Venezuela’s sanctions aimed at influencing settlement process – Harmon

The call made on Thursday by the Energy and Petroleum Commission of the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela – for Guyana to cease its oil exploration, as it (allegedly) violates the Geneva Agreement between the two countries – is nothing more than an attempt by the Venezuela Government to sway a process that is currently being undertaken by the United Nations’ appointed mediator.

Expressing this view on Friday, Minister of State Joseph Harmon clarified the situation as follows: “We are in a process now where the Secretary General of the UN has appointed a personal representative to look at the issues in the controversy, and he has given him up to December to arrive at a decision; failing which, the matter will go to the ICJ (International Court of Justice).

He continued, “Statements that are made by the parties in Venezuela I suppose are statements to influence the process.”

Harmon said that despite the threats, Guyana has been faithful to its commitment under the arrangement, and would wish nothing would derail the process. “We have always said there is an agreement and it should be dealt with by (the) International Court (of Justice)”.

Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional on Thursday published a report detailing that the Energy and Petroleum Commission of the National Assembly of Venezuela was convinced that the oil exploration ongoing in Guyana violates the Geneva Agreement of 1966 and Article 10 of The Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela, “which clearly establishes the Venezuelan territory”.

The Commission has rejected the legality of oil operations ongoing in Guyana’s Essequibo region, and according to the report, vice-president of the parliamentary body, Deputy for Zulia, Elías Matta, who tabled the draft agreement, explained that, “As stipulated in Article 5 of the Geneva Agreement, no resource can be exploited if there is no agreement between both nations”.

The El Nacional report detailed that: “Deputy Matta said the Guyana Government carried out the expansion of oil prospecting operations in May 2015, in which ExxonMobil reported a discovery at the Liza-1 well of the Stabroek Block.

“Likewise, on November 17, 2016, the commercialisation of the same was announced, estimating its recoverable resources (at) between 800 million and 1.4 billion barrels of high quality crude oil belonging to the coastal waters of the Essequibo.”

The gist of the El Nacional report is that the Venezuelan Parliamentary Commission wants the Venezuela Government to send this “agreement” to the new UN Good Officer for the Guyana/Venezuela conflict. The Commission also wants the UN official “to immediately suspend all operations carried out within the maritime area corresponding to the territory in claim until the dispute is resolved.” The UN Good Officer has no such powers, according to local officials familiar with the process.

According to the report, Matta said the decree was a flagrant violation of international law, and was inconsistent with the principle that all states should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states.

Following this report, The Ministry of the Presidency (MotP), in a statement, maintained that Guyana has always respected the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal’s Award as being the final settlement of the border controversy, and that President Granger views Venezuela’s claims to Guyana’s territory as “expansionist ambition”.

The MotP statement further reveals that the Administration of President David Granger has committed to bringing an end to the decades-old border controversy between Guyana and neighbouring Venezuela through judicial intervention, since Venezuela is bent on seeking to prove that it owns part of Guyana, despite the decision handed down by the Arbitral Tribunal.