Venezuela and Its Claim of Most of Guyana’s Land
Continuing our series on Venezuela:
We now move to Venezuela’s territory claim to everything west of the Essequibo river. In case you aren’t familiar with Guyana the graphic below will give you an idea of just how much of Guyana this is. The area claimed by Venezuela is shaded with the wider spaced horizontal lines. This is not some vague historical claim, if you go to the Venezuelan Embassy today you will see the area marked as “Zona de reclamacion”. Of course the area is rich in mineral wealth, timber and other resources.
Latin American Studies Center - Maryland University
In 1897 the matter was submitted to arbitration, at the end of a long drawn out process lasting more than two years a decision was reached which awarded part of the area including the mouth of the Orinoco river to Venezuela. Neither the British nor the Venezuelans got what they wanted but they declared themselves satisfied. The Venezuelans couldn’t force their claim against the mighty British Empire, and the Brits didn’t want to tick off the Americans who had placed themselves firmly on the side of the Venezulans. (Funny how things change isn’t it?)
Flash forward to the 1960’s with Guyana moving towards independence. Venezula produces a memo from one of the lawyers who agreed the original deal stating that they were pressured to accept the deal. As a result of this Venezuela repudiated the agreement and renewed its claim.
The situation has gone hot and cold since then however Venezuela has never renounced it’s claim. The continued claim has hamstrung Guyana’s efforts to develop the region as no one is going to invest in a region that may suddenly change ownership. (There are alot of similarities in this regard to the Barbados/Trinidad dispute but we’ll talk about how this dispute affects that dispute in a later post)
Some of the harshest critics of the Venezulan claim have been the Caricom Territories, they are unlikely to say anything now if they are beholden to Venezuela, with loads of “easily financed” oil debt. I am once again asking the question “What does Venezuela get out of Petro Caribe?”
[...] lay any claim to the eastermost part of the line set out in the treaty would be to operate on the basis of it’s claim of all of Guyana west of the Essiquibo River. Now the Venezuelans were consistent in their claim on this, but what is surprising here is that [...]
Pingback by How Trinidad Recognised Venezuela’s Claim to Most Of Guyana’s Land « Notes From The Margin — July 27, 2007 @ 9:47 pm
There is a river inside the Essequibo territory called the Pomeroon. This was the western edge of British settlment decades before the border arbitration at the end of the 19th century. This river was also the western edge of Dutch settlement. In an book called ‘A soldiers recollections of the West Indies and America’ by Lt. Col. St. Clair published in 1834,it says:
The Essequibo river runs about twelve miles to leeward of the Demerara. The colony of that name commences at Bonesique creek, and is bounded on the west by a supposed line which divides the Spanish settlement of Orinoko from the English possessions. This stream (the Essequibo) is upwards of twenty miles in breadth at its mouth, and is the finest river in possession of the English in this part of the world.
The cultivation along the coast extends a little to leeward of the Pomeron (pomeroon) river:and, on its banks, at a short distance from the sea, is situated a strong military post, containing a block-house, at present commanded by Lieutenant Cook, of the 4th West India Regiment. This fort is separated from from the Spanish possessions on the banks of the Oriniko by an extensive space of wild and savage country:but, not withstanding this barrier, the Spaniards distress and annoy the planters on the leeward coast and their coasting vessels exceedingly, having a small number of boats and canoes fitted out and numerously manned with with Negroes, Indians and runaway slaves, who pass from these colonies into the Columbian government; and many of these individuals have shown them the way to their masters’ estates, which have been plundered and their boasts loaded with produce seized and carried into the Orinoko.
Parenthesis added by me.
This is an English account that there existed a fortified settlement at the mouth of the Pomeroon river which was separate from a Spanish settlement on the Orinico Delta by a swath of wilderness. The Spanish and hence the Venezuelans never OCCUPIED the Pomeroon. Before the British rules this region, it was ruled by my ancestors, the Dutch, who settled the river and who mostly stayed there when the territory was ceded to the British. If Lt Col. St. Clair is to be believed, the Spanish had a raiding relationship, which was hardly the grounds for a territorial claim on the land that was already settled by a recognized power.
The colony of Essequibo was bounded by Bonesique creek on the east and the fort at the mouth of the Pomeroon river on the west. Any possible fair dividing line would probably run SOMEWHERE between this fortified settlement and the Spanish Settlement at Orinoco. This is exactly what happened.
Regardless of any accusations, true or false, that the British bribed or wined and dined someone on the arbitration panel, any claim that Spanish and hence Venezuelan territory extends to the banks of the Essequibo is false because of of another river that many people forget about: the Pomeroon.
I call upon the government of Guyana to immediately petition the government of Trinidad and Tobago to revise their maritime borders with Venezuela, that implicitly recognize Venezuelan sovereignty over Guyanese maritime territory off the coast of the Essequibo.
I also call upon the government of Guyana to immediately nullify recall any petroleum purchase agreement associated with PetroCaribe because this potentially puts the government of Guyana in a position that could compromise the territorial integrity of the nation through financial means.
Additionally I call upon the government of Brazil to refuse to recognize any Venezuelan claim in Guyanese territory and to threaten trade sanctions unless Venezuela withdrawals from the Guyanese half of Ankoko island tat was seized in 1968.
Finally, I call upon the people of Guyana to demand action and results in these categories that I have named.
We’re not giving up a piece of our rightful land of inheritance, not a blade of grass.
Y para el presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, quiro que sepas que yo te estoy mirando. Luchare’ contra ti hasta que no amenezcas mas el pais de mis antepasados. No tendras nuestra tierra, ni nuestro oceano, ni nuestro petroleo, ni los diamantes, ni una hoja de hierba.
Comment by Anonymous — October 14, 2007 @ 3:41 pm
[...] for those of you who haven’t been following, Venezuela claims about two thirds of Guyana’s territory. Now usually this has been a very quiet border dispute, but there have been incidents in the [...]
Pingback by Venezuela Attacks Guyana - Is This A First Strike? « Notes From The Margin — November 20, 2007 @ 9:27 pm
[...] Venezuela and Its Claim of Most of Guyana’s Land [...]
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