Tensions flare again

A major row has erupted in the Caribbean Community among some member nations once again, this time involving a third party, Venezuela.

At the center of the issue is a complaint by Guyana that sister CARICOM nations Grenada and Barbados had either failed to, or had inadvertently omitted to call out Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, for wearing a brooch depicting a Venezuelan map that had included Guyana’s western Essequibo region, which Venezuela has long claimed as its own, during state visits to the two in April.

Venezuelan officials have, over the decades, habitually worn such ornaments or publicly waved national flags that claim the Essequibo as their own territory, at both local and international events, much to the chagrin of Guyana.

The two have been feuding over land and maritime border demarcations for decades, largely because Venezuela contends that an international boundaries commission cheated it out of the mineral-rich, oil- and gas-rich Essequibo region back in 1899, a claim Guyana has long dismissed. The matter is at the World Court in the Netherlands for a final settlement.

The issue, meanwhile, boiled over into a full-scale row this week after Guyanese President Irfaan Ali hurriedly dispatched a letter to Terrance Drew, the current chairman of the 15-nation bloc and the Prime Minister of St. Kitts, vehemently protesting the display of the brooch without action from Grenada or Barbados.

He argued local authorities fear that Rodriguez’s use of the map on official engagements with fellow CARICOM member nations can be falsely interpreted as “acquiescence or tolerance. No action, whether inadvertent or deliberate, should create the impression that the community’s platform may be used to advance claims now before the International Court of Justice. Caricom’s principled support for Guyana must be reflected not only in declarations but in the context and conduct of official engagements,” Ali argued.

A mere few hours later, the bloc made public its own response to the situation, warning that “community platforms and engagements should not be used, whether directly or indirectly, to advance or appear to legitimize claims that are the subject of ongoing judicial proceedings before the ICJ,” a statement said. It noted the “community’s longstanding and unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana, and for the peaceful resolution of the controversy through the court remains firm and unchanged.”

As President Rodriguez visits various regional member states, she is not expected to set foot in Guyana and or Trinidad, as the two have publicly lined up behind US military action against Venezuela in recent months and behind its efforts to eradicate narco trafficking by destroying go-fast boats operating in waters near Venezuela and Trinidad.

Relations between Trinidad and Venezuela are so strained that Venezuela has declared Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar “persona non grata.” This was due to her support for the U.S.

A government statement accused her of betraying regional solidarity. It said, “It is a matter of honor, dignity, morality, expression, sovereignty, and Venezuelan independence to declare this woman, who crawls like a worm, persona non grata to this republic, which is the cradle of liberators, which is the cradle of free men and women. You should learn from your own history that this is the embrace of the devil, that this will lead to suffering and poverty for the Trinidadian people. If there is a country that has been generous with Trinidad and Tobago, that country is the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”