La Guayana Esequiba: Guyana looking for strong Caricom statement on Venezuela decree

domingo, 9 de agosto de 2015

Guyana looking for strong Caricom statement on Venezuela decree –Harmon

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2015/news/stories/06/25/guyana-looking-for-strong-caricom-statement-on-venezuela-decree-harmon/

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25-06-2015

Guyana will be looking to have a “very strong statement” of support from Caricom on Venezuela’s recent claim on Guyana’s maritime territory, Minister of State Joseph Harmon has said.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Harmon noted that President David Granger was scheduled to attend the Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Barbados on July 1, and Guyana would be looking for that statement of support. Guyana also hopes that Caricom would support its position that will be taken to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

Last week President Granger had told this newspaper that US oil firm ExxonMobil would continue its work on schedule as it had nothing to fear since it is operating in Guyana’s exclusive economic zone and it has the weight of international law behind it.

On May 26, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro issued a decree purporting to annex maritime zones belonging to Guyana. The decree was gazetted in Venezuela on May 27.

Georgetown has since said that it was a “baseless and shameless” bid to usurp Guyana’s territory and a “flagrant violation” of international law. Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge told Parliament that a definitive solution must be found and signalled that the government would be moving for a juridical settlement of the border controversy.

Questions have been raised over the motive behind the decree and observers pointed out that it came just after ExxonMobil announced what could be the first major oil find in Guyana’s waters. Maps issued by Caracas showed the ExxonMobil well site within the zone now being claimed.

2005 La Guayana Esequiba – Zona en Reclamación. Instituto Geográfico Simón Bolívar Primera Edición

Nota del editor del blog:

Al referenciarse a la República Cooperativa de Guyana se deben de tener en cuenta los 159.500Km2, de territorios ubicados al oeste del río Esequibo conocidos con el nombre de Guayana Esequiba o Zona en Reclamación sujetos al Acuerdo de Ginebra del 17 de febrero de 1966.

Territorios estos sobre los cuales el Gobierno Venezolano en representación de la Nación venezolana se reservo sus derechos sobre los territorios de la Guayana Esequiba en su nota del 26 de mayo de 1966 al reconocerse al nuevo Estado de Guyana:

“...por lo tanto, Venezuela reconoce como territorio del nuevo Estado, el que se sitúa al este de la margen derecha del río Esequibo y reitera ante la comunidad internacional, que se reserva expresamente sus derechos de soberanía territorial sobre la zona que se encuentra en la margen izquierda del precitado río; en consecuencia, el territorio de la Guayana Esequiba sobre el cual Venezuela se reserva expresamente sus derechos soberanos, limita al Este con el nuevo Estado de Guyana, a través de la línea del río Esequibo, tomando éste desde su nacimiento hasta su desembocadura en el Océano Atlántico...”