MIRAMAR – History will never forgive CARICOM member states if they do not give Guyana unswerving public support on the issue of Venezuela’s claim and its threats of the use of force against Guyana. That was the view expressed by former Grenada Ambassador to Venezuela Matthew William who said that CARICOM member states “cannot withhold their firm and unswerving support for Guyana on this matter. Not for some concessionary arrangements for oil. They can’t and wouldn’t do that. They have got to be principled on this issue which has been settled 115 years now by a legally binding Arbitral Award.”
Declaring open the Florida Conference on Current Caribbean Issues: The Diaspora Discussion held last Thursday (Sept. 10th) at the Miramar Cultural Center, Ambassador William also warned that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro “is a desperate man” who is capable of resorting to the use of force against Guyana.
He said Guyana must intensify its sensitization efforts not only in the international community but among its own citizens as well as the Caribbean Diaspora globally. “While hoping that better judgement will prevail Guyana must ensure it launches a campaign designed to deter any thoughts Maduro will have about using force.”
Even Cuba, he said, with its close friendship with Venezuela ought not to support Venezuela on this issue. Cuba must remember that it was Guyana along with Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica that established diplomatic relations with it, at the risk of being penalized.
Ambassador William pointed out that Guyana needed to have in place allies who would impress on Venezuela and President Maduro, privately and publicly that resorting to the use of any form of military force, no matter how limited, must not be an option. At the same time these allies, he said, should be pointing out that the Venezuelan claim is “baseless and an attempt to disregard international binding agreements.”
Ambassador William also served on a panel which discussed the Guyana/Venezuela issue which was led by Guyana’s Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge and included Dr. Mark Kirton of the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies and conference chair Mr. Wesley Kirton, of the Washington DC based Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS).
ADVERTISEMENT
