Your Eyewitness is flummoxed that some folks think Pressy would even THINK of meeting Mad Maduro under the present circumstances!! Fool him once – think Argyle under the ministrations of Ralphie “Lefty” Gonsalves! – shame on Mad Maduro; Fool him twice – then shame on Pressy!! It’s good to show the world that one is willing to talk – diplomacy and all that. But Pressie went the EXTRA mile when he even signed that Argyle Agreement – wherein he agreed with Venezuela to keep the peace in our region. Heck…WE NEVER broke the peace – unlike Venezuela, which has continued to do so with increasing and alarming frequency!!
Shall we count the ways?? Massing his navy and army at our borders. Legislating that Essequibo is now a Venezuelan state – Guayana Esequiba. Sending a warship to harass Exxon’s Lisa Destiny FPSO. And now preparing to actually ELECT a governor of Guayana Esequiba on May 25.
What is there to TALK about?? But, as usual, there’s a method to Maduro’s madness! The Venezuelans have always insisted that the 1966 Geneva Agreement – which the Brits negotiated just before granting us independence, and which Prime Minister Burnham signed – governed the controversy which they created in 1962.
We also have accepted the Geneva Agreement – but not the way the Venezuelans do!! They insist that there should only be face-to-face negotiations between them and us until there is a common understanding that the 1899 Arbitral Agreement is null and void!! Our position is that – as specified by the Agreement – after a predetermined period of talking and mediation by the Good Officer of the UN Secretary General, the latter would decide on the way forward from a list of options from the UN Charter of dispute resolution among members. Guyana decided to take this option in 2018, and the Secretary General passed the controversy to the ICJ – which is on the list of options.
And what did Mad Maduro do?? Said he didn’t recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ!! That’s right – the country that formed “Group of Friends in Defence of the United Nations Charter” doesn’t recognize the judicial arm of the UN!! But yet they hedge their bets by making submissions at the ICJ hearings!! Win…they accept; lose, they reject!! Is this the kinda leader we want to keep on talking to?? All he wants is to show the world optics that belie the image he’s earned of bullying his much smaller neighbour – because the latter just stumbled over eleven billion barrels of oil!! Never mind that he has THREE HUNDRED BILLION BARRELS OF OIL sloshing around under his country!!
Pressie should set conditions under which he’ll speak to him – the first one being his acceptance of the ICJ’s jurisdiction!!
…from Phagwah
Your Eyewitness ain’t sure whether it was the pounds of powder that went up his nose – and no cracks about being experienced in inhaling the White Lady!! – or the high he got from eating those pounds of sweets as he made his rounds in his neighbourhood, but today he is sure he feels like he had an out-of-body experience!! He always feels this way the day after his Phagwah revelries, but every year he returns to the fray!!
Hey…and why not?? It ain’t every day he gets to shmooze with everyone he comes across in this increasingly atomized world. Even in his dear ole Mudland, nowadays, when he goes on his usual walkabout, everyone’s nose is buried in their smartphone, and he’s amazed that there aren’t more accidents involving folks walking into passing vehicles. He suspects, however, that being on their smartphones might cause a big chunk of the accidents between vehicles!
Your Eyewitness knows the times are a changin’ – but could we slow down a bit for each other??
…from Trump
Mia Mottley’s willing to lose her visa to NYC if that’s what it takes to continue the Cuban medical programme that Trump says is trafficking in persons. So, she’s willing to forgo her expected nomination for the UNSG??
