Displaying Venezuelan map with Guyana’s Essequibo: “Inadvertence on my part” – PM Gonsalves admits

…“It’s a credible explanation – VP Jagdeo

Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who serves as an interlocutor for peace talks between Guyana and Venezuela, has said the controversial photograph of him posing with a Venezuelan map that includes Guyana’s Essequibo region was an “innocent advertence” on his part.
Guyana’s Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has since accepted the explanation, and expressed, “I don’t think that Ralph Gonsalves would knowingly pose for a picture with a Venezuelan map that shows Essequibo as part of Venezuela.”
The photograph in question was posted by a social media page that supports Venezuela’s unsubstantiated claim to the Essequibo region, and it began to rapidly circulate, attracting widespread criticisms from Guyanese and their allies.
Guyanese authorities have since reached out to Gonsalves for an explanation.
Gonsalves is also Chairman of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which brokered talks between Guyana and Venezuela on December 14.
In a letter dated January 4 and addressed to President Dr Irfaan Ali of Guyana and President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, PM Gonsalves offered an explanation, highlighting that the photo in question had been taken at an event since in December 2022.
“I have been advised that the event at which this photograph was taken was one commemorating the life and work of the great Liberator Simon Bolivar; the place was at Villa, St Vincent and the Grenadines, on the grounds of the residence/office of the Chargé d’Affaires of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” PM Gonsalves outlined.
“I do not recall ever seeing this photograph before its current circulation. I am informed that photographs were being taken in front of the flags of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Venezuela and a bust of Bolivar. While the photographs were being taken, I am advised that someone attached to the Venezuelan Embassy placed the “papier-mâché” depiction of the said map in front of us. I did not look at what the depiction was. I assumed that it was about Simon Bolivar,” the former leader of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) explained.

Inadvertence
In his letter, PM Gonsalves said, “It is unfortunate that this innocent inadvertence on my part has been used by some to drum up, unnecessarily, antipathy of one kind or another.”
The regional leader said he understands the emotions surrounding the controversy, but noted that there will be “flare-ups” at times.
“As always though, we, as leaders, must maintain a patience and a calm, knowing that sun brightens stone even as the river burns”, he said.
Against this backdrop, PM Gonsalves expressed hope that the matter would be laid to rest, noting that he has already spoken with President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo, whom he referred to as his friends.

Credible explanation
At a press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo commented on the explanation given by PM Gonsalves, noting that it is credible.
“This happens a lot with politicians…one time I went to the races and…I took a picture with (someone) and then the police said to me that that’s one of the biggest drug dealers in the country…so, I didn’t even know the man…what Ralph said, he didn’t know what was there in front of him, and it’s a credible explanation,” Jagdeo said.
The Vice President went on to remind that Guyana has the support of Caricom in the border controversy. “Ralph and every other Caribbean leader have expressed strong solidarity with Guyana, and you’ve seen the statements that they’ve issued…”
Caricom has issued a number of statements regarding the recent tensions in the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy, with one of the most recent calling on Venezuela to respect the conservatory measures determined by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) until a final resolution is had on the matter.
In a prior statement, Caricom had insisted that Venezuela complies with international law in all respects, and the Charter of the United Nations.

Referendum
Venezuela had, on December 3, hosted a referendum in which it sought the population’s approval to, among other things, annex the Essequibo region. However, the country’s Opposition has since reported that 89 per cent of eligible voters did not participate.
Following the vote, Maduro claimed that, among other things, he would now authorise oil exploration in Guyana’s Essequibo. Maduro also claimed that he has announced the activation of a human and social care plan for the population of Guyana’s Essequibo that includes censuses and identity cards.
He also claimed to have announced the creation of the “High Commission for the Defense for Guyana’s Essequibo region; and the creation of the Comprehensive Defense Zone for Guyana’s territory.
The Venezuelan president also announced that in addition to oil, he will be issuing licences for mining and other activities to be conducted in Guyana’s Essequibo County.
This is in spite of the fact that the World Court, on December 1, ordered that ‘Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby Guyana administers and exercises control over that area.’
Notwithstanding this level of aggression from Venezuela, President Ali had agreed to meet with Maduro for talks on December 14 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The dialogue was brokered by Gonsalves in his role as President Pro Tempore of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), Caricom and Brazil.
Heading into the talks, President Ali had made it clear that the matter of the border controversy was not up for discussion.
Staying true to his commitment, the Guyanese Head of State, during the dialogue, did not waver on his position that the border controversy case shall be settled by the ICJ, in keeping with the 1966 Geneva Agreement.

Will not threaten
After more than eight hours of engagement at the Argyle International Airport in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Presidents Ali and Maduro have agreed that Guyana and Venezuela, directly or indirectly, will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstance, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two States.
In addition to other agreements outlined in what is now known as the “Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela”, the two sides also agreed to meet again in March to further discussions.
The two countries have also committed to the pursuance of good neighbourliness, peaceful coexistence, and the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, in a social media post on the issue of the photo with the inaccurate depiction of the Venezuelan map, Antigua and Barbuda’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Sir Ronald Sanders, a Guyanese by birth, has said he is of the opinion that Gonsalves was not aware that Essequibo was included in the Venezuelan map that he was displaying.
“I have known and highly regarded Dr Ralph Gonsalves for over 40 years. I cannot be convinced that when he held up this map, showing the Essequibo incorporated into Venezuela, he was made aware of the image,” Saunders said.
He added that the Gonsalves he knows and respects “would not consciously do such a one-sided thing, while the world awaits a decision on the Guyana-Venezuela controversy from the International Court of Justice, and while he himself is playing the role of CELAC’s honest broker.”
Venezuela maintains that the border with Guyana, a former colony of The Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK), was fraudulently imposed by the British, and it has denounced the United Kingdom as a “land grabber”.
Guyana, on the other hand, maintains that the line was determined on October 3, 1899 by an arbitration panel (Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899).
The Anglo-Venezuelan Arbitral Tribunal met in Paris, France, and on October 3, 1899 — 122 years ago — gave its award defining the border between Venezuela and then-British Guiana.
After abiding by the 1899 Arbitral Award for over half a century, Venezuela, in 1962, claimed the Essequibo area of Guyana belongs inside its borders.
The Maduro regime has been untruthfully claiming that Venezuela demonstrated that the award issued in 1899 by the Paris Arbitration Court was “null and void”, and that the controversy under the Geneva Agreement must be amicably resolved in a manner that is acceptable to both parties; while ignoring that such discussions had failed for over 30 years, and that the Geneva Agreement provided for the Secretary General of the United Nations to choose another path for the settlement of the controversy, if not settled by discussion between the two countries.
Maduro also ignores that the Secretary General, in accordance with the Agreement, on January 30, 2018, advised both Venezuela and Guyana that: “having carefully analysed the developments in the good offices process during the course of 2017” and “significant progress not having been made toward arriving at a full agreement for the solution of the controversy”, he had “chosen the International Court of Justice as the means now to be used for its resolution”.
Within the framework of the 1966 Geneva Agreement between the two countries, the Secretary General conducted Good Offices processes from 1990 to 2017 to find a solution to the border controversy. On January 30, 2018, Secretary General António Guterres, following a careful analysis of developments in 2017, chose the ICJ as the means to be used for the solution of the controversy.
As a consequence, Guyana, on March 29, 2018, filed its application to the World Court. In the substantive case, Guyana seeks, among other things, to obtain from the ICJ a final and binding judgement that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which establishes the location of the land boundary between then-British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and binding; and a declaration that Essequibo belongs to Guyana. (G11)