What next?

the diplomatic level, but the country should be directing its efforts at all levels, and not just official ones. Guyana did go to the Security Council on Friday, but no immediate action followed the closeddoor session. The Independent reported some diplomats as saying they would need to check with their capitals about a possible press statement.

A critical thing is to belabour the international community with accurate data on the Geneva Agreement, and not leave Caracas unchallenged on the subject. Perhaps Messrs Ralph Ramkarran or Cedric Joseph could be approached to write a detailed account of Geneva and its terms, as well as a synoptic version for distribution purposes. The government in Caracas is constantly promoting the fallacy that we are in dereliction where Geneva is concerned, and they seem to have persuaded any number of leaders in the international community that this is so. It is on this basis that they have convinced some governments that bilateral talks are what is required, because this is what Geneva lays down.

The approach can take the form of serious articles in academic publications, briefer background papers for media outlets, social media statements, letters to newspapers which have covered the issue, and, of course a diplomatic onslaught. There is something wrong when President Lula proposes, as he has done, that the pro tempore President of Celac, Ralph Gonsalves, should serve as mediator to discuss the controversy with both Venezuela and Guyana, and that Brazil should be the venue. Mr Gonsalves’s biases are well known and deplored here, but someone in Takuba Lodge should be organising a démarche to Itamaraty without delay. The mantra Guyana recites everywhere without cessation should be that it is at the ICJ because of Geneva, not in spite of it.

Then there is the Indigenous dimension. We have a great advantage in that our representative at the UN is Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who is herself an Amerindian, born in Santa Rosa, Essequibo. She will already be familiar with the indigenous organisations attached to the UN and OAS and should be afforded extra manpower if she needs it to approach them about the danger to the nations of Essequibo, especially those on the border, by Venezuela’s ‘annexation’. To its great credit, the APA here has asked that more emphasis be placed on ensuring the Indigenous peoples receive accurate information which is easily understood by them, since many do not understand the complex information publicly available because English is not their first language. It went on to say that it was prepared to support the authorities to simplify information.

The government has commendably brought in the opposition in the light of the danger, and it should extend this to all groups with which it has been at odds in the past. It should accept the APA’s offer, and should solicit their intervention to contact international organisations concerned with indigenous people to alert them to Venezuela’s actions and the threat that these represent to the original inhabitants of this land. What applies to the Indigenous people’s organisations, also applies to those with environmental connections, who can alert international bodies to the possible peril to our environment. Venezuela’s appalling record in the mining arc has been covered by various outside organisations. The Commonwealth particularly should be alerted in the light of Iwokrama.

Then there is the appeal to the academic level, particularly in the Latin world where in some places it exerts a bit of influence on politicians. Some bizarre histories of the boundary have been appearing in the Venezuelan press, and the fastest thing for us to do at present is to get a translation of what is still the best introduction to the topic, written by Cedric Joseph in Caribbean Studies in 1970 and 71. It should be translated into Spanish and Portuguese by professional translators, as well as being distributed in the original in English-speaking areas (after the requisite permissions have been granted). It should be sent to teachers in those universities which deal with boundaries or international relations. It could also be distributed at the UN along with anything written here about Geneva.

Diplomatically speaking we should be snowing the international community, and the impression is given that we are not. Of course, our diplomatic resources are very limited, and we need to concentrate on a few critical countries, such as India and South Africa which are in both the Commonwealth and BRICS. For the rest, the UN is our easiest route to reaching a large number of countries, and its personnel should be beefed up. Apart from that, the Guyanese diaspora should be pressed into service to bring the matter to the attention of the authorities where they live. In the end, an unsympathetic approach to Venezuela’s atrocity internationally, will give our neighbour pause for thought.

Most people will think that a defence pact with a military power is our best safety option. That may possibly be the case and is presumably being explored by the government. Even if it were viable, however, it would not happen immediately and much would depend on what form it would take before it could be recommended. In the meantime, Guyana should be doing all that lies in its own power to counter Venezuela.