The need for more young people to be more interested in national issues such as the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy was highlighted at a recent public forum targeting youths on Wednesday.
The event was organised by youth group Empower Guyana, and among those who lobbied for more young people in Guyana to become more aware of the issue was the Guest Speaker, Advisor to the Foreign Affairs Minister on the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy, Carl Greenidge.
Carl Greenidge speaking at the public forum
According to Greenidge, there is a public view that Guyanese youths are “shockingly insensitive” to issue that affect and determine their future. To this end, he urged young people to ensure they equip themselves with the necessary tools and information so they are aware of not just their future, but that of their future generations as well.
“This issue is really existential to Guyana. It concerns Guyana’s ability to survive, and therefore it is very important that we share time and ideas on this… Guyana is such a relatively young country, and what is done with, what is expose to, and what is organised by, youths will determine how well and where we go forward,” Greendige, a former Foreign Affairs Minister himself, noted.
Some of the young people at Wednesday’s forum
Greenidge, who is also Guyana’s co-agent on the Border Controversy case, further pointed out that Venezuela’s biggest concern is its image on the global scene, hence it is opposed to Guyana lobbying the international community for support in the border controversy.
To this end, he posited that young people should not only equip themselves with knowledge of the issue, but also use the tools available to them to advocate for Guyana’s sovereign rights and territorial integrity. But he contended that the interest must first be there.
“There has to be smart involvement by the youths… It is also a question of using the appropriate tools [to spread awareness]. But first of all, you have to have an interest, so that you can raise your own awareness and the awareness of other youths on the issue… But you, as citizens of the country, have to take an interest and participate in decision-making process and ensure that your voices are heard,” Greenidge posited.
Supporting this call was activist Ronald Austin Jr., who also underscored the important role social media can have in this regard. He urged the more-than-a-dozen young people gathered at the public forum to capitalise on the reach of such platforms to raise awareness of Guyana’s plight on the international scene.
Austin Jr, expressed concerns that the current generation does not have the drive to take up this issue of Guyana’s sovereignty. As such, to drive home the gravity of the border controversy, he pointed out that Venezuela is not just claiming 70 per cent of Guyana, but five of Guyana’s 10 Administrative Regions. He further stated that the Spanish-speaking nation is not prepared to drop this issue, and that the border controversy might never go away.
To this end, he asserted that this current generation has to be “youths of consequence,” and not just make themselves educated on the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy, but drive a movement using social media platforms such as Twitter.
He outlined that major movements to highlight issues in small nations are sparked through social media in other countries. The same could be don for Guyana, he noted.
This public forum comes days ahead of Friday’s case management hearing at the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ). The Court is expected to decide on the time to be allotted to each of the parties. They will find out whether Venezuela will participate, and they will also give an opportunity to clear up any matters to deal with the procedures which the parties or the court may have.
Guyana approached the World Court in 2018, seeking a final and binding judgement to reinforce that the 1899 Arbitral Award remains valid and binding on all parties, and legal affirmation that Guyana’s Essequibo region, which contains much of Guyana’s natural resources, belongs to Guyana and not Venezuela.
However, on January 7, 2021, the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela issued a decree claiming sovereignty and exclusive sovereign rights to the waters and seabed adjacent to Guyana’s coast west of the Essequibo River – a move which President Dr Irfaan Ali has staunchly rejected.
The Guyanese leader declared on January 9 that Venezuela’s maritime border claim is a “legal nullity” that will not be recognised by Guyana or any other State in the world. He added that while this latest move by the Spanish-speaking nation is “deeply disturbing”, it will not deter Guyana’s resolve to seek a final and binding resolution at the ICJ.
However, in the past few days, there has been an escalation of tension, brought on by Venezuela’s detention of the 11-member crew of two Guyanese-registered fishing vessels – the Lady Nayera and the Sea Wolf – off the coast of Waini Point in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The men were eventually released upon the direction of President Maduro, and have since returned safely to Guyana’s shores.
