ARGYLE FURTHER ENHANCES PRESIDENT IRFAAN ALI’S ALREADY STERLING REPUTATION

President Irfaan Ali and Guyana astutely turned Nicolas Maduro’s threat against Guyana into a threat against the whole region, making Maduro’s annexation attempt violate the zone of peace in the region.
Even the naysayers acknowledge that the Argyle Agreement was a momentous achievement for President Irfaan Ali. He made every Guyanese proud. He ensured that Nicolas Maduro and Venezuela knew, without a doubt, that Guyana stood with the truth on our side; that Guyana would not be intimidated; and that Guyana did not stand alone. If anything, Venezuela knows for sure after Argyle that no leader, no country in the Americas, supports any country that threatens the zone of peace in the Americas, and for that reason, Venezuela stands alone. President Irfaan Ali accomplished through diplomacy what others in other parts of the world are failing at: he mobilized the whole world to be in Guyana’s corner. President Ali ensured that President Maduro returned home knowing that he stood alone, not even his citizens stood with him.
Ralph Ramkarran got it right – in every which way, President Irfaan Ali and Guyana came out with exactly what they wanted out of Argyle. The one thing Maduro wanted was for Guyana to return to bilateral negotiation on the border dispute, abandoning the International Court of Justice (ICJ). He did not get that. But while Guyana got what we wanted, we allowed Maduro to save face. Having threatened to annex by force – a pathway that was always doomed – he returned and was able to say that the two countries would never contemplate military action, and that they would engage in regular consultation to avoid military options and any action that led to tension.
President Irfaan Ali and Guyana were the aggrieved parties, and many advised that he refuse the diplomatic initiative of CARICOM and CELAC, led by Prime Minister Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and President Lula of Brazil. But our President took the mature route and accepted dialogue, as long as the ICJ pathway was not jeopardised.
For more than a year now, Russia has been pummelling Ukraine. Neither President Putin of Russia nor President Zelenskiy of Ukraine has the vision or willingness to solve their dispute through diplomacy. Israel and Palestine have made Gaza the latest example of a genocidal war, totally rejecting diplomacy. The powerful nations around the world have not tried to cajole these countries on the path of diplomatic resolution. The ABCE countries, the most powerful countries on earth, have failed to promote diplomacy as the preferred way to resolve these conflicts. CARICOM and CELAC, much less powerful than the ABCE countries, have shown that maintaining the zone of peace is a powerful incentive for the countries of CELAC and CARICOM to be fair arbiters, insisting on diplomacy.
Guyana readily accepted the diplomatic pathway when Venezuela was being reckless and was using its bellicose and bullying tactics to threaten annexation. In this sense, Guyana has shown that diplomacy works, because what can Nicolas Maduro do now? He promised Presidents and Prime Ministers and the world, in the Argyle Agreement, that he would stop his warmongering against Guyana. If only others followed Guyana’s path, the world would be a better place.
Now President Irfaan Ali stands as an admired global leader, one who mobilized the whole world to say to the huffing and puffing Nicolas Maduro, “Hands off Guyana, we will not tolerate breaching the zone of peace”. But CELAC and CARICOM have shown the ABCE countries that they can adopt the same strategy to bring about peace in Ukraine and Palestine.
Before Argyle, President Irfaan Ali was already adorned with an enviable reputation as the People’s President. President Irfaan Ali returned home to Guyana with a reputation considerably enhanced. He faced a bully and had the bully whimpering home, forced to save face among his citizenry. Nicolas Maduro for weeks bellowed, huffed and puffed, and threatened a nation. But he also jeopardized the zone of peace for a whole region. He conducted a fake referendum in which 90% of his citizens refused to vote, bellowed that his countrymen and women mandated him to annex two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, mobilised his military along Guyana’s border, appointed a governor for what he termed a new state of Venezuela called Guayana Esequiba, established a headquarters, a kind of capital for the new state, and passed a budget for Esequiba. He was beating his chest and threatening to take two-thirds of Guyana.
Our President assured his countrymen and countrywomen that Guyana will not back away from the ICJ path we embarked on in 2018; that Guyana will demand both countries observe international law; both countries commit never to violate the zone of peace that exists in the Americas; that Guyana will continue to exercise its sovereignty over the whole of Guyana, including Essequibo; and that the Government of Guyana will continue its developmental agenda across Guyana, with its borders which were determined with finality in 1899.
Maduro promised he would stop the ICJ pathway; he went home knowing that the ICJ pathway is irreversible. While insisting Venezuela does not recognize the authority of the ICJ, he knows that the ICJ decision is binding on all UN countries. He mobilized his military in a direct threat to invade Guyana; he returned home promising to never act militarily against Guyana. He claimed his people mandated him to annex Guyana; he returned home promising to observe Guyana’s 1899 borders. He announced before Argyle a new State of Guayana Esequiba; he returned to Venezuela having signed an agreement that he would not act on establishing a new state. The whole world let him know that not one country anywhere recognizes any new Venezuelan state called Guayana Esequiba. In every way, Nicolas Maduro failed.
But President Irfaan Ali returned to Guyana with a mission accomplished.