Guyana Govt writes Facebook, Twitter to remove posts with illegal maps of Guyana

In light of a renewed disinformation campaign being waged against Guyana by a number of Spanish-language social media accounts claiming the country’s territory by publishing illegal maps, the Government of Guyana has written the heads of two major social media platforms – Facebook and Twitter – to have them remove such images.
According to the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud wrote to the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Parag Agrawal of Twitter, on this matter.
In his letters to the CEOs, Persaud highlighted that those social media operatives have been utilising the Facebook and Twitter platforms, to propagate a false narrative regarding the extant matter of the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela about the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award which settled the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela.
“I wish to point out that Facebook (and Twitter) posts and the subsequent comments surrounding the particular posts have the potential to permanently damage relations between States, incite violence against the territory and people of Guyana, and derail the current adjudication of the matter before the International Court of Justice (ICJ),’’ the letter by Guyana’s Foreign Secretary detailed.

Persaud went on to inform the heads of the social media platforms that the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela was settled by a legal process of international arbitration on October 3, 1899, pursuant to an 1897 Treaty of Washington by which both parties agreed to respect the results of the arbitration as a full, perfect and final settlement of the boundary.
At that time, Guyana was British Guiana, a colony of Great Britain. As required by the 1897 Treaty of Washington and the 1899 Arbitral Award, the boundary as determined by the Award was demarcated on the ground between 1900 and 1904 by Commissioners appointed by Britain and Venezuela.

On January 7, 1905, the official boundary map delineating the boundary as awarded and demarcated, was drawn up and signed by the Commissioners of both Britain and Venezuela and promulgated in Georgetown, at the Combined Court.
Persaud added in the letter that the boundary and the corresponding territory of Guyana are internationally recognised, including by the United Nations (UN).
“In this regard, I am requesting that these types of Facebook posts (and Twitter) which violate the basic tenet of international relations between States, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and incite a threat of use of force against Guyana, be removed forthwith and more stringent measures be taken against their publications,’’ the Foreign Secretary’s letter urged.
President Dr Irfaan Ali, in remarks at the 66th UN plenary session last month, reaffirmed Guyana’s commitment to peaceful processes in resolving this matter and said it would deny every effort to depart from them.
However, these words seemed to have caused some unease in Venezuela, with the Spanish-speaking republic issuing a statement on September 30 in which it repeated many of its spurious claims regarding the border controversy.
Subsequently, there were a series of posts by a number of Spanish-language social media accounts with illegal maps annexing more than two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass, which is in Essequibo, and a portion of the country’s Exclusive Economic zone (EEZ) in which almost 11 billion barrels of oil have been discovered over the past seven years and oil production activities have been ongoing – a claim that was first sparked by Caracas back in May 2015 after Guyana first announced the discovery of crude offshore.
In response to this renewed claim, President Ali, along with many other Government officials as well as Guyanese citizens last week embarked on a widespread social media campaign, sharing a map of Guyana to declare that everything within the country’s border was “we own”.
Back in 2018, Guyana approached the ICJ seeking a final and binding judgement to reinforce that the 1899 Arbitral Award remains valid and binding on all parties as well as legal affirmation that Guyana’s Essequibo region, which contains much of the country’s natural resources, belongs to Guyana and not Venezuela.
Guyana moved to the World Court after the failed good offices process between the two South American neighbours. The Spanish-speaking nation had initially refused to participate in the proceedings and had even challenged the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter. But on December 18, 2020, the ICJ established that it had jurisdiction to hear the substantive case – something which Venezuela did not accept.
Then in March of this year, Guyana submitted its written arguments for its memorial to the ICJ, which was a requirement by the court following its December 2020 decision.
Venezuela has since filed an objection, which, according to the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry, is nothing more than a bid to delay the substantial hearing of the 1899 Arbitral Award case before the ICJ, after refusing to join the proceedings since 2018.
Various countries and international organisations have already thrown their support behind the judicial settlement of the case.
In fact, only last week, United States Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Ambassador Brian A Nichols, in a tweet, reaffirmed his country’s support for a peaceful resolution between Guyana and Venezuela.
“The 1899 Arbitral Award determined the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela and should be respected unless or until otherwise determined by a competent legal body. The US supports a peaceful resolution to this issue,” the US State Department official said on his Twitter account. (G8)