Leaders of Guyana, Venezuela commit to peace and agree to lower border-dispute tensions

The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela have agreed to de-escalate tensions and refrain from using any force, directly or indirectly, against one another in any circumstances including the longstanding territorial dispute over which nation is the rightful owner of an oil- and mineral-rich region bordering the two countries.

Guyana President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro both signed a declaration after a day of hours-long dialogue in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where several Caribbean and South American leaders facilitated the discussions between the two men in hope of avoiding a war in the hemisphere. The two men agreed to establish, immediately, a joint commission involving their foreign ministers and technical persons to address mutually agreed matters.

It was Ali and Maduro’s first face-to-face since the Venezuelan leader reactivated his country’s claim on the remote Essequibo region, which is roughly the size of Florida and makes-up nearly two-thirds of Guyana.

Earlier this month, Maduro held a controversial referendum on whether he should annex the territory, which he says voters overwhelmingly supported, while also dismissing the United Nations International Court’s jurisdiction over the border dispute. Days later, with observers questioning the vote, the Venezuelan leader announced the creation of a military defense zone near the border and ordered his state-oil company to issue licenses for oil and mining exploration in the territory.

Ali and Maduro have about 20 different conflicts agreed to continue to dialogue on any outstanding matters. As part of the declaration, they also agreed that “any controversies” will be resolved in accordance with international law. The two also agreed to meet again in Brazil within the next three months and to keep their sponsors — Brazilian President t Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves — abreast of developments. While Skeritt is currently chairman of the 15-member Caribbean Community regional bloc known as CARICOM, Gonsalves, also a member of the bloc, is also president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC.

Gonsalves, who read “The Joint Declaration of Argyle for dialogue and peace between Guyana and Venezuela,” refused to take any press questions saying “the declaration will speak for itself.”

Ahead of Thursday’s meeting in St. Vincent, Ali had made it clear that the ownership of the Essequibo was not up for negotiations and would eventually be decided by the U.N.’s International Court of Justice.

“We came here in the interest of peace and stability of this region,” he told journalists during the talks. “We have never threatened anyone with force, or the use of force.”

During his briefing, Ali said he remained committed to peaceful coexistence with Venezuela but is “unwavering and resolute” in his position that the territorial dispute should once and for all be decided by the U.N. court. As part of the signed agreement, both leaders concurred that any controversies between their two nations will be resolved in accordance with international law, including the Feb. 17, 1966, Geneva agreement penned when Guyana was still a British colony that dictates how to resolve the controversy over the border.

“We are a peace-abiding country and people,” Ali said. “We have no other ambition than to pursue the peaceful coexistence with Venezuela and every country in this region.”

The controversy over who owns Essequibo dates back to more than a century, but was reignited earlier this month when Maduro began threatening to annex the territory, which has less than 300,000 residents.

With tensions running high, both leaders were invited to talk it out in St. Vincent by Gonsalves, who is among the Caribbean Community’s most vocal supporters of Venezuela and the lifting U.S. sanctions against the country. Gonsalves also invited others to observe including the United Nations and representatives of the governments of Colombia and Honduras.

Lula da Silva didn’t make it to the dialogue, but sent Celso Amorim, his special adviser who, before Thursday, had made several visits to Caracas.

Briefing the press in between the talks, Ali said the discussions had been in three phases. The first involved the Guyanese team sitting down with leaders of the Caribbean regional grouping. The second involved CARICOM leaders meeting with Maduro, and the third had he and Maduro meeting in their first face-to-face encounter. In addition to Gonsalves, the leaders of seven other Caribbean countries were present and spoke separately with both men. They were the prime ministers of The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

The three-page agreement shows that disagreement continues to exist both about the ownership of the territory and the right of the U.N. court to weigh in on the conflict. The document mentioned Venezuela’s “lack of recognition of the International Court of Justice and its jurisdiction in the border controversy.”

It remains to be seen if Thursday’s dialogue will lead to cooler heads. Maduro once enjoyed the support of most Caribbean leaders in his fight against U.S. sanctions, but faced an increasingly divided group due to his targeting of one of their member countries.

Under U.S. pressure to hold free and fair elections next year, Maduro is being accused of using Guyana as a negotiating tool with Washington, which has called on him to release Americans being “wrongly detained” by his authoritarian government and to lift a ban barring opponents from serving in office.

He has so far ignored the calls and instead has focused his energies on annexing the large chunk of Guyana. As part of his push to acquire the disputed area, he pledged oil exploration and mining in the territory through the granting of licenses by his state-owned oil company PDVSA. Maduro also ordered the creation of a new map of Venezuela to include the disputed region.

“Guyana has all the right to exercise its sovereign right within its territorial space to approve of, and to facilitate any development, any investment, any partnership, any training, any collaboration, any cooperation, the issuance of any license and the granting of any concessions within our territorial space and within our sovereign space,” Ali said, indirectly addressing Maduro’s recent actions.

Later, raising his right arm and pointing to a bracelet with a map of Guyana, which sits at the tip of South America along the Atlantic coast, Ali said, “This is Guyana. No narrative, no propaganda, decree can change this.”

Ali and Maduro have said they are committed to peace in the region, a point they each signed off on in the agreement. Ali, however, made it clear in his discussions that his nation “will continue to do everything that promotes the development, the advancement of our people and all the partnerships necessary to ensure the defense and protection of what is ours in accordance with international law. “

“Guyana is not the aggressor,“ he said repeatedly. “Guyana is not seeking war, but Guyana reserves the right to work with all of our partners to ensure the defense of our country.”

Miami Herald data reporter Ana Claudia Chacin contributed to this report.