormant through
the
1990.
Although the Venezuelan claim to the Essequibo stemmed
in
large part from nationalistic and anticolonialist
sentiments, it
also involved the control and exploitation of natural
resources.
Long unexplored, the Essequibo reportedly contains
important
mineral and petroleum deposits. Its crude oil reserves,
according
to some sources, are of a lighter grade than most of those
produced in Venezuela. Lighter oils are more easily
extracted and
refined, and they command a higher price on the world
market. It
was highly unlikely, however, that Venezuela would annex
the
Essequibo by force, risking regional conflict and
international
condemnation, merely to add to its already considerable
petroleum
and mineral reserves.
Data as of December 1990
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