Tomado de.
Minister of
Governance Raphael Trotman during his presentation in the National Assembly.
[www.inewsguyana.com]
– Guyana is fully prepared to stand up against neighbouring Venezuela which has
recently laid claim to Guyana’s territorial waters according to Minister of
Governance, with responsibility for National Patrimony, Raphael Trotman.
Delivering
his inaugural address to the National Assembly as a minister, Trotman said,
“Venezuela knows what it has to do and that is to behave itself”.
He explained
that “There is a substantial oil find off the coast of Guyana. What we now have
to do is develop it and protect it, even from the rapacious advances of our
neighbours to the West”.
Guyana is
entitled to “develop what is ours just as they are entitled to develop what is
theirs”. He noted that what Venezuela has is in abundance and they have had the
right to develop their resources and do whatever they want with them, “without
questioning by us or from us”.
It is in this
regard, that the minister said that Guyana “will guard jealously the right to
do the same to our resources without interference”.
He proffered
to the National Assembly that while the population does not number in the
millions, all can, “rest assured that the desire to defend and enjoy what is
ours is not to be underestimated”.
Minister
Trotman also moved to express government’s gratitude to Columbia and Suriname
which have taken offence to Venezuela’s latest claims and signalled their
displeasure in no uncertain terms, by “speaking out strongly against
Venezuela’s move”.
Venezuela has
issued a decree in law, which says that a very large area of the sea, not only
belongs to Venezuela, but that country has called on its navy to enforce this
zone.
This claim
comes on the heels of the news of the discovery of a significant quantity of
oil in Guyana’s internationally recognised territorial waters, several weeks
ago by Exxon Mobil.
Foreign
Minister Carl Greenidge recently said that the area in which oil exploration is
currently underway by ExxonMobil has never been the subject of any claim from
Venezuela.
“It is a new
claim by Venezuela, not a repetition of any claim, it’s a new claim. Secondly,
it is not the APNU government that issued the exploration rights, so to suggest
that they have to move now because this government has gone a step too far, is
not accurate.’
He added that
in claiming this expanse of territory, the Government of Venezuela has not
demonstrated and indeed cannot show any reason for so doing. “The principle
underlying the claim hasn’t any basis whatsoever in any known formula for
allocation of the ocean, save bullyism.”
The rights to
marine resources arise from rights to land mass, so by virtue of “us occupying
Guyana we have certain rights… They (Venezuela) may not be signatory of the Law
of the Sea, but it is not the sea and the lawlessness that is practiced there
that determines your land mass. The land mass of Guyana is defined in a treaty,
and when there was a disagreement in 2009, a court pronounced on it.”
The
government has promised to work on all fora, including the United Nations (UN),
Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Organisation of American States
(OAS), Commonwealth and CARICOM to have this issue resolved. [Extracted and modified from GINA]
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...”
LA
GUAYANA ESEQUIBA
http://laguayanaesequiba.blogspot.com/2008/01/la-guayana-esequiba.html
Terminología sobre cómo referenciar la
Zona en Reclamación-Guayana Esequiba.
Mapa que señala el
Espacio de Soberanía Marítima Venezolana que se reserva, como Mar Territorial mediante el Decreto Presidencial No 1152 del 09
de Julio de 1968
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