Sir Shridath Ramphal calls out Venezuela’s “greed & imperialistic ambitions”

– as Guyana marks anniversary of Arbitral Award that settled boundary with Venezuela

On the occasion of the 124th Anniversary of the Arbitral Award, Guyana has reaffirmed its position on ensuring a binding, judicial settlement – a position that the Brazilian Government and renowned diplomat Sir Shridath Ramphal have thrown their support behind.
The boundary between Venezuela and what was then British Guiana was settled 124 years ago in the 1899 Arbitral Award. However, with Venezuela keeping the controversy alive, Guyana on the occasion of the Arbitral Award’s 124th anniversary reaffirmed its position via a statement.

In the statement, the Government explained that they remain committed to international law and the 1899 Arbitral Award. They reminded that both Guyana and Venezuela were integrally involved in the 1899 Arbitral Award proceedings, as opposed to Venezuela’s claims of being excluded.
Moreover, they noted that for more than 60 years after the 1899 Award, Venezuela treated the Award as a final settlement of the border controversy. It was only in 1962, when Guyana was on the cusp of independence, that Venezuela changed its tune.
“For more than six decades after the 1899 Award was delivered, Venezuela treated the Award as a final settlement of the matter. It consistently recognised, affirmed, and relied upon the 1899 Award as “a full, perfect, and final” determination of the boundary with British Guiana. Between 1900 and 1905, Venezuela participated in a joint demarcation of the boundary, in strict adherence to the letter of the 1899 Award, and emphatically refused to countenance even minor technical modifications of the boundary line described in the Award,” they further said.
However, in 1962 as British Guiana was approaching its independence from Great Britain, Venezuela recognised that it would become neighbour with a nascent State and by virtue of its expansionist ambition, Venezuela abandoned the rule of law and good faith and laid claims to the Essequibo territory,” the Government further added.
Meanwhile, the Government noted that as Guyana commemorates the anniversary of the Arbitral Award of 1899, they will continue to adhere to and embrace the rules of international law and respect “our pacta sunt servanda obligation.”
“The Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana remains firmly of the view that the Arbitral Award of 1899 is valid. Guyana is committed to a path of final and peaceful settlement and will continue to adhere to the rule of International Law and the procedures of the International Court of Justice.”
“It is for honour that we call today as we celebrate on this anniversary date the Arbitral Award of Paris of 3rd October 1899 in continued respect for the sanctity of Treaties and the rule of law,” the statement further read.

Ramphal
On Wednesday, Sir Shridath Ramphal penned a letter supporting Guyana and condemning Venezuela’s efforts to avoid the inevitable court ruling. Ramphal, who is Guyana’s co-agent before the ICJ, reminded that for over 50 years under the Geneva Agreement, negotiations between the two countries went nowhere.
“Under the Geneva Agreement and the decision of the UN Secretary-General under it, the matter is now before the International Court of Justice which has twice affirmed its jurisdiction to bring it to a final solution – in rejection of Venezuela’s efforts to avoid a judicial determination,” Ramphal wrote.
“Having failed to persuade the Court to step aside, it now vigorously seeks to set it aside itself in favour of ‘peaceful discussions’ under the pretext of a friendlier process. In doing so it ignores the fact – or, perhaps, remembers – that it has indulged that ‘friendlier’ process of discussion for over 50 years under the Geneva Agreement since Guyana’s Independence.”
According to Ramphal, Venezuela’s “greed and imperial ambitions” only grew as the years passed. In fact, Ramphal noted that Venezuela eventually defaced the Mt Roraima marker, a marker it helped set up that delineated the boundaries of Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil, “in a vain attempt to change the boundary.”
“But, of course, the geographical points are eternal. As the years went by so grew Venezuelan greed and imperial ambition and the Award of 3 October 1899 became its target. Relying on the memoirs of a deceased member of its legal team in Paris, it impugned the Award as being invalid, and on the first sign of Guyana’s movement to Independence in 1962, it initiated a vigorous boundary controversy of invalidity cast in a ‘cold war’ mould.
“With Independence of the whole state threatened came the Geneva Agreement of 1966 whose aim was and is the determination of the dispute – from Guyana’s point of view, the validity of the Arbitral of Award of Paris: the upholding of the boundary determination of 3 October 1899,” Ramphal further noted.
It was only on Monday that Guyana’s right to have the border controversy settled at the ICJ was affirmed by Brazil. During a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd, his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira reiterated Brazil’s support for Guyana.
In 2021, on the 122nd Anniversary of the Arbitral Tribunal, the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry had released a booklet entitled “IMPERIAL AMBITION: Venezuela’s Threat to Guyana”, which lays out the whole story of Venezuela’s efforts to undo the Award.